The Truffle Hunters. The feature documentaries, among the 15 on the Oscar shortlist, all center on subjects over 80 years old and deftly avoid onscreen cliches about the elderly by letting the characters craft their own stories while living their colorful lives.
The Mole Agent director Maite Alberdi did not set out to make a documentary about an octogenarian. She originally intended to profile a private detective, but quickly discovered that his newly hired spy, an 83-year-old widower named Sergio Chamy, was a much more compelling subject. (The investigator s regular mole broke his hip, which led to Chamy being hired for the job.)
Filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine discussed their acclaimed documentary feature
Boys State along with Steven Garza, one of the 1,000 teenage subjects in the film who participated in the annual event at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Boys State program takes place over the course of a week in all 50 states, with thousands of high school students participating in mock exercises to build representative state governments from the ground up. Garza himself was one of the teenagers who ran for governor Boys State’s highest office and the documentary follows his campaign, from his arrival to the final vote count.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
(2010) turns his directing skills towards his debut documentary by exploring every single one of the albums made by the offbeat band Sparks. Why you must know this before heading into this musical epic is that these two tempestuous brothers, Ron and Russell Mael, have made 25 albums over a 50-year period. While Wright sets things up as their ultimate super-fan, he follows through two-fold by placing the countless interviews over numerous live performances. After hearing how much the band is loved by “Weird Al” Yankovic, Beck, Flea, Jason Schwartzman, Giorgio Moroder, Fred Armisen, Neil Gaiman, Jane Wiedlin, Björk, and ultimately Wright himself, one should have become an absolute devotee by the film’s 135-minute end.
Oscars: Deciphering Shortlists With Foreign-Language Docs, a Lot of Jingle Jangle and Wuhan Flu
Everett
The Hollywood Reporter s awards columnist parses through the documentary feature, international feature, makeup and hairstyling, original score, original song, visual effects, documentary short, animated short and live-action short finalists.
Well, predicting the nominees for nine of the 24 Oscar categories just got a little easier. On Tuesday afternoon, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its shortlists for best documentary feature, international feature, makeup and hairstyling, original score, original song, visual effects, documentary short, animated short and live-action short. And, as you might imagine, there are a