2010 Documentary Feature Oscar shortlist announced

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Where many of the narrative features have failed this year, documentaries have succeeded. Anyone who has seen Davis Guggenheim’s Waiting for Superman can attest to that. The last 10 or 15 minutes of the film are packed with more drama than any of  the live action film I’ve seen this year. In fact, it’s on par with those final moments in Toy Story 3.

Now 15 films have been selected as potential nominees for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar.

From the AMPAS:

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company:

• “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer” Alex Gibney, director (ES Productions LLC)
• “Enemies of the People” Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, directors (Old Street Films)
• “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures)
• “Gasland” Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC)
• “Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould” Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont, directors
  (White Pine Pictures)
• “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures)
• “The Lottery” Madeleine Sackler, director (Great Curve Films)
• “Precious Life” Shlomi Eldar, director (Origami Productions) “Megamind”
• “Quest for Honor” Mary Ann Smothers Bruni, director (Smothers Bruni Productions)
• “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films)
• “This Way of Life” Thomas Burstyn, director (Cloud South Films)
• “The Tillman Story” Amir Bar-Lev, director (Passion Pictures/Axis Films)
• “Waiting for ‘Superman” Davis Guggenheim, director (Electric Kinney Films)
• “Waste Land” Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects)
• “William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe” Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, directors (Disturbing the Universe LLC)

Knowing the, um, quirkiness of the documentary selections in the past, who knows if films like Restrepo, Gasland, Waiting for Superman, or Exit through the Gift Shop will even make the final cut. The five nominees for Best Documentary Feature will be announced on Jan. 25, 2011.