Monday, October 26, 2015

88th Academy Awards Documentary Short Films Shortlist


The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that the field of Documentary Short Subject contenders for #Oscars2016 has been narrowed to ten (10) films, of which three to five will earn a nomination.

Voters from the Academy’s Documentary Branch viewed this year’s seventy-four (74) eligible entries and selected the following ten.

Body Team 12, David Darg, Liberia, 13'
Chau, Beyond the Lines, Courtney Marsh, USA and Vietnam, 23'
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, Adam Benzine, Canada, USA and UK, 40'
50 Feet from Syria, Skye Fitzgerald, Turkey, USA and Syria, 39'
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Pakistan, 40'
Last Day of Freedom, Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman, USA, 32'
Minerita, Raúl de la Fuente, Spain and Bolivia, 28'
My Enemy, My Brother, Ann Shin, Canada, 18'
Punkt wyjscia (Starting Point), Michał Szcześniak, Poland, 27'
The Testinomy, Vanessa Block, USA,

To read the press release go here.  The nominations will be announced live on Thursday, Jan. 14 at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The 88th Oscars will be held on Feb. 28 at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live by ABC.

Check synopsis, trailers, excerpts, interviews or other video material for the ten doc short films shortlisted by the Academy.

Body Team 12
Synopsis: Body Team 12 is tasked with collecting the dead at the height of the Ebola outbreak. These body collectors have arguably the most dangerous and gruesome job in the world. Yet despite the strain they emerge as heroes while the film explores their philosophy and strength.



Chau, Beyond the Lines
Synopsis: Chau, a 16-year-old boy living in a Vietnamese peace camp for kids disabled by Agent Orange, battles with the reality of his dream to one day become a professional clothing designer.



Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
Synopsis: The first major documentary examining the life and work of maverick French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann.



50 Feet From Syria
Synopsis: '50 feet from Syria' follows Syrian-American surgeon Hisham Bismar as he travels to the Turkish/Syrian border to volunteer operating on victims from the Syrian civil war.



A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Synopsis: More than a 1000 women are killed in the name of 'honor' in Pakistan every year. A Girl in the River: The price of forgiveness follows the story of a rare survivor who falls in love and lives to tell the tale.

Last Day of Freedom
Synopsis: When Bill Babbitt realizes his brother Manny has committed a crime he agonizes over his decision to call the police. Living Condition: Bill's Story is an animated account of his decision to support and help his brother in the face of war, crime and capital execution.



Minerita
Synopsis: Cerro Rico in Potosí (Bolivia) is a lawless territory, characterized by brutal violence. The miners risk their lives every day, digging for silver and zinc in crumbling galleries. The ones that survive think they’re entitled to anything and everything. And that’s when they go on the hunt… for women. Minerita is the story of three women—Lucía (40), Ivone (16) and Abigail (17)—who work as night watchwomen or inside the mine, struggling to survive in an inhuman inferno. Their only weapon is their courage… and dynamite.



My Enemy, My Brother
Synopsis: The real life story about two former enemies who become blood brothers for life: Zahed Haftlang was an Iranian boy who ran away from home to join the army. Najah Aboud was a 19-year old Iraqi who had been conscripted to fight in the war, leaving behind his wife and son. Both men fought in the Iran-Iraq war where Zahed finds Najah injured in a bunker and decides to risk his own life to save him. Zahed kept Najah alive for days, after which Najah was finally taken as a prisoner of war. Their lives diverge and they don't see nor hear of one another for 20 years until one day they meet by sheer coincidence in Vancouver.



Punkt wyjscia (Starting Point)
Synopsis: Aneta 'rebelled to the max' at the age of nineteen and wound up in prison for murder. Nine years later, her daily routine takes her from behind the walls of the prison to a care home for the elderly.



The Testimony
Synopsis:  An unprecedented glimpse into the unshakable resilience of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through the lens of the largest rape tribunal ever in the country's history.


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