Oscar Best Animated / Documentary Nominees 2008

OSCAR RACE 2008
commentary by Nathaniel R

Approximately days until Hollywood's High Holy Night

Animated, Documentary and Shorts Categories
winners in GOLD

Documentary Feature

Interesting trivia note: One of the nominees here, Ellen Kuras, contributed to one of your all time favorite films (I feel it's safe to assume). She was the cinematographer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The 49 year old has been working on Betrayal, her directorial debut, for over 20 years.

My prediction: Man on Wire merely because it has seemed magnetized for awards. It's had a great run this season. And with Waltz With Bashir out of the way...
My preference: I haven't seen them all yet but my favorite (thus far) is Trouble The Water which is one of the best films of any sort from 2008.

The Betrayal
Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath

Encounters at the End of the World
Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser

The Garden
Scott Hamilton Kennedy

Man on Wire
James Marsh and Simon Chin

Trouble the Water
Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

96 min (USA)

Official Site

The journey of a Laotian family and the aftermath of the US secret bombings in Laos during the Vietnam War

99 min (USA)

Official Site

Acclaimed auteur Werner Herzog investigates the beauty and strangeness of Antarctica

80 minutes (USA)

Official Site

The story of a 14 acre community garden in LA (the largest in the US) and its very existence threatened

94 minutes (UK/USA)
Official Site

The story of Phillip Petit's walk between the World Trade Center towers in the 70s.

93 minutes (USA)

Official Site

The story of a married couple from the Ninth ward (underwater) and their complex journey that followed Hurricane Katrina

Documentary Short

Prediction: The Conscience of Nhem En, AMPAS clearly likes Okazaki's work and the subject sounds like a riveting one.
Alternate: The Final Inch

The Conscience of Nhem En
Steven Okazaki
(4th nomination in documentary categories!)

The Final Inch
Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant

Smile Pinki
Megan Mylan

The Witness From the Balcony of Room 306

34 min
(English)

YouTube Clips

Nhem En was a teen photographer in 1975 who photographed prisoners before their execution by the Khmer Rouge

38 min
(English)

Official Site

a look at the global health care mission to eradicate Polio

39 min
(Hindi)

Official Site

A young girl with a cleft lip suffers social ostracism. A simple surgery could help her

32 min
(English)

Official Site

The Reverend Samuel "Billy" Kyles recalls the last moments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's life and his assassination

Animated Feature
			I scored 2/3 in my predictions but I'm happy for Bolt (cute well realized movie) since Waltz With Bashir got its props in the Foreign Film Category and this is a fun lineup. They're all good pictures. Will Will & Should Win: WALL•E (which should have also been nominated for Best Picture damn them)
WALL•E Pixar/Disney	Kung Fu Panda Dreamworks / Paramount	Bolt Walt Disney
also eligible this year but they didn't win nominations... Delgo (CGI, US) Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (CGI, US) Dragon Hunters (CGI, France) Fly Me to the Moon (CGI, US) Igor (CGI, US) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (CGI, US) $9.99 (Stop Motion, Australia) The Sky Crawlers (Traditional, Japan) Sword of the Stranger (Traditional, Japan) The Tale of the Despereaux (CGI, US) and Waltz With Bashir (Flash, Israel)

Animated Short
Pixar's short is the most well known but well known doesn't always count in the categoreis where you have to see the nominees to vote Prediction: La Maison en Petits Cubes Alternate: Presto. The only reason I'm not predicting it outright (it is very funny) is that I think there's beginning to be a little bit of resentment in regards to Pixar's dominance of animation. Think of WALL•E's shut out at the Annie Awards. This Way Up isn't cute in the way winners usually are and Lavatory, while charming, might be viewed as too inconsequential... mere lark. I think it's between La Maison and Presto so I'm just going to guess La Maison. Now watch Oktapodi take it just to spite my predictive prowess.

La Maison en Petits Cubes (House of Small Cubes) Kunio Kato	*Lavatory -Lovestory* Konstantin Bronzit	*Oktapodi* Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand	*Presto* Doug Sweetland	*This Way Up* Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes
12 min (Japan) traditional animation a man in a precarious nearly submerged house discoveres old memories under the water	10 min (Russia) traditional animation a lonely lavatory attendant finds a secret admirer in one of the stalls	3 min (France) CG two octopi try to escape a cook in a Greek village	5 min (USA) CG a magician's assistant gets slapsticky revenge in this hilarious short from Pixar	8 min (UK) CG father and son morticians have a rough day when a boulder destroys their hearse on the way to a burial

Live Action Short
Prediction: Toyland It has the most Oscar friendly topic (The Holocaust). But contrary to popular believe, the Holocaust as topic does not guarantee a win in any category. It just helps. So consider this merely a safe guess. Alternate: The Pig -- some feel it's too contervoersial but it's also quite topical. But honestly this is a tough call. All five seem to have real fans and if they want something less

Auf der Strecke (On the Line) (w/d) Reto Caffi	*Manon on the Asphalt* (w/d) Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont	*New Boy* (p) Tamara Angie (w/d) Steph Green	*The Pig* (p) Tivi Magnusson (d) Dorte Høgh	*Spielzeugland* *(Toyland)* (p/w/d) Jochen Alexander Freydank
30 minutes (Switzerland) A security guard suffers from a guilty conscience while pursuing the store clerk he loves	15 minutes (France) a woman in a bicycle accident, has an out of body experience where she sees her friends as they learn of her accident	11 minutes (Ireland) An African boy, who has left his violent homeland, has trouble in an Irish school. (Adapted from a short story by Roddy Doyle).	23 minutes (Denmark) A patient is angry about the removal of a painting of a pig in his hospital room. A muslim patient had requested its removal	13 minutes (Germany) 1942 Germany a story about lies and guilt. A young boy thinks his Jewish neighbors are going to Toyland

Last Year's Race

Documentary Feature
Interesting trivia note: One of the nominees here, Ellen Kuras, contributed to one of your all time favorite films (I feel it's safe to assume). She was the cinematographer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The 49 year old has been working on Betrayal, her directorial debut, for over 20 years. My prediction: Man on Wire merely because it has seemed magnetized for awards. It's had a great run this season. And with Waltz With Bashir out of the way... My preference: I haven't seen them all yet but my favorite (thus far) is Trouble The Water which is one of the best films of any sort from 2008.

The Betrayal Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath	*Encounters at the End of the World* Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser	*The Garden* Scott Hamilton Kennedy	*Man on Wire* James Marsh and Simon Chin	*Trouble the Water* Tia Lessin and Carl Deal
96 min (USA) Official Site The journey of a Laotian family and the aftermath of the US secret bombings in Laos during the Vietnam War	99 min (USA) Official Site Acclaimed auteur Werner Herzog investigates the beauty and strangeness of Antarctica	80 minutes (USA) Official Site The story of a 14 acre community garden in LA (the largest in the US) and its very existence threatened	94 minutes (UK/USA) Official Site The story of Phillip Petit's walk between the World Trade Center towers in the 70s.	93 minutes (USA) Official Site The story of a married couple from the Ninth ward (underwater) and their complex journey that followed Hurricane Katrina

Documentary Short
Prediction: The Conscience of Nhem En, AMPAS clearly likes Okazaki's work and the subject sounds like a riveting one. Alternate: The Final Inch

The Conscience of Nhem En Steven Okazaki (4th nomination in documentary categories!)	*The Final Inch* Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant	*Smile Pinki* Megan Mylan	*The Witness From the Balcony of Room 306*
34 min (English) YouTube Clips Nhem En was a teen photographer in 1975 who photographed prisoners before their execution by the Khmer Rouge	38 min (English) Official Site a look at the global health care mission to eradicate Polio	39 min (Hindi) Official Site A young girl with a cleft lip suffers social ostracism. A simple surgery could help her	32 min (English) Official Site The Reverend Samuel "Billy" Kyles recalls the last moments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's life and his assassination