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POV's Documentary Blog



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  • Doc Memo: Lack of Best Picture Noms for Docs, IDA's Getting Real 2016 Recap
    POV's daily list of essential reading for the documentary and independent filmmaking community.
    POV Staff 3 min read October 5, 2016 Documentary News Comments
  • Next on POV: The Act of Killing
    As dreamlike and terrifying as anything that Werner Herzog (one of the executive producers) could imagine. Watch The Act of Killing, Monday on PBS.
    POV Staff 2 min read October 1, 2014 POV Films Blog Comments
  • When Will the Women of the Documentary World Get Their Due?
    Of the Oscar-nominated documentaries this year, only one is directed by a woman (Jehane Noujaim, of The Square).
    Tom Roston 5 min read February 4, 2014 Doc Soup Comments
  • The Infamous Oscar Speech Heard Around the World
    "I’m not saying we owe Michael Moore an apology for the way he was derided for his speech after winning the Academy Award 10 years ago, but I think we can at least acknowledge that he was right."
    Tom Roston 4 min read February 21, 2013 Doc Soup Comments
  • 2012: A Documentary Year in Review
    Twelve stories from 2012 that inspired, thrilled and surprised us. A recap of the year in documentary news.
    POV Staff 13 min read December 18, 2012 Documentary News Comments
  • 'The Oath' Streams Online, Director Laura Poitras Joins Live Chat with PBS NewsHour for 9/11 Anniversary
    Watch The Oath online during Sept. 2011 on the POV website, and join a live chat about post-9/11 documentaries with Academy Award-nominated director Laura Poitras September 12 at 2 PM ET (11 AM PT).
    POV Staff 2 min read September 12, 2011 Documentary News Comments
  • Doc Soup: Do You Care What Happens at the Oscars?
    Let’s be totally reductive for a moment, and say that there are two kinds of documentary-lovers: those who enjoy watching the Oscars and those who don’t. I am very much the former, and often when I bring up my interest in the Academy Awards, I am slapped around for my interest in such commercial puffery. […]
    Tom Roston 5 min read February 22, 2011 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: Announcing a New Series: What Ever Happened to… ?
    What ever happened to the boys — now, men — from Hoop Dreams? Where did Little Edie, now deceased, end up after Grey Gardens? Are any of those old guys from Brother’s Keeper still kicking? If you have ever found yourself asking any of these, or similar, questions, then I’m here to help. I want […]
    Tom Roston 3 min read March 22, 2010 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: More Fearless Oscar Predictions – Looking at the Shorts with an Academy Voter
    The Best Documentary Short award is probably the least watched, least understood and least appreciated category at the Academy Awards. Okay, maybe it’s tied with Best Sound Editing. Still, that’s too bad. Fortunately, some of the winners have made the most of this underdog status in their speeches, such as when Jessica Yu joked in […]
    Tom Roston 3 min read March 4, 2010 Doc Soup Comments
  • Oscar Watch: Filmmaker Robert Kenner Talks 'Food, Inc.'
    Over on the Thompson on Hollywood blog today, there is a three-part video interview with filmmaker Robert Kenner about his goals for Food, Inc., the difficulties he encountered in making the film, and his hope that the film will “make all of us think about it because that’s what’s going to change the system.” Check […]
    theresa 1 min read January 14, 2010 Documentary News Comments
  • Doc Soup: Oscar Short List
    It’s head-scratching season again, which is to say: it’s Oscar time. Last week, the shortlist of 15 documentaries being considered for the five Academy Award nominations was announced. And, sure enough, there were some head-scratchers out there. The most confounding was the exclusion of Michael Moore‘s Capitalism. Sure, this further confirms what I said a […]
    Tom Roston 3 min read November 23, 2009 Doc Soup Comments
  • Oscar Wrap-up
    So it turns out, to the surprise of very few people, that Man on Wire IS the doc of the year. As our own Tom Roston predicted last week, Man on Wire won the best documentary award at last night’s Oscars. (It also won Best Doc at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday.) The win […]
    Ruiyan Xu 2 min read February 23, 2009 Documentary News Comments
  • Handicapping the 2009 Best Doc Oscar Winner
    Academy Award forecasting is such fun. I wish I could put together a chart with the various factors that I see determining the film with the best odds of winning the doc Oscar this year. Without a graphics department on my side, I’ll just mention the main variables: quality of film (yes, that matters!), popularity […]
    Tom Roston 3 min read February 20, 2009 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: Counting Down to the Oscars
    Oscar is coming! The nominees were announced late last week and I am sure my POV minders are psyched to see one of their own on the list of five: Ellen Kuras‘ The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), which will be broadcast on PBS in 2009, joins: Encounters at the End of the World, Werner Herzog The Garden, […]
    Tom Roston 3 min read January 26, 2009 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: 2008 Oscar Predictions
    So, as you heard here and probably elsewhere, the 15-film short list to be considered for the Oscar nomination for best documentary was announced last week. All I can do here now is throw out a big GULP; boy, was I wrong. In September, I cranked out my prognostications about what would be on the […]
    Tom Roston 2 min read November 24, 2008 Doc Soup Comments
  • Academy Award Documentary Shortlist
    Congratulations to all the filmmakers on the 15-film shortlist for the Oscar for Best Documentary! Upcoming POV film The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), by Ellen Kuras, which will air on PBS in 2009, was among the films included. In January 2008, the POV Blog followed Ellen as she spent a day at the Sundance Film Festival, where […]
    Ruiyan Xu 1 min read November 18, 2008 Documentary News Comments
  • Oscar Nominations for Documentary Feature and Short Announced
    The Oscar nominations were announced this morning in Los Angeles. Here’s the list for documentary film. BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE NO END IN SIGHT Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs OPERATION HOMECOMING: WRITING THE WARTIME EXPERIENCE Richard E. Robbins SICKO Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE Alex Gibney and Eva Orner WAR/DANCE Andrea […]
    theresa 1 min read January 22, 2008 Documentary News Comments
  • Doc Soup: A New Award for Documentaries
    Ah, the doc world never sleeps. There I was, slowly plotting my next blog post about the January 12 deadline for submitting Oscar nomination ballots: I was going to make an 11th hour pitch for Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, the fantastic doc based on writings by U.S. soldiers in Iraq by Richard Robbins. […]
    Tom Roston 5 min read January 10, 2008 Doc Soup Comments