The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' Best Documentary Feature Nominating Committee has shortlisted fifteen films for consideration for the 2007 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Five will make it to the voting ballot. One will win the golden statuette.
The Rape of Europa
An in-depth investigation of the systematic theft of Europe's art treasures by the Nazis during the Second World War. Inspired by Lynn Nichoas' 1995 book of the same title, the film traces specific paintings and follows lawsuits filed by their rightful owners who are still waiting to get them back.Sicko
Weinstein Co.
Michael Moore's documentary is both entertaining and seriously effective in revealing the deficienies of the health care system in the United States, where countless numbers of people suffer and die because they can't afford treatment under the current profit-gauging insurance company management of public health.
Taxi To The Dark Side
Not due for release until January, 2008, Alex Gibney's documentary combines exceptional journalism with great filmmaking skills to expose the shocking brutality of the US military's interrogation and torture of suspected terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanemo. The film's chronicle of the murder of an innocent taxi driver calls for contemplation of the greater implications of such criminal acts perpetrated by government authorities.War/Dance
Sean and Andrea Nix Fine's film follows a group of primary school kids as they travel from Patongo, a displaced persons camp in a remote and neglected region of Northern Uganda, to Kampala, the nation's capital, to compete in the country's national dance and song competitions. The kids talk about the joy they feel while performing their tribal dances and songs, which have kept their sense of identity and hope alive, as they battle the severe hardships of civil conflict, economic deprivation and emotional despair.White Light/Black Rain
HBO
With the threat of nuclear weapons of mass destruction frighteningly real, filmmaker Steve Okazaki reminds us what atomic bombs did when they were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945. The interviews in which the 'hibakusha,' or survivors, share their stories are harrowing.
