The Warriors of Quigang - Director Ruby Yang and writer Thomas have already won an Oscar in the short doc category, for 2007’s The Blood of Yingzhou District.  Now they take on an environmental horror movie, looking at the vast (and getting worse) pollution problems of China.  Only here, neither Bruce Willis nor Wil Smith comes rushing into the last minute cliffhanger rescue.  This is the most likely winner come Oscar night, if not for its tragic story (others in the competition may be my emotionally wrenching to many) then for its political stance.

Editor’s note: Welcome to the thirteenth of a 33-part series dissecting the 82st Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!

By Michaël Parent of Le Mot du Cinephiliaque.

The category that will be discussed here is not the one that take us in the living room making bets and polls on the winner of the praise of the Academy and which one we thought that should deserve the grand prize and/or have been robbed in public (see here an allusion to the great robbery of Avatar at the Globe). This is a category presented generally in the first half of the ceremony and more often than not they are films with little coverage and sometimes only available on YouTube for a wider diffusion. However, they treat of important subjects that regular films and the mass media would not discourse in times of wide audience. This is one of the categories that is directly connected to reality and humanity. This category is the Best documentary short subject.

The Best documentary short subject category was introduced the same year the Academy started to use the famous confidential envelope system, in 1941. That year, nine films were nominated for the award. As subject matters, from 1941 to 1945 most of the films nominated were about the war effort. In 1942, twenty-five films were nominated and four special awards were given to recognize the war effort on the Allied side in World War II. In these cases, the producers were generally the US Air Force, the US State Marine Corps, the US Navy, the US Department of War, the US Army, etc. Since the early years of the category, a producer well known for his cartoons has often been nominated; Walt Disney, a man preoccupied by entertainment but also by human values. Disney won this award two times as a producer. But the Producer with the most brilliant presence is the National Film Board of Canada with four wins and eleven nominations. The NFB won the first ever documentary award given by the Academy with Churchill’s Island in 1941.

The number of nominations is irregular and some years it goes from three to five nominations. The documentaries nominated present realities that are important and generally not presented in the mass media. They show the struggles of human beings fighting for their lives, their rights, and also their fights against diseases, injustice, etc. These filmmakers are witness of the human condition. With their works they attempt to inform the world and help the causes of their subject of films. Their job is more than filming human beings, they participate in the life and they become likethe front man of these causes.

The Film business is celebrated each year with the Academy Awards that congratulate the best films of the year on all their aspects (editing, sound mixing, director, actors, etc.). This contributes to spread the audience and the interest of future viewers of these celebrated films. The Academy Awards is a celebration of excellence in filmmaking but we have to remember that the films winning awards and having success in the box office/rentals are made to entertain, to make us think, to make art, to reflect the world, etc. But in big part the films of the main categories are made to make money. In this specific category, the Best documentary short subject, is probably not the one that makes the most money at the box office or in rentals but these films should be celebrated for their quality of being true and by being made by real passionate people.

For the Ceremony held on March 2010 the Nominees are: (Links on the title of each film is its IMDb.com page)

- China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province by Jon Alpert & Matthew O’Neill

“On May 12, 2008, a catastrophic earthquake hit Sichuan Province in rural China, killing nearly 70,000 people, including 10,000 children. In town after town, poorly constructed school buildings crumbled, wiping out classrooms filled with students, most of them their parents’ only child. But when grieving mothers and fathers sought explanations and justice, they found their path blocked by incompetence, corruption and empty promises.”

With Haiti strocked by recent earthquakes it makes this documentary on top of the topic. But also, what happened in Haiti was even more disastrous and murderous than what sadly happened in the Sichuan Province and it could have desensibilized from the gravity of the catastrophe. So because of its subject and the recent events, I think this film won’t be the winner. It’s all about timing.

- The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner by Daniel Junge & Henry Ansbacher

The controversy of the subject of this documentary may by itself exclude this one from the winning envelope. In this case we often hear from observers that this is already great to be nominated. On the other hand, this is the kind of category that the Academy can be more progressive and vote for controversy. A little controversy can’t hurt anyone with new point of views.

- The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant by Steven Bognar & Julia Reichert

“The inside story of the last days of a General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, as lived by the people who worked the line.”

Go to: My Prediction on the category for more explanations.

- Krolik po berlinsku by Bartosz Konopka & Anna Wydra

“The untold story about wild rabbits which lived between the Berlin Walls. For 28 years Death Zone was their safest home. Full of grass, no predators, guards protecting them from human disturbance. They were closed but happy. When their population grew up to thousands, guards started to remove them. But rabbits survived and stayed there. Unfortunately one day the wall fell down. Rabbits had to abandon comfortable system. They moved to West Berlin and have been living there in a few colonies since then. They are still learning how to live in the free world, same as we - the citizens of Eastern Europe.” Written by Bartek Konopka & Piotr Rosolowski

An interesting and funny true story about rabbits, the Berlin Walls, and Eastern Europe!?! It’s like National Geographic meets the History Channel! This is, maybe on the surface, the easiest documentary of the category, but its broad subject is still Cold War which was not an easy subject even twenty years after the fall of the Walls. It changed the life of so many people (and so many rabbits) that still feels the repercussions of these physical borders.

- Music by Prudence by Roger Ross Williams & Elinor Burkett
“This is the story about the most unlikely voice of hope, singer songwriter Prudence Mabhena. Her country is bankrupt, her body is broken. Neighbors and family consider her cursed. But in music, Prudence and her seven young disabled Zimbabweans may have found a way out.” Written by Roger Ross Williams

The subject of this film is pretty universal; music can help you get out of all the things that obscure your mind. But the subject is Prudence, life is harder on some places on the planet and even with all the misery of it some people are so strong they get over it and hold onto life with music. A lesson to all of us who are more lucky of being born in rich countries with the only matter of buying a better computer and/or choosing which restaurant we are going to eat tonight.

“” All plotlines of the nominees are from the IMDb.com pages of each film.

My Prediction on the category

Since there is no returning champion this year (sometimes it helps to predict a winner) the winning pick is pretty hard to tell. Last year it was Smile Pinki by Megan Mylan that earned the Oscar and in 2007 it was Cynthia Wade’s Freeheld. Well, it was dominated by women for the last two years so based on this thin aspect I would say The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant. This argument may seem funny but I deeply think that this is the film that will win the Oscar. I’m not speculating this because it’s a female director; Julia Reichert who by the way co-directs with Steven Bognar, but mainly because I think the issues of this film are truly American, GM one of the biggest companies in the U.S.A., employing so much people, being a symbol of the country, made so much money, made so much careers so this feature has reached American people and, I think, the voters of the Academy. If the American car industry goes down, everything in America fell apart with it which would include the American film industry.

*And don’t forget to visit Le Mot du Cinephiliaque to see my predictions for all the categories presented at the Academy Awards.

Editor’s note: Welcome to the seventh of a 24-part series dissecting the 81st Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!

By Mike of Spaghetti Sauce and Sweet Peas.

It’s somewhat comical that as a self proclaimed Oscar blogger, I got stuck with this category. I’ve been analyzing the Oscars since 2000 and this is one of the hardest to do. Why? No precursors. Also, most people have not seen these films besides members of the Academy, so it’s difficult to know how each film really stands.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is I’m going to keep this really short (well, it is a short subject category). I’m not going to fill you with in-depth analysis when I simply don’t have any. It’s a waste of time.

I usually go off a couple things when predicting this category. First is word of mouth. Second is actual subject matter. I’ve actually predicted the last two years correctly using that very simple formula. So let’s take a quick look and see if I can make it three years in a row.

Here’s a short synopsis of every nominee that was lifted directly from the Academy Award’s official website.

The Nominees:

The Conscience of Nhem En
In the wake of Cambodia’s takeover by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, a sixteen-year-old soldier named Nhem En was instructed to photograph the tens of thousands of citizens who passed through a processing center on the way to their execution.

The Final Inch
Contributing to the global efforts to eradicate polio worldwide, dedicated individuals in India travel throughout the country urging parents to vaccinate their children against the disease.

Smile Pinki
Pinki, a girl in rural India whose cleft lip has made her a social outcast, has a chance for a new life when she meets a dedicated social worker.

The Witness - From The Balcony of Room 306
The Reverend Samuel “Billy” Kyles, a witness to Martin Luther King’s assassination, reflects on King’s life and legacy as he recalls the events surrounding his murder.

I like two films in this category. The first is The Conscience, which is directed by the only returning nominee (three nominations with one win in 1990). I feel like that shows that the filmmaker has some real talent and probably knows how to make an effective short subject documentary. The synopsis seems also very heavy and Oscar friendly.

The second is The Witness, which is a film that has the subject matter going for it. It’s about Martin Luther King’s assassination. With the recent inauguration of Barack Obama, a subject like this feels relevant even though King was killed 40 years ago. It’s also the only film to take place in the United States, which helps voters relate to the subject even more. This film just feels like it packs the most punch and has the most going for it.

Prediction: The Witness - From The Balcony of Room 306

Again, this is a tough category to predict and analyze. Many times it’s simply luck in this category. Good luck ladies and gentlemen.

I will also be doing my own analysis on all the Oscar categories. Feel free to check it out as I have a good track record. I’ll also be putting on an Oscar contest and will be giving away a PRIZE. You can enter it HERE.

Okay, I’m done.

Editor’s note: Welcome to the twenty-third (and final!) of a multi-part series dissecting the 2008 Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every weekday leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category (or more) of the Oscars (there are 24 in all). To read any other posts regarding this event, please just click on the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!

By Nayana of The Center Seat.

Best Documentary Short is a frustrating category for me. Like this year’s foreign film nominees, these films have not been available to the average viewer who can’t make it to the myriad film festivals (Nayana’s world tour is still several years away). Therefore, you should maybe keep in mind while reading this that I haven’t seen any of these films.

2. La Corona

This is the story of Salim, a 55-year-old man in Kolkata (most of us remember “Calcutta”), India, who supports his wife and five children in a unique way. He splices together discarded scraps of film from movie theaters, as well as trailers and other bits of movies, and shows them on an ancient hand-cranked projector which he inherited from his father. Salim entertains the children of his neighborhood, and apparently makes a living at it; he hopes to leave the projector to his children so that they, too, will have a viable livelihood. There has been a bit of controversy with regard to this particular film: as reported by Vanity Fair, a reporter from a major Indian newspaper claims that Salim, the subject of the film, was misled and underpaid. The charges seem to be without merit, and Salim himself has retracted some of his claims, but the controversy may make Oscar a bit gun-shy with this one.