Documentary Short Film Nominees
Freeheld	La Corona / The Crown	Salim Baba	Sari’s Mother
lesbian drama about legal battles for pension benefits	a competition to be crowned queen in a women's prison	a man handcranks a projector to screen film scraps for kids	an Iraqi woman seeks care for her AIDS stricken son
prediction Freeheld seems to have the most buzz at the moment but all of them have Oscarable drawing power, say I n ominations 4 Finalists that were not selected Body& Soul: Diana & Kathy -two women who fight for housing for people with disabilities If It Happens -unknown subject matter Ochberg’s Orphans -post Russian Revolution, a businessman rescues children Portraits of a Lady -unknown subject matter

 

Documentary Feature Film Nominees
No End in Sight	Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience	Sicko	Taxi to the Dark Side	War/Dance
Prediction: Taxi to the Dark Side seems to be on the tip of a lot of tongues and Sicko was a hit but cumulative buzz over the season leads me to believe that this is No End in Sight's to lose. But really any one of the five could win.
10 Finalists that were not selected "Autism: The Musical"  “Body of War” “For the Bible Tells Me So” “Lake of Fire” “Nanking” “Please Vote for Me” “The Price of Sugar” “A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman” “The Rape of Europa” "White Light / Black Rain"

 

 

Live Action Short Nominees
At Night	The Substitute	The Mozart of Pickpockets	Tanghi Argentini	The Tonto Woman
predictions: I'm going with The Tonto Woman, but I have sadly not had time for much research on this category this year. Tanghi Argetini uses a well worn businessman learns to dance formula... but the Osars aren't against formula so it might take it. The only film I've seen here is The Substitute but I would be very surprised to see it winning since it's essentially a short twisty one joke comedy nominations I couldn't find any "finalists" list so I'm not predicting. There are thousands of live action shorts made each year.

 

Animated Short Film
I Met the Walrus	Madame Tutli Putli	Even Pigeons Go To Heaven	My Love	Peter and the Wolf
(2D, 5 minutes) stream of conscious line drawings. smart and effective (official site)	(stop motion, 17 min) painstakingly detailed, evocative and rich (see it)	(CG, 9 minutes) a man is conned into buying a machine that will take him to heaven (see it)	(26 minutes, not sure of the technique but it's beautiful -like moving paintings) Aleksandr Petrov is a previous winner for Old Man and the Sea (promo)	(stop motion, 29 minutes) an adaptation of the famous oft adapted musical work (official site)
predictions: I think the inventive anti-war and inventive I Met the Walrus, which uses superfast illustrations over audio of a John Lennon interview is going to win. If there's a spoiler I'm guessing it's My Love due to past love for Petrov and its unique time intensive style. pre nominations I couldn't find any "finalists" list this year but I do feel the need to remind other Oscar watchers that EVERYTHING WILL BE OK which has a strong following now was actually eligible last year and was passed over, so it was not snubbed --well, not snubbed this year ;)

 

 

Animated Feature Film
1	2	3
PERSEPOLIS (SPC)	RATATOUILLE (Pixar)	SURF'S UP (SONY)
Wins: NYFCC, nyfco, LAFCA (tie)	Wins: DC, GG, BFCA, LAFCA (tie)
prediction: Ratatouille obviously takes another one for Pixar