Oscars: Academy Announces Documentary Semi-Finalists
November 18, 2004
The long build-up to the Oscars has begun, with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announcing the twelve documentaries in contention for a nomination. The Academy has picked out these movies for further viewings by the nominations committee, who will announce the 5 official nominees on January 25, 2005.
Leading the list is undoubtedly Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock's tale of a month spent eating food only from McDonalds.
The movie was one of the breakout successes of the Summer, earning over $11.5 million in the US.
Other likely early favorites are Touching the Void - a contraversial pick, since most of the movie is a dramatization - and surfing movie Riding Giants.
The list contains a couple of surprising omissions.
Most notable is that in the year of the political documentary, not a single political movie was nominated. Although Fahrenheit 9/11 is not entered in the category, the absence of such movies as Control Room and Voices From Iraq is unexpected.
Other high-grossing movies not on the list include What the #$'! Do We Know, The Corporation and
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.
The full list of movies still in contention for Best Documentary are:
Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Filed under: Fahrenheit 9/11, Super Size Me, What the #$'! Do We Know, Tupac Resurrection, Touching the Void, Control Room, Riding Giants, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Howard Zinn, Voices of Iraq