The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the list of the 15 movies eligible for this year’s Best Documentary Feature Oscar. Among those on the list (no surprise) is “Waiting for Superman”, a film I liked very much.
It’s what isn’t on the list really surprised me.
“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” is an excellent documentary depicting the life of the famous comedian. For some reason, the Academy ignored that film (along with several others) completely on their shortlist. In fact if they had included others (such as “Catfish”, and the Joaquin Phoenix doc “I’m Still Here”), that also didn’t make the cut, the list wouldn’t be so short at all. I don’t understand why some films are considered “elidgible” and others aren’t.
And this follows what I disciussed in my last blog: how the Academy will only nominate 3 animated films this year because there’s an apparent “lack” of them. If people spend millions (or in the case of animation – hundreds of millions of dollars) making these films, they should at least get the fair shot they deserve in their category.