15 Documentary Features Advance In 85th Academy Awards Race; SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN, BULLY, THE GATEKEEPERS Make The List

Searching for Sugar Man

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 85th Academy Awards®. One hundred twenty-six pictures had originally qualified in the category.

First off, here what’s missing:

Amy Berg’s WEST OF MEMPHIS, CENTRAL PARK FIVE (winner of the NYFCC Best Documentary), and Lauren Greenfield’s QUEEN OF VERSAILLES. It was a great year for Docs, but its sad that these three are off the shortlist.

Below are the 15 in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

   “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” Never Sorry LLC
   “Bully,” The Bully Project LLC
   “Chasing Ice,” Exposure
   “Detropia,” Loki Films
   “Ethel,” Moxie Firecracker Films
   “5 Broken Cameras,” Guy DVD Films
   “The Gatekeepers,” Les Films du Poisson, Dror Moreh Productions, Cinephil
   “The House I Live In,” Charlotte Street Films, LLC
   “How to Survive a Plague,” How to Survive a Plague LLC
   “The Imposter,” Imposter Pictures Ltd. 
   “The Invisible War,” Chain Camera Pictures
   “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” Jigsaw Productions in association with Wider Film Projects and Below the Radar Films
   “Searching for Sugar Man,” Red Box Films
   “This Is Not a Film,” Wide Management
   “The Waiting Room,” Open’hood, Inc.

The Documentary Branch viewed the eligible documentaries for the preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles on the shortlist.

The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live next month on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network.