In terms of awards distributed, there wasn't too much surprise. I landed at 22/24 on my Oscars ballot, less an accomplishment of my own expertise and more a reflection of me taking a cue from critic's predictions (my incorrect guesses: 1917 for Sound Editing and Directing).
While the nominations generally included dreadfully few women and people of color, the winners highlighted that excellence can come from more than just white men. Parasite pulled in a number of big wins for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay, and International Feature Film. And in a few of the smaller categories, Original Score to Hildur Guðnadóttir for the Joker soundtrack (an award that almost always goes to a man) and Animated Short Film to Hair Love, with Matthew Cherry and Karen Toliver, two POC, winning the award.
While I would have loved to have seen a little more love for Greta's Little Women, Lupita's performance in Us to be recognized, or Midsommar to pick up a screenplay or acting nomination, the awards distribution wasn't too disagreeable.
The show itself once again benefitted from a lack of host. This gives old timers like Steve Martin & Chris Rock to go off for a contained bit, Maya Rudolph & Kristen Wiig to wow with a bizarre medley, and the chance to marvel at the excellent and youthful Beanie Feldstein. It also allows for Janelle Monae to start the show with a bop (feat. Billy Porter) or an inexplicable but not unwelcome (I think?) Eminem performance of his 2003 Oscar winner Lose Yourself.
Alright, now to the point of the blog: there's a bunch of documentaries and shorts that are great or moving or unheard of but worth the time to check out. To be honest, the winners in each category are also my favorites so I would start there. I'm halfway through Honeyland and it's unique and fascinating. Kitbull is super cute and gets cat animation right. Otherwise, outside of the animated shorts, prepare yourself for some heavy topics. I'm posting this list to simply encourage people to view films outside of big-budget, US centric stories!
I'm posting the internet's description of each film and where it can be found/streamed. I'm only linking to the streaming location if not on a major platform. If not on a major platform, I'll mention if there's an additional fee. A few shorts are currently not available for stream (to my knowledge).
- American Factory
- Description: In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.
- Where: On Netflix
- The Cave
- Description: The Cave is a 2019 Syrian-Danish documentary film directed by Feras Fayyad and written by Fayyad and Alisar Hasan. A companion piece to his earlier film Last Men in Aleppo, the film profiles Amani Ballour, a female doctor in Ghouta who is operating a makeshift hospital nicknamed "the Cave" during the Syrian Civil War.
- Where: On Hulu
- The Edge of Democracy
- Description: The beleaguered leaders of Brazil are followed as they deal with their ideologically divided country.
- Where: On Netflix
- For Sama
- Description: An intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. The story of Waad al-Kateab's life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while conflict rises around her.
- Where: On PBS
- Honeyland
- Description: A woman utilises ancient beekeeping traditions to cultivate honey in the mountains of North Macedonia. When a neighbouring family tries to do the same, it becomes a source of tension as they disregard her wisdom and advice.
- Where: On Hulu
Documentary Short Subject
- In the Absence
- Description: Documents the sinking of a South Korean Ferry. As a result of the ineptitude of the first response to the emerging situation, hundreds of people, mostly children lost their lives.
- Where: On Field of Vision
- Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)
- Description: The story of young afghan girls learning to read, write, and skateboard, in Kabul. Skateboarding gives them courage and life skills that help them thrive and adapt to the challenges that lie ahead.
- Where: On A&E Networks (need a cable login)
- Life Overtakes Me
- Description: Refugee children in Sweden enter a coma-like state as they face deportation.
- Where: On Netflix
- St. Louis Superman
- Description: St. Louis Superman directed by Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan, tells the story of black rapper and activist Bruce Franks, who was inspired to run for office by the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014.
- Where: Coming to MTV Documentary Films
- Walk Run Cha-Cha
- Description: The film follows middle-aged Vietnamese couple Paul and Millie Cao preparing for ballroom dancing in suburban Los Angeles 40 years after their separation due to the Vietnam War
- Where: On The New York Times Op-Docs
- Dcera (Daughter)
- Description: In a hospital room, the Daughter recalls a difficult childhood moment when as a little girl she tried to share her experience with an injured bird with her Father.
- Where: On DA Films (additional fee)
- Hair Love
- Description: An African-American father learns to do his daughter’s hair for the first time.
- Where: On YouTube
- Kitbull
- Description: A fiercely independent stray kitten and a chained-up pit bull experience friendship for the first time.
- Where: On YouTube
- Memorable
- Description: Painter Louis and his wife Michelle are experiencing strange events. Their world seems to be mutating. Slowly, furniture, objects, and people lose their realism. They are “destructuring,” sometimes disintegrating.
- Where: Not streaming at this time; trailer
- Sister
- Description: A man remembers his childhood and growing up with an annoying little sister in 1990s China. How would his life have been if things had gone differently?
- Where: Vimeo (rent or buy)
- Brotherhood
- Description: Mohamed is deeply shaken and suspicious when his estranged eldest son Malek returns home to rural Tunisia with a mysterious young wife in tow. The emotional complexities of a family reunion and past wounds lead to tragic consequences.
- Where: On YouTube
- Nefta Football Club
- Description: In south Tunisia, two football fan brothers bump into a headphones-wearing donkey in the desert on the border of Algeria. Unaware that two men are waiting for the donkey and its hidden drug stash, the brothers take the animal back home with them.
- Where: On YouTube
- The Neighbors' Window
- Description: The life of a middle-aged woman with small children is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street.
- Where: On Vimeo
- Saria
- Description: Inseparable orphaned sisters Saria and Ximena are fighting against daily abuse and unimaginable hardship at the Virgen de La Asuncion Safe Home in Guatemala when a tragic fire claims the lives of 41 orphaned girls.
- Where: Not streaming at this time; trailer
- A Sister
- Description: An emergency services dispatcher must tap into all her professional skills when she receives a call from a woman in a desperate situation.
- Where: Not streaming at this time; trailer
