Academy Award nominations were announced this morning, and some of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of the year took their rightful place on the list of nominees:
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath (POV 2009)
Encounters at the End of the World by Werner Herzog
The Garden by Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Man on Wire by James Marsh
Trouble the Water by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal
In addition, the documentary Waltz With Bashir was nominated for best foreign language film of the year.
We must admit to being especially thrilled that The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) received a nomination — P.O.V will air the film during our 2009 season, so stay tuned! This lyrical, emotional film, 23 years in the making, is about a Laotian immigrant (co-director Thavisouk Phrasavath) and his family’s experiences in America. Director Ellen Kuras debuted the film at Sundance ’08, and the POV Blog was there for the premiere. We also got to hang out with Ellen and experienced a day in the life of this incredible filmmaker and cinematographer.
Ellen has worked with Martin Scorsese, Michel Gondry and Spike Lee as a director of photography, but The Betrayal is her directorial debut. Congratulations, Ellen and Thavi. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for you on February 22nd, when the Academy Award winners will be announced.
We also want to congratulate POV alum Megan Mylan (Lost Boys of Sudan, POV 2004), whose Smile Pinki garnered a nomination in the Best Documentary Short category.
The Betrayal has also received two Cinema Eye Honors nominations, which were announced at Sundance earlier this week. POV’s Up the Yangtze, which aired during the fall of 2008, received four nominations, and The English Surgeon, which will air on POV in 2009 or 2010, received two nominations as well. The Cinema Eye Honors will be announced on March 29, 2009.