Forget the mainstream films always nominated for Oscars; this year's Oscar nominations includes some notable independent films addressing current political themes.
We're glad to report that Facing Fear, a documentary short on reconciliation between a former gay youth bashed by a neoNazi, directed by Jason Cohen, has been nominated for the 2014 Academy Awards. Subversity interviewed director Cohen last July.
Another notable documentary short nomination:
Karama Has No Walls, by Sara Ishaq, on the protests in Yemen:
Feature documentary nominees include:
Dirty Wars, by Richard Rowley, co-founder of Big Noise Films, and investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill:
And The Square, on the Tahir Square uprising in Egypt that kicked off Arab Spring, by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer:
And for Best Foreign Film, from Cambodia, its first film nominated for the Oscars, a stark look at Cambodia's recent dark history, Rithy Panh's The Missing Picture:
And from Palestine, a West Bank love story, Hany Abu-Assad's Omar:
This is Palestine's and the director's second nomination. In 2005 Hany Abu-Assad's searing Paradise Now, about two friends recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, was nominated for Best Foreign Film.
Also of note is Denmark's portrayal of the devastating impact of false accusations made against a popular schoolteacher, in the Hunt, directed by Thomas Vinterberg.
-- Daniel C. Tsang.
