{"id":10302,"date":"2023-02-23T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10302"},"modified":"2023-05-10T08:09:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T12:09:28","slug":"oscar-shorts-documentaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10302","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Shorts: Documentaries"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/5330266850_a1678cfde1_o_converted.jpg?resize=392%2C263&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Oscar, Academy Awards\" class=\"wp-image-1544\" width=\"392\" height=\"263\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Oscar, Academy Awards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The themes of the Academy Award nominees for short documentary films are universal\u2014parents and children, of whatever species, coming to recognize what\u2019s right, care for the world around us. Three are from US directors, one set in Russia is a UK entry, and one from India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>How Do You Measure a Year?<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aQdIt3lDD6Q\">trailer<\/a>) \u2013 American director Jay Rosenblatt answers that question by following the relationship of a father and daughter as she grows from a toddler to a young woman. The father made home movies every year on her birthday that recorded her answers to the same set of questions. Spoiler alert: Asked at age three what she wanted to do when she grew up, the answer was \u201cwear makeup and chew gum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Elephant Whisperers<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=a0J0b_OVa9w\">trailer<\/a>)\u2013 directed by Kartiki Gonsalves and produced by Guneet Monga. In this beautiful nature documentary, a couple in south India takes on the formidable task of caring for an orphaned baby elephant they call Raghu\u2014\u201ca tender and hopeful product.\u201d [Not based on the book, <em>The Elephant Whisperer<\/em>, set in Africa; and not the same as the movie <em>Elephant Whisperer<\/em>, set in Thailand.] (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81312835\">You can see it here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Stranger at the Gate<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9l9R6Qrm9NA\">trailer<\/a>) \u2013 Directed by Joshua Seftel. A returned Marine with PTSD planned to attack Afghan refugees at their Muncie, Indiana, community center and mosque. But fate and faith had a different plan for him, and again, it was a daughter\u2019s influence that mattered. This one was my favorite. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GPbbl1S6foM&amp;t=0s\">See the whole thing here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Haulout<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uIBmhWsgYnA\">trailer<\/a>) \u2013 The UK\u2019s entry, directed by siblings Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev. In the desolation of the Siberian Arctic, marine biologist Maxim Chakilev is waiting to observe the annual migration of the walrus population. He makes the melancholy discovery that warming sea temperatures are forcing the walruses to swim the entire distance, with no ice to rest on, much to their detriment. Have you ever seen 90,000 walruses at one time? Now you can! Just be grateful Hollywood never perfected Smell-O-Vision. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8mKBZ9dy5fQ\">see the whole thing here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Martha Mitchell Effect<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0SYWxQ62AUM\">trailer<\/a>) \u2013 Directed by Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison \u2013 Martha was the outspoken wife of Richard Nixon\u2019s Attorney General, John Mitchell. She didn\u2019t like what she saw of that administration\u2019s illegal activities with Watergate and said so. They tried to silence her, claiming she was an alcoholic, mentally unstable, and generally damaging her reputation. (But, as Woody Allen once said, \u201cJust because you\u2019re paranoid doesn\u2019t mean no one\u2019s following you.\u201d) (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81488054\">You can see it here<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The themes of the Academy Award nominees for short documentary films are universal\u2014parents and children, of whatever species, coming to recognize what\u2019s right, care for the world around us. Three are from US directors, one set in Russia is a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10302\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Nature, politics, growing up, and people coming to an understanding of themselves--all themes of the outstanding short documentaries up for Oscars this year. 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