The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 89th Academy Awards®. One hundred forty-five films were originally submitted in the category.
Of the 15 films, Ava DuVernay’s seminal documentary, 13th, makes the list along with Raoul Peck’s, I Am Not Your Negro.
Rated by TBB 100% Out Of 100, 13th is a 2016 American documentary by director Ava DuVernay. Centred on race in the United States criminal justice system, the film is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which outlawed slavery (unless as punishment for a crime). DuVernay’s documentary argues that slavery is being effectively perpetuated through mass incarceration.
Raoul Peck’s, I Am Not Your Negro, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson and with unprecedented access to James Baldwin’s original work, award-winning filmmaker Raoul Peck (Murder in Pacot, Moloch Tropical, Sometimes in April, Lumumba), has completed the cinematic version of the book Baldwin never wrote – a radical narration about race in America that tracks the lives and assassinations of Baldwin’s friends, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers. Whilst it is partly anchored in the struggle for equality in the 50s and 60s, I Am Not Your Negro is about what it means to be black in America today.
See the full 15 films:
- “Cameraperson,” Big Mouth Productions
- “Command and Control,” American Experience Films/PBS
- “The Eagle Huntress,” Stacey Reiss Productions, Kissiki Films and 19340 Productions
- “Fire at Sea,” Stemal Entertainment
- “Gleason,” Dear Rivers Productions, Exhibit A and IMG Films
- “Hooligan Sparrow,” Little Horse Crossing the River
- “I Am Not Your Negro,” Velvet Film
- “The Ivory Game,” Terra Mater Film Studios and Vulcan Productions
- “Life, Animated,” Motto Pictures and A&E IndieFilms
- “O.J.: Made in America,” Laylow Films and ESPN Films
- “13th,” Forward Movement
- “Tower,” Go-Valley
- “Weiner,” Edgeline Films
- “The Witness,” The Witnesses Film
- “Zero Days,” Jigsaw Productions
The Academy’s Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles.
Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced early 2017.
Read TBB’s review of, 13th here
Read TBB’s Read TBB’s A Reflection on Haitian Filmmaker, Raoul Peck’s Visit to the BFI here