OSCAR DOCUMENTARY SHORTLIST

5 Broken Cameras
Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry
Bully
Chasing Ice
Detropia
Ethel
The Gatekeepers
The House I Live In
How to Survive a Plague
The Imposter
The Invisible War
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
Searching for Sugar Man
This Is Not a Film
The Waiting Room


Some notable omissions, such as The Central Park Five (which, earlier today, won the Best Documentary award from the New York Film Critics Circle), West of Memphis, Marley, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present, Samsara, The Queen of Versailles and three of the PGA's Best Documentary nominees - The Island President, The Other Dream Team and A People Uncounted. You could fill your Best Picture list with some of those off-cuts! Aside from that, this is a shortlist chock-full of big hitters, and we could end up with a final five consisting solely of some of the year's most popular and acclaimed documentaries. Their new voting rules and procedure looks to have done a decent job. Perhaps one of the most interesting characteristics of this list is the diversity of topics covered by the films on it, and the diversity of styles in which these topics are covered. One of the better Oscar Best Documentary shortlists in recent years, to the best of my knowledge.