The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced last week that the field of Documentary Short Subject contenders for the 83rd Academy Awards has been narrowed to eight films, of which three to five will earn Oscar nominations.
Voters from the Academy’s Documentary Branch viewed this year’s 30 eligible entries and submitted their ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers for tabulation.
The eight films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company.
* Born Sweet, Cynthia Wade Productions
* Killing in the Name, Moxie Firecracker Films
* Living for 32, Cuomo Cole Productions
* One Thousand Pictures: RFK’s Last Journey, Lichen Films
* Poster Girl, Portrayal Films
* Strangers No More, Simon & Goodman Picture Company
* Sun Come Up, Sun Come Up, LLC
* The Warriors of Qiugang, Thomas Lennon Films, Inc.
Born Sweet profiles a boy in rural Cambodia while struggling with arsenic poisoning and dreams of becoming a karaoke star. (Born Sweet received Honorable Mention at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival).
Killing in the Name is about a 2005 Al-Qaeda suicide bomber who walked into the wedding of Ashraf Al-Khaled and killed 27 people, including the bride and groom’s fathers.
Living for 32 is the story of Colin Goddard, a survivor of the massacre on the Virginia Tech campus in 2007.
One Thousand Pictures: RFK’s Last Journey is a documentary on the journey of Robert Kennedy’s funeral train.
Poster Girl is the story of Robynn Murray, an all-American high school cheerleader turned “poster girl” for women in combat.
Strangers No More profiles the Bialik-Rogozin School in Tel Aviv where children from forty-eight different countries and diverse backgrounds come together to learn.
Sun Come Up is a story of climate change refugees, the 3,000 people living on the Carteret Islands that must relocate because climate change is eroding the island shore and sinking their island. For centuries, they have lived on a diet of fresh fish, bananas and vegetables, and without cars, electricity, or running water.
The Warriors of Qiugang is a documentary on villagers in central China that take on a chemical company that is poisoning their land and water.
Last year’s Short Film Documentary Oscar went to Music by Prudence.
The 83rd Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network.
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