Oscar picks from the blogosphere

March 4, 2010 by Lindsay Gibb

Just before Oscar weekend we put the call out to a couple of documentary bloggers for their takes on the Academy Award’s doc categories. Here, Jay Cheel from The Documentary Blog and The D-Word’s Doug Block tell realscreen which docs they’d like to see win on Sunday night, and which ones they think will win.

Jay Cheel
The Documentary Blog
www.thedocumentaryblog.com

In a list of 2009′s best docs compiled for realscreen, Cheel put The Cove in the pole position, calling it a ‘no brainer.’ Thus, it’s no surprise that he thinks Louie Psihoyos’ directorial debut will win best documentary at the Oscars.
‘This year I actually think the film I want to win WILL win, and that film is The Cove,’ he says. ‘It manages to hit the Academy-friendly social/political/eco mark while still remaining accessible and entertaining. It’s a great example of non-fiction genre filmmaking that I feel deserves to be recognized.’

Doug Block
The D-Word
www.d-word.com

Doug Block commented that it was hard to make the call on the short doc category because very few of them are accessible to screen, ‘which is one of the great problems facing the makers of doc shorts, in general.’ He does, however, hope that The Last Truck wins because he’s a longtime admirer of directors/writers Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar.
As for his feature doc picks:
‘I think Burma VJ should win because it was one of the most riveting and inspiring portraits of commonplace courage that I’ve ever seen on film. And I don’t just mean the Buddhist monks who marched in the face of the police state but the clandestine video journalists who risked their lives, as well.
‘I think The Cove will win because it seems like it’s won just about every doc award out there. However, it’s an exceptionally well-made film, so I’ll hardly complain.’

For the full list of nominees for the 82nd annual Academy Awards, click here.