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, [...]

Sundance 2009 Buzz

Peter Travers in Rolling Stones:
"It begins again. Here I am in Park Cty [sic], Utah, where Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary by trying to bust through the gloom of a nation’s economic crisis and the growing pissy impatience among audiences for any movies that don’t have cute dogs or horror scenes in 3D. What does that mean for indie films of mind and heart? That’s yet to be determined."
Travers follows his introduction with the five movies he’s most eager to watch: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Tyson, Paper Heart, I Love You Phillip Morris (above, with Jim Carrey), and Big Fan.
***

Jeff Vice in Deseret News:
"But for the second straight night, [...]

Sundance 2009: US Documentary Competition

Sundance 2009: US Documentary Competition
 

The General by Natalia Almada
 
Art & Copy (Director: Doug Pray; screenwriter: Timothy J. Sexton)
Rare interviews with the most influential advertising creative minds of our age illustrate the wide-reaching effect advertising and creativity have on modern culture.
Boy Interrupted (Director: Dana Perry)
An intimate look at the life, mental illness and death of a young man told from the point of view of the filmmaker: his mother.
Chasing the Flame (Director: Greg Barker)
Examines the role of the United Nations and the international community through the life and experiences of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, including interviews with those who knew and worked with him over the course of his extraordinary career.
The Cove (Director: Louie [...]