It's sort of a bummer to me that the two films at the forefront of this year's Best Documentary Oscar race – Laura Poitros' “CITIZENFOUR” and Steve James' “Life Itself,” each of which I like just fine – can't really hold a candle to some of the very best films in contention, whether “The Overnighters” (my favorite), “Tales of the Grim Sleeper,” “Virunga,” etc. Alas, that's how it's shaping up. And that's just, like, my opinion, man.
But I get it. We must protect whistleblowers and the spotlight of the Oscars is important for this kind of thing, yada, yada, yada. (Not that there isn't a ton of nuance in this situation to be chewed on no matter what side of the political line you fall on.) But…
Anyway, Poitros' film won the International Documentary Association's Best Feature prize Friday night, out of a field of nominees that included the aforementioned “Grim Sleeper” as well as “Finding Vivian Maier,” “Point and Shoot” and “The Salt of the Earth.” (This on the heels of the Gotham and NYFCC wins earlier in the week.) Other prizes went to films like “Elevator” and “Last Days in Vietnam.”
Check out the nominees here, the full list of winners below, and remember to keep track of the madness as it progresses over at The Circuit.
Best Feature
“CITIZENFOUR”
Best Short
“Tashi and the Monk”
Best Curated Series
“Independent Lens”
Best Limited Series
“Time of Death”
Best Episodic Series
“Our America with Lisa Ling”
Best Short Form Series
“Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt”
David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award
“My Day's a Rocker”
Humanitas Documentary Award
“Limited Partnership”
Pare Lorentz Award
“Tashi and the Monk”
ABC News VideoSource Award
“1971”
Best Cinematography
“Elevator”
Best Editing
“Last Days in Vietnam”
Best Music
“Alfred and Jakobine”
Best Writing
“Finding Vivian Maier”
Career Achievement Award
Robert Redford
Pioneer Award
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato
Preservation and Scholarship Award
Rithy Panh
Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award
VideoFilm