US politics don't make cut in Oscar documentary field

Boston Globe ^ | November 21, 2004 | no byline

[weegee]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences singled out an eclectic group of 12 films to be considered for nominations in its category of best documentary feature. Five finalists will eventually be selected to vie for the Oscar.

While Moore's influence could be seen in first-person documentaries such as Morgan Spurlock's ''Super Size Me," which made the cut, none of the nominees tackled the current political scene, though most have political points of their own to make.

[weegee]

The 8 finalists (of 12?) listed in the article are:

Super Size Me
Born Into Brothels
Home of the Brave
Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
In the Realms of the Unreal: The Mystery of Henry Darger
Riding Giants
Touching the Void
Tupac: Resurrection

From another source I found:
The Story of the Weeping Camel

[weegee]

Cross referenced thread:

Keeping it semi-real for Oscars (fictionalized stories -how do they qualify as documentaries)

[angkor]

Touching the Void is about the harrowing experience of mountaineer Joe Simson while climbing in South America.

It recently came out on DVD but for some reason has been on the local PBS station seemingly every night for the last few weeks.

Its a great documentary and an incredible story.

[weegee]

I thought that televised broadcast of a documentary before the end of the year would eliminate it from eligibility.

This was behind Michael Moore's decision not to enter F911 as a documentary, he wanted an election eve broadcast. Of course he never has raised a stink about Fidel Castro's "unauthorized" broadcast leading me to believe that it was actually authorized. The MPAA is big on fighting piracy yet in that case, nothing.