In case you didn't hear, the Oscar nominations were announced today. I always like nosing around the documentary and short film category nominations after they're posted. They're usually the only films that haven't been over-hyped. My award for "Best [and only] nominated film that I've never heard of that sounds interesting, which I will now seek out because of its Oscar nomination" goes to...
...Marshall Curry's Street Fight.
Curry wrote, directed, shot, and edited the piece on MiniDV. This excerpt from the website's FAQ is good stuff:
I shot the film on a Sony PD-150 and usually shot alone. It wasn't easy-- I was shooting, doing sound, lugging my gear around, driving the car, getting release forms. But shooting alone also made it possible for me to get more intimate footage than I could have if I had a crew with me. I could jump into the backseat of car or duck into a meeting, and people didn't pay much attention to me.
Also, a shout-out, while I'm at it, to AJ Schnack's coverage of the doc oscar stuff. There are some good posts on his blog about Grizzly Man not being shortlisted, as well as his own valiant, but ultimately unfruitful, attempt to get the nominees for Best Documentary Feature to be announced on television.
In other Oscar news I was happy to see Terrence Howard get a nomination for Hustle and Flow (see DVD round up #2). And it'll certainly be fun to see the producers of the awards figure out how to have someone perform "It's Hard Out There for a Pimp." Perhaps they could skip the lyrics and just have Debbie Allen choreograph an interpretive dance to the backing track?
If the Oscars aren't your style, it's worth noting that Razzie nominations were announced today as well. Their site is having a harder time loading than the Oscar site. Perhaps it's because, as their site says, 2005 was "a very bad year for movies... but a berry good year for The Razzies."