Documentary Short Short Lis

[rain Bard]

"The Final Inch" is about the eradication of Polio.

[OscarGuy]

I did some research and found some interesting information about them.

Two are by past Oscar winners in the same category. Nhem En is about life in Cambodia 30 years after the invasion of the Khmer Rouge by Steven Okazaki. Tongzhi in Love is by Ruby Yang about gay men in China having to go through the marital motions of their culture.

David McCullough is produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman about McCullough (shock there)

Smile Pinki is about an Indian child who has a cleft lip and her struggles to be accepted and the careworker who wants to get her surgery to fix it.

Viva La Causa is about Cesar Chavez, but that's all I could find on it.

And Witness from the Balcony of Room 306 was shown at the National Civil Rights Museum and is likely about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and the progress of Civil Rights in the United States.

These other two I could find no information about.

“Downstream”
“The Final Inch”

[FilmFan720]

Does anyone know anything about any of these? I know that the McCullough short is on the "John Adams" DVDs, but I haven't watched it yet. I will make sure to check it out now.

[OscarGuy]

Here are the eight shorts competing for Best Documentary Short Subject. This seems kinda early in the Academy Announcements department...

Beverly Hills, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that the field of Documentary Short Subject entries for the 81st Academy Awards® has been narrowed to eight films, of which three to five will earn Oscar® nominations.

Voters from the Academy’s Documentary Branch viewed this year’s 31 eligible contenders and submitted their ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers for tabulation.

The eight films are listed below in alphabetical order:

“The Conscience of Nhem En”
“David McCullough: Painting with Words”
“Downstream”
“The Final Inch”
“Smile Pinki”
“Tongzhi in Love”
“Viva La Causa”
“The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306”

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.