Oscar Shortlist Long Documentaries

3 of the European documentaries from the EFA award ceremony (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4396/) are on the Oscar shortlist. The winning film about Bergman and ”A Woman Captured” – a pity – is not there.

But on the list of 15 that will be brought down to 5 nominations by January 22 you will find Talal Derki’s ”Of Fathers and Sons” (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4094/), Simon Lereng Wilmont’s ”The Distant Barking of Dogs” (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4099/), the Spanish ”The Silence of Others” (https://thesilenceofothers.com/) by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar. To be added and welcomed is that Anna Zamecka’s ”Communion” (winner of EFA documentary award 2017) (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4109/) is also on the list. The rest 11 are films that I have not seen yet.

Let me join IDFA director Orwa Nyrabia in his positive comment on FB today: 2 IDFA World Premieres and 6 IDFA- Selected films among the 15 Oscar documentary feature contenders of the year. Congrats to all!
I would also like to congratulate documentary branch members for one of the best long lists ever.

And then a small PS – I notice that Sergey Dvortsevoy’s ”Ayka” (photo) is listed under foreign language fiction films. I still consider the director’s documentaries ”Happiness” and ”Bread Day” as modern documentary classics. I want to see ”Ayka” but would also love to see Dvortsevoy back in the documentary genre.

https://ew.com/oscars/2018/12/17/oscars-2019-shortlists/

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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