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Features
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Documentary Dissonance
By tightening the rules of eligibility for Best Documentary, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has managed to rile many of those who make them.
Friday, May 26, 2006 at 11:20 PM
By Shelley Gabert
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Docurama
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An agent of change
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When the French film Murder on a Sunday Morning (a.k.a. Un Coupable Idéal) won the 2001 Oscar for Best Documentary, all hell broke loose at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The overall membership bristled at the fact that a documentary originally aired on HBO’s “American Undercover” series could find its way to an honor designated for theatrical non-fiction features. So much so that the whole debacle inspired new rules of eligibility.
At a recent International Documentary Association (IDA) workshop event, Academy Governor Freida Lee Mock tried to provide a concise overview of these much more stringent rules. What’s proving to be the most difficult change in the rules is the Multi-City Theatrical Roll-Out, which has been upgraded from a four-city run to an eight-city run (eight cities in four different states). Technical specifications are another major issue, with documentaries needing to conform to 16mm, 35mm or 70mm film, and 24 or 48-frame progressive scan digital format.
“It’s really the tail wagging the dog,” said a longtime member of the Documentary Branch, who preferred to remain anonymous, in conversation with FilmStew. “Because everyone knows that documentary films generally make their money in television. It should be about getting the best films possible, not whether they’re television documentaries or they run on television three months later.”
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Warner Independent
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Marching straight to March glory
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The truth is that most docs, with the exception of blockbusters like Fahrenheit 9-11 and March of the Penguins, don’t make money from their theatrical runs. Some of the best documentaries are indeed shown not just on HBO, but also on PBS and various other cable networks.
Under Sheila Nevins’ leadership at HBO, the documentary form has flourished as well as the careers of many filmmakers. But since she is a television executive, she’s unable to be a member of the Academy, an institution famously paranoid about protecting its prestigious brand.
The reality is that the theaters which run documentaries are usually smaller operations and they don’t use the super high-end DV formats stipulated by the Academy. So, in order for a filmmaker who has already qualified a film at the Laemmle Theaters, for example, and made it to the short list (the unofficial list of semifinalists), they have to essentially pay $30,000 for a 35-millimeter print that just sits on a shelf if the film doesn’t get nominated. None of the Academy members see the print so it’s really “the price of admission.”
For the Academy, it’s about upholding the highest quality standards, rationalized Mock, and that, she said, remains film. But as one film editor pointed out during the workshop, she hasn’t edited a film in anything other than digital for seven years. “It’s the filmmaker’s responsibility to meet our standards,” Mock replied. That was also the take from IDA Executive Director Sandra Ruch. It seems like the IDA doesn’t want to get on the bad side of the Academy, either.
But fortunately, filmmakers in attendance came right to the point. “It seems there is a philosophical issue that needs to be determined at the Academy,” offered one. “Either the Academy is going to continue to clamp down on the distribution requirements, or help nurture and grow documentary distribution.”
While the executive committee of the Academy’s Documentary Branch is made up of documentary filmmakers, it’s strange that they continue to mandate these rigid requirements. It’s more a strategy to keep people out than let more people into the game.
The Academy is also not keeping up with technology and the latest distribution channels, which now often encompass simultaneous theatrical and DVD release. “The Oscar is life changing, it’s like the gold medal in the Olympics except it’s better, because there are few that are given out,” suggested another filmmaker. “But they shouldn’t make it so difficult for documentary filmmakers.”
As the IDA event confirmed, there remains a deep divide between the Academy mentality and the realities of documentary filmmaking. And for now, it seems unlikely that much will change.
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