Oscar 2010: Documentary Feature Semi-Finalists

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the 15 semi-finalists in the 2010 Academy Awards’ Documentary Feature category. Eighty-nine films had been in the running.
The 15 documentary feature semi-finalists are:

The Beaches of Agnes, Agnès Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris)

Burma VJ, Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films)

The Cove, Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society)

Every Little Step, James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment)

Facing Ali, Pete McCormack, director (Network Films Inc.)

Food, Inc., Robert Kenner, director (Robert Kenner Films)

Garbage Dreams, Mai Iskander, director (Iskander Films, Inc.)

Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, Mark N. Hopkins, director (Red Floor Pictures LLC)

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Judith Ehrlich [...]

Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Documentary

BEST DOCUMENTARY

The Beaches of Agnès, Agnès Varda
Veteran filmmaker Agnès Varda remembers her life’s beaches, sand dunes, sun rays, and more.

Burma VJ, Anders Østergaard
In 2007, thousands of monks took to the streets of Burma to protest the military government’s brutal anti-democratic policies.

The Cove, Louie Psihoyos
Beautiful, intelligent dolphins are abused and slaughtered to provide entertainment and fodder for ugly, stupid people. The bloody cove of the title is located near Taijii, Japan, where the government does nothing to stop the slaughter.

Food, Inc., Robert Kenner
The distasteful food industry and their government accomplices vs. your health

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
Daniel Ellsberg, the Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers, undemocracy at work, [...]

European Film Awards 2009: Best Documentary Nominations

The European Film Academy has announced the ten non-fiction features up for the 2009 Prix Arte for Best European Documentary.

The nominated documentaries are:

THE BEACHES OF AGNES (Les Plages d’Agnès)
Agnès Varda, France

BELOW SEA LEVEL, Gianfranco Rosi, Italy / USA

BURMA VJ, Anders Østergaard, Denmark

COOKING HISTORY (Ako Sa Varia Dejiny)
Peter Kerekes, Slovakia / Austria / Czech Republic

THE DAMNED OF THE SEA (Les Damnés de la Mer)
Jawad Rhalib, Belgium

DEFAMATION, Yoav Shamir, Denmark / Austria / Israel / USA

THE HEART OF JENIN (Das Herz von Jenin)
Leon Geller & Marcus Vetter, Germany

PIANOMANIA, Lilian Franck & Robert Cibis, Germany / Austria

THE SOUND OF INSECTS – RECORD OF A MUMMY
[...]

Agnès Varda Aero Schedule II

Agnès Varda at the Aero: Part I
Friday, June 26 – 7:30 PM
Los Angeles-Inspired:
LIONS LOVE (AND LIES), 1969, Ciné-Tamaris, 110 min. A blissed-out experiment in anarchy and illusion, featuring Warhol superstar Viva (from LONESOME COWBOYS) and "Hair" authors James Rado and Jerome Ragni playing "themselves" — three innocents adrift in Hollywood. Freely mixing improvisation with scripted dialogue, and occasional news reports on the shootings of Robert Kennedy and Warhol, which interrupt the film, LIONS LOVE is Agnes Varda’s gloriously screwy time capsule of L.A. in its free-love acid-tripping let-it-all-hang-out heyday. In English.
MURS MURS, 1980, Ciné-Tamaris, 81 min. Essential viewing for all Angelenos, MURS MURS is Varda’s lively tribute to this city’s outdoor murals, from the riotous Pig Paradise [...]

Agnès Varda Tribute at the Aero

Except for Vagabond, a 1985 drama that earned Sandrine Bonnaire best actress awards from both the French Academy and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, I’m unfamiliar with Agnès Varda’s oeuvre, which encompasses more than 40 films — both shorts and features, narrative and documentaries — spanning 54 years (1954-2008). Well, I’ll now have the chance to rectify that glaring omission in my cinematic connoisseurship — on the big screen — and so will other Los Angeles area denizens.
One of the most respected filmmakers in the world, the iconoclastic Agnès Varda will be the subject of a mini-retrospective at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre in Santa Monica from June 24-July 1. Varda, whose films frequently focus on women and their [...]