The Contenders: 5 Outstanding Documentaries Competing At The 67th BAFTA Awards
The 67th BAFTA Awards arrives this year with a full list of great nominees. Only one week after the Oscar ceremony, the British capital will celebrate the big day of cinema. This edition brings us five outstanding works that will compete in the Best Documentary category. From the most horrific side of the history of Indonesia to one of the biggest media scandals in the XXI century, it won’t be easy for the jury to decide who the Bafta mask will go to.
The Act of Killing
It was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars 2014; however, its anonymous co-director turned the invitation down. “The Act of Killing” explores not only the impunity enjoyed by a group of small-time gangsters that killed thousands of people during the 60s in Indonesia, but it also shows the emotions that the killers experienced whilst killing, something that is simply hair-raising. The American director Joshua Oppenheimer spent eight years working on the film, the same time as the co-director did and who finally decided to not be credited for his work. “The Act of Killing” is one of those films that requires a different way of looking at reality.
Release Date: 31th August 2012 (Telluride Film Festival, Colorado, USA)
The Armstrong Lie
Everything started in 2009, when American director Alex Gibney was asked to make a film about Lance Amstrong’s comeback to cycling. However, the project was stopped when the doping scandal came to light in 2013. At that time, when the American cyclist’s reputation went down, Gibney finally put all the pieces together to tell people the real lie. As Armstrong once said, “I didn’t live a lot of lies, but I lived a big one.” The documentary will be released the 31th January in the UK.
Release Date: 8th November, 2013 (USA)
Blackfish
Who doesn’t love the excitement of watching orcas at sea parks in perfect harmony with their trainers? The “killer whale trainer” topic has briefly been explored in films such as De rouille et d’os (Rust and Bone, 2012), where a trainer lost her legs because of a horrible accident in the middle of the show. “Blackfish” focuses on the captivity of Tilikum, a killer whale that was captured in 1983 in the cost of Iceland, and it was responsible of the death of three individuals. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite explores the consequences of keeping these animals in captivity.
Release Date: 19th July 2013 (The Sundance Festival) Image Source
Tim’s Vermeer
It’s not new that someone has questioned the curious paintings of Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer… Directed by Teller of Penn & Teller fame, the film follows Tim Jenison, a Texas based non-artist and video entrepreneur that wonder at Vermeer´s photographic quality and he was convinced that there was a technology technique behind his wonderful work. “Tim’s Vermeer” the six-year odyssey where Tim paints his Vermeer from scratch. The question is: Does the painter remain so incomparable?
Release Date: 31th January 2014
We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks
This is the second work that Alex Gibney is nominated for in the Bafta 2014. “We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks”is a documentary about the organization started by Julian Assange and people that get involved in the collection and distribution of private information. Gibney reveals the story of Wikileaks.org from the inside of the organisation. However, the documentary failed to interview Assance.
Image Source
Release Date: 24th May 2013 (USA)
Additional Information: BAFTA 2014 Ceremony is taking place 16th February at the Royal Opera House in London (Bow Street, Covent Garden). For a full program of nominated movies check out BAFTA 2014 official site.
Do you work in the film industry? If you are planning to attend the ceremony and you need to find accommodation you can compare hotels in central London with HotelClub.
Marta López is a writer based in London. She loves cinema, literature and photography. Follow her at@Martazepol.
Image Source: Royal Opera House
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