My Award nominations: Documentary

As is the case every year, I never get to see as many documentaries as I should like. This shortlist is more representative of what docs I did manage to see, rather than what I consider the best. If I catch up with better ones at some point down the road I'll probably amend this list retroactively, but for now, my nominees for Best Documentary are:

5 Broken Cameras (Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi):

A true testament to the spirit of documentariansim. At once intimate and epic, it brings a refreshingly personal touch to a genre that frequently runs the risk of overly clinical analysis.

How to Survive a Plague (David France):

Masterfully curated from a ton of 80s/90s home video sources, this riveting account of the AIDS crisis within the LGBT community shines an intimate light upon and gives face to what was once sadly considered a "faceless" issue.

The Invisible War (Kirby Dick):

A damning indictment of a broken system in serious need of revision. Even though its expose on military sexual assault is composed mainly of talking heads, the stories they tell are indeed blood-boiling.

The Queen of Versailles (Lauren Greenfield):

This “riches to rags” story does not attempt to elicit our sympathy for the obscenely rich, but it does manage to humanize them. A shrewd and ultimately sad dismantlement of the American Dream.

Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul):

Besides being a fascinating human interest story, it's also a quaint sort of real-life fairytale about dreams coming true and discovering acceptance when it seems the world has passed you over.