The Ellen Kuras-directed documentary Nerakhoon (The Betrayal) is on the shortlist of feature documentaries, a list that will be whittled down to five Oscar nominees. I was also very happy to see Trouble the Water on there, a film I really enjoyed. Not a surprise that Standard Operating Procedure and Encounters at the End of the World were also on there. Here’s a Hollywood Reporter articleon the full 15. I have a lot of doc watching to do.

My predictions for the five nominees are: Standard Operating Procedure, Trouble the Water, Encounters at the End of the World, Nerakhoon, and Man on Wire. Made in America is my runner-up choice, a wild card. We’ll see…

Out of frustration with the AMPAS and its exclusion among doc Oscar nominees, the doc community (rallying behind filmmaker AJ Schnack it seems) have created their own awards and shortlist for those awards. Pretty cool idea, and a way to promote some great films that don’t get enough support/recognition/viewers. Check out more info here. The films that I have seen on this list are pretty great, and I plan on seeing the rest of these that I haven’t already seen.

I’m going to see Billy the Kid (photo below) directed by Jennifer Venditti this Saturday at Film Streams. She’s doing a Q & A after the screening.