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All too often a nonfiction film’s cinematic possibilities deflate in post-production, where the pressure, both internal and external, to make something formulaic becomes intense. The irony, of course, is that it is in the editing that an ambitious nonfiction film’s possibilities can be discovered, or even created. Here are two shining examples of editors steering remarkable films and filmmakers to find their full potential.

Nels Bangerter

Editing documentaries is a singular process quite distinct from its application in narrative features. Non-fiction storytelling often requires culling from hours of footage, weaving together material from disparate times and places, connecting one moment to another even if they were never planned out that way. Over the past decade, Nels Bangerter has emerged as an exemplar of that craft.

Bangerter’s credits extend far beyond the limited realm of talking heads: The 2012 Oscar-nominated short “Buzkashi Boys” assembles a coming-of-age story about two...

Allegedly based upon a hundred true stories, The Day Shall Come, directed by Chris Morris (Four Lions), is another comedy satirizing the theatrics involved in the theater of war–this war, of course, is the War on Terror. This is difficult material to farm laughs from and the film is only marginally successful at showing the absurdity of a sting where competing organizations waste resources frying small fish that otherwise may be harmless. If you’ve seen the compelling HBO documentary The Newburgh Sting, which chronicled an FBI probe to entrap three low-intelligence men and radicalize them so that politicians on both sides of the aisle could have a talking point, The Day Shall Come will feel like a less effective way to tell this story.

Not without moments of laugh out loud humor, Morris strikes a bizarre tone, satirizing a ridiculous movement of four soldiers that pledge their allegiance...

Produced collaboratively by the Detroit Free Press and community institutions, 12th and Clairmount is a rare immersive look at Detroit during the unrest of 1967, the same time period chronicled through the lens of the Algers Hotel massacre in Kathryn Bigelow’s horrific Detroit. Directed by Brian Kaufman with the assistance of longtime beat reporters, the film tells the story of common Detroit residents of color as the city experiences white flight to the suburbs. Kaufman chooses to tell the story through 400 reels of 16mm home movie footage donated by families, news footage, newspaper clippings, voice-over, and crude drawings. The drawings, which look as if they were provided by the paper’s courtroom sketch artist, don’t create as polished a portrait as a film like Keith Maitland’s Tower.

12th and Clairmount, despite its name, isn’t focused on a single event. Rather it’s a commemorative film in which...

Welcome to another installment of Movies to Show My Son. This is the blog series were I discuss movies I can’t wait to show my son in the future. I’ll be covering my own personal experience with the movie, movie and life lessons I hope he will learn, and lastly my concerns about showing said film. This week’s film is Man on Wire.

Personal Memories:

In the article centered on The King of Kong I mentioned how I was reluctant to get into the medium of documentaries. That film helped me realize just how darn entertaining a documentary can actually be, while Man on Wire demonstrated the power of documentary film making.

This was another film that got on my radar due to podcasting. When I was looking for podcast counting down their top films of the 00’s (because at that time I was obsessed with seeing...

We are a few months into 2017 and already we had a number of standout movies like Get Out, Logan, and The Lego Batman Movie. Hopefully that is just the start of what is to come. Considering that, myself and Kevin – the hosts of podcast Cinema Geeks – combine forces to put a list together of 20 movies to watch in 2017.

Let us know what you think of the list in the comments below. Did they leave any off? Are the rankings off base? Let your voice be heard!

20) The Lost City of Z

What Can Go Right: A film with this type of setup sure would have to be bungled in order for it not to work. It describes the life of British explorer Percy Fawcett who made several attempts to find an ancient lost city in the Amazon and disappeared in 1925 along with his son. It should be in good hands...

Read More: 5 Questions for Jennie Livingston, Director of "Paris Is Burning" and "Who's The Top?" On Saturday, April 18, the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship hosted a half-day of panel discussions with a gathering of documentary film editors, directors and producers to discuss the art of editing. The goal of the day and future events is to shine a light on the role of the editor in the filmmaking process, build community and celebrate an under-explored and often misunderstood collaboration between director and editor. Panelists included editors Toby Shimin ("How to Dance in Ohio"), Nels Bangerter ("Let the Fire Burn"), Mona Davis ("Running from Crazy"), Colin Nusbaum ("Tough Love"), and Mary Manhardt ("American Promise") and moderators Tom Roston ("Doc Soup") and Doug Block ("112 Weddings"). The day began with a Keynote from...

The Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film (Faaaf) announced its nominees for the 15th Annual Black Reel Awards Wednesday morning. Justin Simien's "Dear White People" and Ava DuVernay's "Selma" led the way with 10 nominations each. They were joined by "Belle," "Beyond the Lights" and "Top Five" in the organization's best picture category. Check out the full list of nominees below. Winners will be announced on Feb. 22, 2015. And learn more about what's going on this season at The Circuit. Motion Picture Outstanding Motion Picture "Belle" "Beyond the Lights" "Dear White People" "Selma" "Top Five" Outstanding Actor Chadwick Boseman, "Get on Up" David Oyelowo, "Selma" Nate Parker, "Beyond the Lights" Chris Rock, "Top Five" Denzel Washington, "The Equalizer" Outstanding Actress Rosario Dawson, "Top Five" Gugu Mbatha-Raw, "Belle" Gugu Mbatha-Raw, "Beyond the Lights" Tessa Thompson, "Dear White People" Quvenzhané Wallis, "Annie" Outstanding Supporting Actor Nelsan Ellis, "Get On Up" David Oyelowo,...

A few days ago, a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri. He was unarmed, his apparent crime walking in the street with a friend instead of on a sidewalk. Citizens in Ferguson congregated in justifiable anger to protest, and they were met with a police response of jaw-droppingly draconian proportions. Tanks and tear gas were rolling through the streets. Air traffic was been shut down to limit press access, and reporters were detained for no reason. At every turn, the police escalated the situation, and looting and clashes between them and citizens peppered the city. This was happening this week. In 2014. In America. But if you’re shocked at all by this, it’s only because you haven’t been paying attention. Wednesday, a movie called Let’s Be Cops hit theaters. The title alone would make it the most unfortunately ill-timed release of the year, but...

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The TV network upfronts have begun and NBC has released its fall schedule. Katherine Heigl‘s political drama State of Affairs will get that powerful time slot after The Voice while The Biggest Loser bumps what has long been a home to comedy on Thursday nights.

NBC also ordered three new comedies including the gay parenting comedy One Big Happy, which stars Elisha Cuthbert as a lesbian who has a child with her best friend (Nick Zano) when he meets the woman of his dreams. It also ordered Mission Control where Krysten Ritter plays an engineer dealing with sexism in 1960s space race. Mission Control also reunites Jonathan Slavin with his Better Off Ted co-star Malcolm Barrett.

The network also put together a last-minute renewal for Parenthood (They first needed to convince the expensive cast to agree to appear in fewer episodes). Furthermore, NBC announced that this will be...

Over the past 12 years, the Tribeca Film Festival has shed and tried on multiple identities. But in recent years, it seems to have found one that sticks: It's a festival where you go to see some of the most exciting documentary work around. (It shows narrative films, too, but its fiction slate is a somewhat more hit-and-miss affair.) Last year's iteration gave us such startling docs as Let the Fire Burn, Big Men, and The Kill Team. This year's lineup (which will screen from April 16 through 27) is also very promising; there are even some potentially interesting narrative films. The topics range far and wide, but some themes are already starting to emerge: Many of these films follow offbeat, sometimes even troubled, individuals struggling to find their places in culture and society — whether it's through creating a work of art, or joining a revolution, or trying to find the...

There are moments of tragedy that seem to spring out of nowhere and hold us glued to our television screens computer monitors, watching a disturbing and bewildering mini drama play out in real time, like something out of a movie. But it isn’t a movie, it’s real life, and when all is said and done, we ask ourselves the same chorus of questions: how, and why, and what is it we’re supposed to gain from all the carnage when it’s over?It’s this process of trying to understand that lies at the center of director Jason Osder’s debut documentary feature, Let the Fire Burn. The film tells the story of the mostly forgotten events of May 13, 1985, when 11 members of the black liberation group Move...

In its 29th annual awards, the Film Independent Spirit Awards once again give film connoisseurs a seemingly more honest precursor to tonight’s Academy Awards. In a ceremony hosted by Patton Oswalt and aired on IFC, the awards once again celebrated “artist-driven filmmaking and the finest achievements in independent cinema.” This year’s big winner was Steve McQueen harrowing drama 12 Years a Slave, which brought home awards for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong’o) and Best Cinematography. Don’t worry, there were other awards, all listed below. Best Feature “12 Years a Slave” Best Director Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave” Best First Feature “Fruitvale Station” Best Screenplay “12 Years a Slave” Best First Screenplay “Nebraska” Best Female Lead Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine” Best Male Lead Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club” Best Supporting Female Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave” Best Supporting Male Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club” Best Cinematography “12 Years a Slave” Best...

Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" was the big winner at the 2014 Independent Spirit Awards taking home 5 trophies including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Female for Lupita N'Yongo, Screenplay for John Ridley, and Cinematography for Sean Bobbitt.

The pair of Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto of "Dallas Buyers Club" continued to top their respective categories of Best Actor and Supporting Actor.

Cate Blanchett took home the Best Actress trophy for Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine."

Here's the complete list of winners of the 2014 Independent Spirit Awards:

Best Feature:

Winner: "12 Years A Slave"

"All Is Lost"

"Frances Ha"

"Inside Llewyn Davis"

"Nebraska"

Best Lead Female:

Winner: Cate Blanchett - "Blue Jasmine"

Julie Delpy - "Before Midnight"

Gaby Hoffman - "Crystal Fairy"

Brie Larson - "Short Term 12"

Shailene Woodley - "The Spectacular Now"

Best Lead Male:

Bruce Dern - "Nebraska"

Chiwetel Ejiofor - "12 Years A Slave"

Oscar Isaac - "Inside Llewyn Davis"

Michael B.

The night before the 2014 Oscars was a big one for 12 Years a Slave as it took home five wins at the 2014 Independent Spirit Awards including Best Picture, Director (Steve McQueen), Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o), Screenplay (John Ridley) and Cinematography (Sean Bobbitt). However, don't take this to mean 12 Years is a lock at the Oscars as its strongest competition in categories such as Picture and Director, those being Gravity and American Hustle, weren't among the "independent" nominees. Some likely Oscar winners were among the list of winners as Dallas Buyers Club co-stars Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto took home Best Actor and Supporting Actor respectively. Cate Blanchett took home yet another Best Actress prize for her work in Blue Jasmine and 20 Feet from Stardom won Best Documentary, proving even the Spirit Awards weren't going for The Act of Killing, though that doesn't diminish the impact of Joshua Oppenheimer's film. Some...

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave pulled a five finger discount at the 2014 Indie Spirit Awards grabbing hardware in the Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography categories. Apart from the larceny in the Best Doc category, the winners in the above mention category (excluding Bobbitt’s work) and the double win pairing of Leto and McConaughey along with Cate Blanchett’s perf win in Blue Jasmine will likely repeat itself less than 24 hours later at tomorrow’s Academy Awards celebrations obviously begging many to ponder the following: who needs the 86th Academy Awards when we have the Indie Spirit Awards? While today’s most pleasurable wins come from the truly indie kudos for Best First Feature (Ryan Coogler for Frutivale Station) the John Cassavetes award for Chad Hartigan’s This is Martin Bonner, and the Piaget Producers Award to Ain’t Them Bodies Saints...

The 29th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif. are underway with host Patton Oswalt, and we're updating the winners list as the names are announced. Early winners include Jared Leto, for his supporting turn in "Dallas Buyers Club," "Fruitvale Station" for best first feature, and "Nebraska" writer Bob Nelson, who picked up a trophy for best first screenplay. So far, "12 Years a Slave" has picked up four awards, namely supporting actress for Lupita Nyong'o, best director, best screenplay and best cinematography.  Here's the list of nominees: Best Feature "All is Lost" "Frances Ha" "Inside Llewyn Davis" "Nebraska" "12 Years a Slave" Best Director J.C. Chandor, "All is Lost" Jeff Nichols, "Mud" Alexander Payne, "Nebraska" Winner: Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave" Shane Carruth, "Upstream Color" Best First Feature "Blue Caprice" "Concussion" Winner: "Fruitvale Station" "Una Noche" "Wadjda" Best Screenplay "Before Midnight" "Blue Jasmine" "Enough Said" "The Spectacular Now" Winner:...

Documentaries sometimes get a bad rap from cinephiles, and it’s not hard to see why. Everyone remembers the dreadfully dull docs they were forced to sit through in high school, and many of the titles out there today aren’t much better. An unfortunate amount are one-sided, deceitful, manipulative and just plain bad. Besides, no one really wants to go out to a theater and get lectured about this or that for an hour and a half. That’s not fun, and very few people do it intentionally. However, documentaries aren’t all bad. In fact, documentaries done right can be better than your average action thriller. I’d even take the stand that a movie capable of both educating and entertaining its audience is one of the best (and hardest to master) forms of cinema.

All of this brings me to Let the Fire Burn, one of the...

 

The Austin Film Society has a few more screenings of the restored version of Herzog's Nosferatu this weekend. You can catch it this evening and again on Sunday at the Marchesa. The same can be said of Truffaut's Bed & Board, while the acclaimed new release Let The Fire Burn screens on Tuesday for Doc Nights. Richard Linklater had to travel to Berlin for a screening of his new film Boyhood, so he's recorded a special video introduction to Wednesday evening's 35mm presentation of Valley Girl and Lars Nilsen will hold down the post-film discussion with Louis Black. 

The Alamo Ritz is bringing West Side Story back to the big screen for the next week, just in time to get you ready for Valentine's Day. They'll be screening a 70mm print, presumably the same one that played last year which was in absolutely beautiful condition. Also at the Ritz this week:...

There are moments of tragedy that seem to spring out of nowhere and hold us glued to our television screens computer monitors, watching a disturbing and bewildering mini drama play out in real time, like something out of a movie. But it isn’t a movie, it’s real life, and when all is said and done, we ask ourselves the same chorus of questions: how, and why, and what is it we’re supposed to gain from all the carnage when it’s over?It’s this process of trying to understand that lies at the center of director Jason Osder’s debut documentary feature, Let the Fire Burn. The film tells the story of the mostly forgotten events of May 13, 1985, when 11 members of the black liberation group Move...

Sundance 2014 is officially in the books, and while there wasn’t any kind of big $10 million distribution deal, films like Boyhood, Whiplash, and Frank had receptions warmer than the bizarre Utah weather over the past 10 days, guaranteeing we’ll be talking about them through the rest of the year.

But that’s the narrative side of things. When it comes to documentaries, Sundance is traditionally one of the most fruitful film festivals in the world. Here are ten of the most interesting and best received non-fiction titles to keep an eye on in 2014:

Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory

The subtitle says it all for this year’s U.S. Documentary Audience Award winner. In Alive Inside, a social worker brings iPods to elderly men and women suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and the sounds of their youth actually “awaken” them. As one might expect,...

Congrats to Shaka King on his Someone To Watch Film Independent Spirit award, which includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. Also, Jason Osder's Let The Fire Burn received the Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award, which comes with a $25,000 unrestricted grant as well. The news was announced over the weekend by the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, Film Independent, and the Los Angeles Film Festival, at the annual Spirit Awards Nominee Brunch held at Boa Steakhouse in West Hollywood. Spirit Awards Honorary Chairperson Angela Bassett and actors Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola hosted the event and handed out the honors. “It’s an honor to have Angela...

The organisation’s top brass announced on January 11 the recipients of the three Spirit Awards filmmaker grants at the annual Spirit Awards Nominee Brunch in Los Angeles.

Toby Halbrooks and James M Johnston received the Piaget Producers Award, which includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.

Jason Osder, director of Let The Fire Burn, received the Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award carrying a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Stella Artois.

Shaka King, director of Newlyweeds (pictured), received the Someone To Watch Award, which includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

“Supporting emerging film-makers is a cornerstone of our organisation’s mission,” said Film Independent president Josh Welsh. “These grants help ensure that their independent creativity can shine on. Congratulations to all the finalists and recipients.”...

Winners of the 7th Annual Cinema Eye Honors, recognizing the best documentaries of the year, were revealed and Joshua Oppenheimer's "The Act of Killing" (one of my faves of 2013) won the Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking while Sarah Polley took home the Outstanding Achievement in Direction for "Stories We Tell."

Another big winner was Zachary Heinzerling's "Cutie and the Boxer" which won Outstanding Debut for Heinzerling, Outstanding Graphics and Animation for production company Art Jail and Outstanding Original Score for Yasuaki Shimizu.

Incidentally, all three movies are part of the Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary, so we'll see if they all make the cut when the Academy Award nominations are revealed on January 16.

Here are the complete winners of the 7th Annual Cinema Eye Honors:

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

The Act of Killing

Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer

Produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen

Presented by...

The Act of Killing, Stories We Tell and Cutie and the Boxer among winners at seventh annual documentary awards.

Cinema Eye has announced the winners of its seventh annual awards for nonfiction film-making.

Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing was named Outstanding Feature, while Sarah Polley took home Outstanding Director for Stories We Tell.

Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer led the field with three awards for Outstanding Debut, Outstanding Graphics and Animation for Art Jail and Outstanding Original Score for Yasuaki Shimizu.

Nels Bangerter was presented with the Outstanding Editing award for Let the Fire Burn by Thelma Schoomaker, who commented that she could not have cut the improvisations for The Wolf of Wall Street without her earlier work in documentary film.

The inaugural Cinema Eye Television Award, recognising collaborations between film-makers and broadcasters, went to HBO Documentary Films’ The Crash Reel by Lucy Walker, while Dave Grohl’s Sound City won the Audience...

In the past few months there has been some discussion about whether 2013 marked a “renaissance” in that hard-to-pin-down genre known as “black film”. It’s been established, of course, that while we did get movies like The Butler, Baggage Claim, Best Man Holiday and 12 Years a Slave, to lump all those films under ghettoizing terms, like, for instance, “race-themed,” was to ignore the diversity in the kinds of stories being told, and ultimately downplay the fact that we actually still have a very long way to go. There are movies telling black stories, our stories, that I’ve loved this year, films that have easily found a spot on my "best of" lists, including Let the Fire Burn, La...

Deborah is a dear friend, family and business, for many years.

She is a lifelong dedicated documentary filmmaker, one of our best. Her docu Oscar and Emmy awards attest to the talent and dedication.

Recently she has been discussing with me what she feels are the current shortcomings in this year's nominating Documentary Oscar process and especially the recently published 'short list' by the Academy.

We are very interested in hearing your feedback or comments on this issue which is Not likely to be discussed or raised in any other forum but which we consider Very important!!

Following is her statement on the present situation and the omission of certain very important titles from the AMPAS 'short list' of this year's documentaries..

by Deborah Shaffer -

As an Academy Award-winning documentary director and member of the doc branch of AMPAS, I was the lucky recipient of all 149 qualified documentaries in 2013. It has certainly been one of the more bountiful and exciting years ever. I wish that, as with fiction features, we had the option to nominate up to 10 titles. There are certainly enough excellent, strong candidates to fill a slate of 10. But there is something about this year's short list that has made me sad and disappointed and I don't know whether the fault lies in the process or the end result, but it's certainly the latter where it shows up.

Among the qualified films this year were an incredibly strong number of docs on African American history and culture, including Let the Fire Burn, The Trials of Muhammad Ali, Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, Gideon's Army, The New Black, and American Promise. Not One Of These Films Is On The Short List despite having been recognized at numerous other festivals and year end award events. It suggests a distressing pattern of oversight, and even more disappointing since 4 of the above films were directed by Black women.

I don't have any quick or easy solutions about how to address this. We are all bemoaning the nearly impossible burden of watching approximately 150 documentaries, yet I don't think anyone wants to go back to the bad old committee system. Certainly continuing the trend to diversifying the branch membership across gender, age, and race should help. Personally I would also like to see a system where fewer films qualify, making it more possible for more members to screen those docs that do make it through the gate.

As it stands now, anyone with enough money to four wall a theatrical opening in New York and La can meet the qualifications, essentially buying their way into the Oscar pool. There should be a way to close this loophole, which I estimate would cut the numbers by at least one third to one half. Our field has grown so much in recent years, and the overall quality of the films that have made it to the short list is staggeringly high. We need to find a way to make sure we reward the best, and not just the best known.

Documentaries have come a long way in the past 20 years, especially in the last decade. Documentary film has developed into a popular and visible form of entertainment, while having a bigger effect on society, usually addressing important issues with the goal of informing the public and pushing for social change. Ten years ago, it was more difficult to name 10 “great” documentaries released in one single year. Oh, how times have changed. There are so many incredible docs released each year – most never released wide – that it is impossible to catch up with each – but we try our best here at Sound On Sight. The following is a list of recent documentaries recommended most by our staff. It was hard to choose between the many great docs released this year, but we decided to narrow it down to a list of 10, based on what received the most votes from our end-year...

‘Her’ movie tops 2013 San Diego Film Critics Awards (Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Her’) The San Diego Film Critics Society has released its list of 2013 nominees and winners. The nominations themselves were quite eclectic, ranging from Best Actress nominee Brie Larson for Short Term 12 to Best Film nominee Gravity. The list of winners, however, tended to be more mainstream. For instance, Warner Bros.’ Spike Jonze-directed Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a man who falls in love with a Scarlett Johansson-voiced computer, was chosen as the Best Film of 2013, in addition to receiving honors for Best Original Screenplay (also Spike Jonze) and Best Score (Arcade Fire). Alfonso Cuarón was the Best Director for another Warner Bros. release, Gravity, a 3D space action melodrama about an astronaut and bereaved Mom (Sandra Bullock) who learns that, no matter what, Life Is Worth Living. George Clooney co-stars. Among the other San Diego Film...

Jehane Noujaim's "The Square" edged out Joshua Oppenheimer's "The Act of Killing" to emerge as the big winner of the 2013 Ida Documentary Awards! The documentary about the 2011 Egyptian Revolution also beat Jason Osder's "Let the Fire Burn," Gabriela Cowperthwaite's "Blackfish," and Sarah Polley's Stories We Tell" for the prize.

Here's a full list of winners of the 2013 Ida Documentary Awards:

Best Feature Award

The Square

Director: Jehane Noujaim

Producer: Karim Amer; Executive Producers: Geralyn Dreyfous, Mike Lerner, Sarah Johnson, Jodie Evans, Lekha Singh, Gavin Dougan, Dan Catullo III, Lisa Nishimura, Adam Del Deo, Khalil Noujaim, Alexandra Johnes, Jeff Skol; Noujaim Films, Netflix Originals

Best Short Award

Slomo

Director: Josh Izenberg; Producer: Amanda Micheli; Executive Producer: Neil Izenberg; Big Young Films, Runaway Films

Best Limited Series Award

Inside Man

Producers: Kristen Vaurio, Lisa Kalikow, Shannon Gibson, Suzanne Hillinger, Lara Benario; Writers: Jeremy Chilnick, Morgan Spurlock; Executive Producers: Jeremy Chilnick,...

Jehane Noujaim’s Egyptian Revolution doc “The Square” led the winners of the International Documentary Association's annual awards, which were announced last night at a ceremony at the Directors Guild of America theater in Los Angeles. The film -- which was shortlisted for an Oscar last week -- beat out Joshua Oppenheimer’s "The Act of Killing," Jason Osder’s "Let the Fire Burn," Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s "Blackfish," and Sarah Polley’s "Stories We Tell" for the prize. All but "Fire" also made Oscar's top 15. Here's a full list of winners: Best Feature Award The Square Director: Jehane Noujaim Producer: Karim Amer; Executive Producers: Geralyn Dreyfous, Mike Lerner, Sarah Johnson, Jodie Evans, Lekha Singh, Gavin Dougan, Dan Catullo III, Lisa Nishimura, Adam Del Deo, Khalil Noujaim, Alexandra Johnes, Jeff Skol; Noujaim Films, Netflix Originals Best Short Award Slomo Director: Josh Izenberg; Producer: Amanda Micheli; Executive Producer: Neil Izenberg; Big Young Films,...

The International Documentary Association’s 2013 Ida Documentary Awards honoured Jehane Noujaim’s Egyptian activism story The Square with the best feature award on Friday night (December 6) in Los Angeles.

The best short award went to Josh Izenberg’s Slomo, about neurologist turned rollerblader Dr John Kitchin.

The Ida’s Career Achievement Award was presented to Alex Gibney, currently in awards contention with The Armstrong Lie.

The Ida Amicus Award went to Impact Partners co-founder Geralyn Dreyfous, who also founded the Utah Film Center. Dreyfous’ executive producer credits include The Square, Born Into Brothels, The Invisible War and The Crash Reel.

Laura Poitras received Ida’s Courage Under Fire Award in recognition of “conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth.” Poitras and Glenn Greenwald, broke the story of National Security Agency (Nsa) whistleblower Edward Snowden, revealing the Prism programme in the process.

Poitras is currently in Berlin editing a film about Nsa surveillance, the third of...

We will be taking a closer look at each of the 15 contenders for Best Documentary soon, but for now let's look at the films that Oscar's doc branch decided to shortlist from that gargantuan list of 151 contenders. All of the titles are rather high profile with a few left field contenders for fun. I was surprised to not see the likes of A River Changes Course, Let the Fire Burn (the only Ida nominee which didn't make it), At Berkeley, Call me Kuchu, and my personal favourite, The Missing Picture, but this looks like a fairly well representative list of films from what has arguably been one of the strongest years ever for documentaries.

The 15 contenders are:

The Act of Killing The Armstrong Lie Blackfish The Crash Reel Cutie and the Boxer Dirty Wars First Cousin: Once Removed God Loves Uganda (Reviewed) Life According to Sam Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (Reviewed) Stories We Tell,...

It’s been an extremely rich year for doc film and while The Academy appear to have included some of the year’s most critically acclaimed items (mostly Sundance preemed) in Dirty Wars, The Act of Killing (Gotham award winner yesterday), Cutie and the Boxer (pictured above) and Stories We Tell (Nyfcc winner today) among their 15 short film list (semi-finalists are then lassoed into a category containing five), there are always a handful of titles that receive a cold shoulder and this year After Tiller, Let the Fire Burn and the too experimental, but nonetheless brilliant Leviathan were among those snubbed. Update: Jordan mentions that quality docs such as Caucus, American Promise, 12 O’Clock Boys and Narco Cultura are no shows that in some circles could have made the cut.

Here’s the list of fifteen.

The Act of Killing

The Armstrong Lie

Blackfish

The Crash Reel

Cutie and the Boxer...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the 15 films left in the race for the Documentary Feature Oscar. A record 147 films had originally qualified in the category. Overall there was no major shockers, with the expected likes of "The Act of Killing," "Blackfish," "The Square," "Stories We Tell," "Tim's Vermeer" and "20 Feet From Stardom" all making the cut (and likely battling it out for the final five). There were a few notable exclusions: Martha Shane and Lana Wilson's "After Tiller," Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel's "Leviathan," Penny Lane's "Our Nixon," Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's "Bridegroom," Errol Morris' "The Unknown Known" and Jason Osder's "Let The Fire Burn" all seemed like strong contenders to make the list, but in the end an incredibly competitive year pushed them out of the competition. Read More: Updated 2014 Oscar Predictions - Best Documentary Feature The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title,...

Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" received the most nominations at the 2013 Gotham Awards but in the end, the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" took home the big award of the night -- the Best Feature award. Matthew McConaughey also beat "12 Years a Slave's" Chiwetel Ejiofor with his memorable, feel it in your bones performance as a dying AIDS patient in "Dallas Buyers Club."

Is this a sign to come this awards season? Stay tuned!

Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) and nominees of the 2013 Gotham Awards:

Best Feature

12 Years a Slave

Steve McQueen, director; Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Bill Pohlad, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Anthony Katagas, producers. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Ain't Them Bodies Saints

David Lowery, director; Tony Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Amy Kaufman, Cassian Elwes, producers (IFC Films)

Before Midnight

Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Sara Woodhatch,...

While technically this was Forest Whitaker’s big night (Actor Tribute plus the weight he threw behind as a producer accolades for a small San Fran based film), if tonite’s Gothams awards informs us on how future noms might pan out for the “bigger” award shows, it’s that there are no tapering off signs for Fruitvale Station, that a Coen bros. film Inside Llewyn Davis has just become a partner alongside 12 Years a Slave as the front-runner for Best Picture slots for the Indie Spirits and Oscars, and that Joshua Oppenheimer should get the ultimate speech ready for The Act of Killing. Ryan Coogler’s big Sundance winner went 2 for 2 in the Breakthrough Director and Actor categories, while the heart, soul and spirit of Short Term 12 in Brie Larson rightly beat out her group of peers to win the Best Actress award. Here’s hoping that it picks up steam elsewhere.

This is a tough awards season! Lots of great movies to see, so little time! I'm catching up like crazy before we vote for the Critics' Choice Movie Awards for the Broadcast Film Critics Association. So I apologize if I haven't updated you with the latest on the awards season 2013-2014! And there were many award-giving bodies announcing nominations.

We already told you about the Rome Film Festival and the Film Independent Spirit Awards, now let's talk about the 2013 Gotham Awards, the Ida Documentary Awards, the Cinema Eye, and the Producers Guild announcing its best documentary choices.

First stop, we have the 2013 Gotham Awards where Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" topped the nominations with three nods including best feature, best actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor and breakthrough actor for Lupita Nyong'o.

Winners will be announced on Dec. 2nd where Richard Linklater, Forest Whitaker, and Katherine Oliver (head of the NYC...

Steve McQueen's acclaimed drama tops nominations in the annual awards ceremony celebrating lower-budget movies, while Nebraska and Short Term 12 also perform well

Its criteria of a budget less than $15m rules out the likes of Gravity, but it was still always likely 12 Years a Slave - Steve McQueen's acclaimed drama set in 1840s Louisiana - would sweep the board at the nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards. The film ended up with seven nominations, including nods for feature, director and actors Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o and Michael Fassbender.

Coming in second was Alexander Payne's Nebraska, with six, followed by Jc Chandor's All Is Lost with four. Inside Llewyn Davis, Short Term 12, Fruitvale Station and Blue Jasmine all took three.

The lead actor category was expanded to six nominees from the usual five, and James Gandolfini is up for a posthumous supporting prize for Enough Said.

Film Independent announced nominations for the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards this morning.

Film Independent President Josh Welsh presided over the press conference held at the W Hollywood, with actresses Octavia Spencer and Paula Patton presenting the nominations.

Nominees for Best Feature included 12 Years a Slave, All Is Lost, Frances Ha, Inside Llewyn Davis and Nebraska.

Mud was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.

In its commitment to recognizing the importance of below the line contributions to the art of filmmaking, Film Independent has now introduced, for the first year, the Best Editing category in the Spirit Awards.

Winners will be announced at the Spirit Awards on Saturday, March 1, 2014. The awards ceremony will be held as a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, with the premiere broadcast airing later that evening...

Adding to the awards show season buzz, the list of hopefuls for 2014 Film Independent’s Spirit Awards was just unveiled.

Hosted by Patton Oswalt, the much-anticipated event is slated to get underway on March 1st in Santa Monica, and there will be plenty of stars to be seen.

Bruce Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oscar Isaac, Michael B. Jordan, Matthew McConaughey, and Robert Redford will all compete in the Best Male Lead Category, while the Best Female Lead nominees are Cate Blanchett, Julie Delpy, Gaby Hoffman, Brie Larson, and Shailene Woodley.

The 29th Spirit Awards contenders are:

Best Feature

12 Years A Slave

All is Lost

Frances Ha

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Best Director

Shane Carruth, Upstream Color

J.C. Chandor, All Is Lost

Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave

Jeff Nichols, Mud

Alexander Payne, Nebraska

Best Female Lead

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Julie Delpy, Before Midnight

Gaby Hoffmann, Crystal Fairy

Brie Larson, Short Term 12

Shailene Woodley,...

Team Fox Searchlight should be returning to the winner’s circle at the next edition of the Indie Spirits awards. After winning with Black Swan three years back, and losing out in the Best Feature category with Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Descendants, Fox Searchlight’s 12 Years a Slave leads all other films with seven nominations Best Feature, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography and three of the four acting categories. Alexander Payne’s Nebraska follows with six noms. Both Sundance (Fruitvale Station) and SXSW (Short Term 12) winners figure among the noms, but they weren’t as plentiful with only three noms a piece. Among our favorite titles for 2013 which were left off the scorecard, David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and Andrew Dosunmu’s Mother of George Saints got no recognition, while Eliza Hittman’s It Felt Like Love would have got my vote for the Annual Someone To Watch Award.

Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" led the pack of the nominations for the 29th Annual Film Independent Spirit Award. The film received 7 nominations including best feature, director, and acting noms for Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o, and Michael Fassbender.

Winners of the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards will be announced on Saturday, March 1st at a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica with the premiere broadcast airing later that evening at 10:00 pm Et/Pt exclusively on IFC.

Congrats and good luck to all the nominees!

Here's the complete list of the nominees of the 2014 Spirit Awards:

Best Feature (Award given to the Producer, Executive Producers are not awarded)

12 Years a Slave

Producers: Dede Gardner, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Brad Pitt, Bill Pohlad

All Is Lost

Producers: Neal Dodson, Anna Gerb

Frances Ha

Producers: Noah Baumbach, Scott Rudin, Rodrigo Teixeira, Lila Yacoub...

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave is in contention for seven Spirit Awards followed closely by Alexander Payne’s Nebraska on six as Film Independent top brass announced nominees on November 26.

McQueen earned a director nomination and will compete against Alexander Payne for Nebraska, Jc Chandor for All Is Lost, Jeff Nichols for Mud and Share Carruth for Upstream Color.

Not surprisingly given the strength and depth of this awards season, the categories are strong across the board.

Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty is among a mighty crop of international contenders that includes Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d’Or winner Blue Is The Warmest Colour, Sebastian Lelio’s Gloria, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt and A Touch Of Sin from China’s Jia Zhang-Ke.

12 Years A Slave’s Chiwetel Ejiofor will contest the lead actor race with veterans Bruce Dern for Nebraska and Robert Redford for All Is Lost, as well as...

The 2014 Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced this morning and it was a big day for 12 Years a Slave leading the way with seven nominations followed by Alexander Payne's Nebraska with six and All is Lost with four. Those three films were joined by Fruitvale Station and Frances Ha in the Best Feature category as I felt the nominations were nicely spread around with very worthy titles getting attention. I didn't notice too many surprises and Short Term 12 certainly had a nice showing with three nominations including noms for both Brie Larson and Keith Stanfield. I love seeing the nomination for Melonie Diaz for Fruitvale Station as it seems Octavia Spencer is going to get most of the Oscar attention for that film despite the fact Diaz is the more deserving of the two. I guess if you did want to say there was a surprise I would...

Exclusive: Andrew Herwitz’s The Film Sales Company has come on to represent three documentaries in the run-up to the Santa Monica market.

Daniel Junge is in post-production on Fight Church, which explores the confluence of Christianity and Mixed Martial arts at ministries that train fighters.

Tina Mascara and Guido Santi’s Monk With A Camera follows Diana Vreeland’s grandson Nicholas as he evolves from jetsetter to reportedly the first Westerner to become a Buddhist abbot. Herwitz (pictured) also serves as executive producer.

The third project is Jody Lee Lipes’ work in progress about the New York City Ballet.

Herwitz served as executive producer on Let The Fire Burn, recipient this week of three Ida nominations, and was associate producer on the box office hit and awards contender Lee Daniels’ The Butler.

2013 Gotham Awards 2013: Nominations (photo: Best Actress nominee Cate Blanchett in ’Blue Jasmine,’ directed by Woody Allen) See previous post: “Gotham Awards Nominations: No Oscar Guarantee (or Even Likelihood)?“ Best Feature 12 Years A Slave. Steve McQueen, director; Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Bill Pohlad, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Anthony Katagas, producers. (Fox Searchlight Pictures) Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, David Lowery, director; Tony Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Amy Kaufman, Cassian Elwes, producers (IFC Films) Before Midnight, Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Sara Woodhatch, producers (Sony Pictures Classics) Inside Llewyn Davis, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, directors; Scott Rudin, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, producers (CBS Films) Upstream Color, Shane Carruth, director; Shane Carruth, Casey Gooden, Ben LeClair, producers. Best Documentary The Act Of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer, director; Signe Byrge, Joshua Oppenheimer, producers (Drafthouse Films) The Crash Reel, Lucy Walker, director; Julian Cautherly,...

Gotham Awards 2013: Nominations don’t necessarily mean Oscar 2014 recognition (photo: Gotham Award nominee Robert Redford in ’All Is Lost’) Nominations for the indie-oriented, East Coast-based Gotham Awards, announced a few days ago, don’t necessarily translate into nominations for the equally indie-oriented, West Coast-based Spirit Awards. And they certainly don’t mean the likelihood of a matching Academy Award nod. (See list of 2013 Gotham Awards nominations.) In fact, in the last five years (2012-2008), of the 25 nominees in the Gotham Awards’ Best Feature category, only seven films — or less than one in three — received matching Academy Award nominations despite the fact that since 2009 up to ten films have been eligible for the Best Picture Oscar. Gotham Awards’ Best Feature vs. Academy Awards’ Best Picture The Gotham Awards’ Best Feature / Academy Awards’ Best Picture "double nominees" were the following: Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker Joel and Ethan Coen’s...

The International Documentary Association (Ida) aren’t necessarily the most indicative of where the Academy’s documentary branch will go, but they’re important and prestigious so it’s always good to see where their members go. This year’s selection of nominees is quite a highbrow collection with a heavy slant towards politics and activism with three very high profile contenders battling it out against a pair of smaller-scale, yet mightily intimidating, documentaries about prejudice some 30 years apart.

Best Documentary Feature

The Act of Killing

Blackfish

Let the Fire Burn

The Square (Nyff review)

Stories We Tell

I am a big fan of Jehane Noujaim’s up-to-the-minute look at the Egyptian democracy crisis, The Square, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s disturbing look at SeaWorld’s animal cruelty, Blackfish, and Sarah Polley’s fragmented family tree, Stories We Tell, but the other two – sadly, two I have not yet had the chance...

Joshua Oppenheimer and Sarah Polley’s respective docs have begun their year-end duke out for best docu of 2013. The International Documentary Association’s Ida Awards have announced the nominations for their Best Documentary Feature category and joining the pair we have the Sundance preemed Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite) and Jehane Noujaim’s The Square with Jason Osder’s Let the Fire Burn. Already selected award winners include Pablo’s Winter (cinematography by Julian Schwanitz) will be recognized with the award for Best Cinematography; Let the Fire Burn (edited by Nels Bangerter) will receive the Best Editing award; Narco Cultura (original music by Jeremy Turner) will be presented with the Best Music award; and How To Make Money Selling Drugs (written by Matthew Cooke) will receive the Best Writing award. The Ida Awards also honor docu in several other categories outside of theatrical released feature length films – head on over to see the complete list.

The International Documentary Association’s Ida Awards have announced the nominations for their 2013 awards, with Joshua Oppenheimer's "The Act of Killing," Gabriela Cowperthwaite's "Blackfish," Jason Osder's "Let the Fire Burn," Sarah Polley's "Stories We Tell" and Jehane Noujaim's "The Square" all finding nods in the best feature category. Not included, however, was Oscar favorite "20 Feet From Stardom." Read More: 2014 Oscar Predictions -- Best Documentary Feature The nominees were chosen by a jury from a whopping 273 eligible films (compared to a record 151 films that qualified for the Oscar documentary category this year). Full list of nominations below. Best Feature Award The Act Of Killing Director: Joshua Oppenheimer Producers: Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen Executive Producers: Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Torstein Grude, André Singer, Joram ten Brink, Bjarte Mørner Tveit Drafthouse Films Blackfish Directors: Gabriela Cowperthwaite Producer: Manuel V....