Oscars 2025 – Documentary Features & Shorts + BAFTAs update

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[00:02:22] Hello, Alicia here, and happy to have you on our Lorehounds journey to the 2025 Oscars. This episode is all about the two documentary categories, features and shorts. And as I feel wholly unqualified to talk about this side of filmmaking myself, I've brought on someone who can speak from a much better position of authority, documentary editor Rebecca June Lane. She'll be joining us in just a moment.

[00:02:48] This episode marks the halfway point of our blitz of Oscars 2025 coverage. Check out the mini episode I did with David linked in the show notes for an overview of the entire series, including some important notes for this year's Oscar season and ceremony. And then dive into the animation episode where I get insights into not only the nominated films from the man representing six of their Oscar campaigns, but into Oscar campaigning in general.

[00:03:14] Plus our episode about the Emilia Perez controversy where I brought in some Mexican and trans perspectives to help me explain what all's been going on. Not to mention the nevermind the Oscars music episode where Mark and I break down the score and song categories with lots of clips and analysis and the spotlight episode about Conclave, the film that if the BAFTAs are any indication could sneak in to steal the whole show. For this episode, the usual spoiler policy for this series applies.

[00:03:44] We're operating on the assumption that you have not seen these films bonus if you have, but in general, we're not trying to spoil any of them, but we'll tell you overall what they're about. So you can see which might be interesting to you and bring up some plot points as they're relevant to our discussion. Okay, that's everything you need to know for now. So let's bring in Rebecca. Rebecca.

[00:04:08] And I'm here with our guest, Rebecca June Lane, doc editor and death racer and Twitch streamers. So you and I were just talking about our death racing status. I know you've finished the Oscars. You've seen Death by Numbers. I have. The elusive Death by Numbers. I've seen it. Yeah, for sure. I'm excited. This is the first time I've really death raced super hard. I saw Death by Numbers last night at a festival. I have three films on the Oscars yet to go.

[00:04:38] I'm saving some of the best for last. I have Sing Sing, Nickel Boys and September 5th. Two of which a friend of mine worked on. So. Okay. Okay. I'm a big fan of Sing Sing. I've been championing that one on the podcast. Yes. I have a friend who did some PR for that and I'm saving that for last because I think it might be my favorite. So before we get into the doc stuff, you are a Twitch streamer. I see you're a PlayStation gal like me. I am a PlayStation gal.

[00:05:08] I haven't streamed in over a year. Okay. The life and the need for a paycheck has been calling me, but I'm a gamer girl for life. I love PlayStation. I got a PS1 when I was six years old and never looked back. Well, we grew up in a Nintendo family, but I was always really into the RPGs. And to be honest, PlayStation has just consistently been the best platform for that. A hundred percent. I saw something calling PlayStation the HBO of game development. It's quality.

[00:05:37] They give you quality stories. Yeah. And speaking of quality stories, so you work as an editor of documentaries. Can you tell us a bit about some of the doc work you've done? Yeah, absolutely. I actually, my whole entrance into the film world was inspired by a short doc. Now, I realized that this morning. I saw the re-releases of Star Wars in 1997, the 20th anniversary. There was a box set in front of each film.

[00:06:07] There was like a little short doc that talked about what they updated for the film. And that blew my eight-year-old mind. I'm like, oh my gosh, people make movies? And so I went to NYU Film School. And while there, I took a summer editing class with Jeffrey Richman, who is the editor of two great Oscar docs. And then he went to the cove, which won, which I don't know if you've seen about dolphin hunting in Japan. Yeah, I remember. Yeah. Dark. Hard watch. Yeah. I'm an animal lover.

[00:06:37] Yeah. So brutal. And then Murderball as well, which was nominated but didn't win. And he hooked me up with some documentary people in the city. And I got my start as an assistant. I worked on a couple really interesting projects. One about Ronald Reagan. One about Islamic radicalization of kids in Minnesota.

[00:07:04] Cut my teeth doing a lot of late nights on documentary features. And then started working through reality television. And I've done pretty much every incarnation of that you can imagine. I've done cooking shows. I've done all sorts of things. Then got into politics. And now I'm kind of back in the doc short world.

[00:07:25] And just worked on a film last year, which was a TV series, a three-part doc series about the Girls Gone Wild era that aired on Peacock. Mm-hmm. So it's kind of my most recent thing I'm bumping right now. We just submitted our application for an editing Emmy for that. Okay. Fingers crossed. Yeah.

[00:07:48] And what do you think is one of the most challenging things about editing documentaries, editing in general, that people might not realize? Yeah. I think, you know, specifically in the nonfiction world, there's so much writing that takes place in the edit. But you're given so much freedom to really craft every aspect of the story. I think in narrative, it's always a collaboration. But, you know, you have a script you're working on.

[00:08:14] People have decided the visuals of it before you even touch it. But in documentary, that's pretty much usually always on you. You have to kind of create visual motifs. You have to decide the music. You have to decide, you know, literally often what the people are going to say in the film. So it's so close to actually like crafting and writing.

[00:08:37] I call it composing because it feels more like writing music than just kind of putting a puzzle together. Hmm. Yeah. And what do you think makes a documentary a good documentary, quote unquote? Yeah, that's tough, right? What is good? Good. Um, I, I hate picking favorites. As I mentioned before, I'm a Star Wars girl. So, and I just say all of Star Wars. But when it comes to, I love it all. I'm not picking a favorite.

[00:09:07] That's fair. That's a correct answer. Exactly. So, but when it does come to awards and people are voting and you have to pick a favorite, there are kind of like three things that I personally look at. Um, one is form. I'm an editor. So form is, is something that's incredibly attractive to me. Literally, how is the story being told? Um, some really interesting, uh, uh, submissions as far as form is concerned in the doc nominations this year.

[00:09:37] Um, you know, something like Incident, something like Soundtrack to a Coup d'etat. Those are ones that are, have really interesting form. Um, the other thing I, I, I like to think about is obviously Impact. Like, why now? Um, and that goes for any Oscar film, I think. Uh, I like to think about if maybe in the future it might not be the best film, but this is the ceremony for this year. Yeah. What is important about this time in this year? Um, so that's number two.

[00:10:07] And then the third thing is access. And that's always really high for me as well. That kind of goes along with Impact. Um, something that comes to mind to me is the film Icarus from a few years ago where it was kind of more of a standard doc, but they had this interview with this man who ran the doping program for Russia. And that kind of access is just. Right. Okay. Something a little kismet.

[00:10:31] Um, you know, anything where I would say even, um, the, the short with the young Japanese girl is an example of great access because you're there in the moment. She has such great emotion, um, for the, uh, the, the, the instrument. The beating heart. Yeah. Yes. Um, the access to being there in the moment with such an expressive character. I consider that access as well. So, um, those three things form impact and access.

[00:10:57] If something is excelling in one of those things, I usually give it the nod. So that's how I look at it. Okay. Yeah. So I, I told you, um, when I invited you here that I feel like always the least qualified to talk about or evaluate documentaries. It's always the, the category that I struggle with the most because each of these stories is so important.

[00:11:22] And so it's feels difficult to evaluate them on their filmmaking, you know, uh, because like, I want, I always want people to watch these because I want people to know these things. But also I know that so many people are afraid to watch documentaries because they tend to be bummers. Uh, the Oscar nominated ones. They don't have to be. Absolutely. Yeah. It's a struggle.

[00:11:49] I do a, an Oscar group with my family and friends and I give them links and everybody checks them off. And the doc category is always one that nobody's checking off. And I kind of want to push them and be like, just watch, just watch, but it's a challenge. And this year was no different. Yeah. Yeah. So the way we're going to approach, we're going to talk through the two documentary categories, features and shorts, uh, one at a time. And, uh, we're not here to like, I don't know if you can spoil a documentary so to speak.

[00:12:19] Um, but we want to be able to give, we're going to assume that most people listening maybe haven't watched all of them or maybe even none of them yet. So we're going to give a little context. So you have an idea of what it is and just talk about aspects of it. That's that stood out. Um, and yeah, I did range them. Um, I have no problem ranking things, but this is purely my rankings are purely personal.

[00:12:45] So I have ranked them from least favorite to favorite, but it's not, you know, that's no slight to least favorite. It's just, uh, yeah. Yeah. Well, okay. Let's just jump into features. Do you have any overall thoughts on the category this year versus prior years? I love this year. I, um, you know, looking at the longer lists of the different docs that were included.

[00:13:12] I'm, I'm happy that not to judge. And I've worked on some of these, but sometimes the celeb docs feel a little out of place. Okay. Next to some of the more, I don't know, impactful documentaries. So I was very pleased that we had five stories that I think were really important to be told now. Right. Yeah, that's true. That's true. And we're starting with the first.

[00:13:39] And so this, the first one, uh, is sugar cane. It's an hour and 47 minutes long. And, uh, the Oscar would go to Julian Brave Noisecat, Emily Cassie and Kellen Quinn. And, uh, the little log line is sugar cane follows an investigation into the Canadian Indian residential school system, igniting a reckoning in the lives of survivors and descendants. And this is set in Canada at the Williams Lake Indian Reserved, uh, which is commonly called

[00:14:08] locally as the sugar cane reserve. Uh, it's in British Columbia. And, um, this is part of the, and I'm going to try to say sick whip. I'm Mink people. Sorry. I don't know. I, you know, I do. So I have a Pottawatomie background, but this is just goes to show you Native Americans are vast and different. And I have no idea how to say a lot of, uh, words in different languages, but the story overall. Is all too familiar.

[00:14:37] Um, I refer people back to anyone who listened to our Oscar series last year, I interviewed my father about, um, killers of the flower moon. And we talked about, um, you know, his grandfather's. Yeah. He went to one of these schools as well. And so I think maybe that for me is why I, like, I cried a lot while watching this, but I cried while thinking about like personal things.

[00:15:02] And maybe that I often find if I know a lot about a subject, I'm less drawn into the documentary. Does that make sense? You're nodding me. That makes total sense. And we'll get to that in the shorts later. Cause there's one that I feel very similarly about. I do want to just ask, you said you have a Pottawatomie background. I, uh, read, uh, Braiding Sweetgrass this last year. Are you aware of that novel? No. Mm-mm. But the, the woman in there is, is similar. She has that background. Okay. And, um, and I.

[00:15:32] Oh, I'm not writing this film. Yes. Braiding Sweetgrass in the audio book specifically. Um, she narrates it and just absolutely beautiful. It's, it's honestly a life-changing book, but, um. Okay. I was reading it when I saw this film and, um, they really are wonderful companion pieces for each other. Like you, I had a bit of an understanding of this, but I think what I really loved about this film, and I watched this one first and immediately recommended it to people in

[00:16:00] my life, um, is the investigation angle of it. Um, you have, and something I really love that I think is a trend going forward now that access to cameras and being able to document your lives is, is an easier thing. You know, you have the people who are affected driving the narrative of the story. It doesn't feel like it's coming from the filmmakers. It feels like it's coming from the people in the story.

[00:16:26] And I find that so compelling and so, um, like honest and engaging. So that's, that's the thing that stuck out to me the most about that. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And this, uh, it premiered at Sundance and it won the grand jury award for us doc directing. Um, and then national geographic picked it up for distribution. So you can watch it. This is one of the easier ones to watch it. You can just stream it on Disney plus now. Um, it's, I, it's predicted as a potential dark horse winner.

[00:16:56] Like it's not, yeah, we'll talk about the one that is getting the most predictions now, but do you find that the documentary category is sometimes more difficult to predict? Or is that just me? Because like I said, I'm not an expert. Yeah. I, I, I think for me, I always have a hard time with the winners. As I said, I don't like picking favorites. Um, yeah, I, I think it's hard for the documentary.

[00:17:22] I don't really know the vibe of the voters well enough to know what that cohort. Is it the whole Academy who votes on best doc or just the doc cohort? Do you know? I mean, once, once we get to this point, then yeah, everyone's everybody. Yeah. I, I don't know. I'm, I'm not sure. I think. Yeah. I remember when 20 feet from stardom won a few years ago, I was very disappointed by that. Hmm.

[00:17:50] And I think that we've kind of moved away a bit from the feel good being the one that people vote for, but I don't know. Who knows? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I guess then the other option is like, make sure none of them feel good. Yeah, exactly. To avoid that. Let's just make sure that the issue, the intense issue ones are the only ones up for grabs.

[00:18:16] So switching over to war as a porcelain war. That's the, so the name of the second nominee is porcelain war. It's an hour and 38 minutes long. And, uh, this time the Oscar would go to Brendan Bellamo, Slava Leontiev, uh, Aniela Sidorska and Paula Dupre-Pezmin. And, um, I like to think that they would make a little small honorary Oscar for the dog Frodo. Yes. Frodo.

[00:18:46] Yes. Best animal. Yeah. I was glad to see Frodo was at, um, the Q and A. They did an online screening with the Q and A and Frodo's there. Frodo's alive and well, just so nobody worries. I love, they know, they know the people, they know they needed to see the dog. I love that. So porcelain war follows three Ukrainian artist soldiers during the war. Even as the war goes on, they create porcelain figurines and residents, um, emphasizing the purpose of art during conflict as well as national pride.

[00:19:15] And, um, this one was just, this was a very pleasant watch because for being a war doc, particularly. Cool to see, um, the behind the scenes Q and A and them talking about how they, the one guy is just a natural cinematographer and they like gave him the drones and stuff or in there. And he just understands how to do that. So there's really great cinematography in this.

[00:19:42] Um, it's also they, uh, the porcelain stuff. I really liked that art style, by the way, it just really speaks to me, but they would animate it sometimes. So gorgeous. Like there'd be scenes, stories playing out on a porcelain figurine. Um, and then they also incorporated like, so they incorporated the music was really good. They had this Ukrainian folk ethno chaos band.

[00:20:09] They call themselves Daka Braka who said, here, just take our discography, use what you want for this film. And then they do a live performance at the end. And it just, it really creates the atmosphere of like, you know, it's not just like 20 days in Maya pool last year is, is just, this is a country being destroyed. Um, porcelain war is almost saying, well, but this is a culture worth saving. Oh, I love that so much. So well put.

[00:20:35] Um, yeah, it is shocking that this was probably the latest film and it's the one in the active war zone. Um, obviously access incredible, you know, we have, and again, like, you know, more so even than sugar cane, we have people who are the subject of the stories themselves pushing the documentary forward, which I loved. Um, those animated sections on the porcelain was just such an incredible idea, such a cool little extra thing, you know, to make it special.

[00:21:03] Um, yeah, I, I, I found this one surprisingly pleasant. Um, and I think, you know, for me, it was really impactful looking ahead as an artist and thinking about how to kind of live in a world where things might be shifting, um, politically

[00:21:26] and how to, you know, live up to the best version of yourself as an artist and as a citizen to your nation. So I, I found it a lot to meditate on from this film. Yeah. Yeah. And it won the 2024 Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize. Um, I think is this, it's in theaters probably coming to video on demand soon. I would hope so. I, uh, actually, I know it's showing in theaters in New York city.

[00:21:54] Um, if the firehouse documentary theater, if anyone's listening to New York, you can go see it next week. Um, but yes, this one, this one was accessed by other means by me. So I joined an online, uh, showing of it. They do. Yeah. Just if you, I think probably on their website, they communicate, they have screenings, uh, periodically online. This was one of the harder ones to find at first, but now it's, you can find it. Yeah. Yeah. It's findable. Okay.

[00:22:23] The next one is definitely findable, but still I believe does not have us distribution. Um, no other land an hour and 35 minutes long. Uh, and for this Oscar would go to Basil, Adra, Rachel shore, Hamdan, Balal and you fall Abraham. And this is about a young Palestinian activist, Basil or Basel, perhaps I should say has been

[00:22:50] resisting the forced to play displacement of his people by Israel's military in Masafer Yata, a region in the West bank. Since he was a child, he records the gradual destruction of his homeland where Israeli soldiers are tearing down homes and evicting their inhabitants in order to create a military firing zone. He befriends you fall, a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him in his struggle. They form an unexpected bond, but their friendship is challenged by the huge gap between their living conditions.

[00:23:18] Uh, Basel faces constant oppression and violence while you fall enjoys freedom and security. And, um, so you fall to quote him. He says, Basel's family and neighbors had a huge archive of videos that were filmed over the course of 20 years. And then we as activists were there on the ground together, working together for almost five years. And we filmed a lot. We had Rachel, the cinematographer and co-director of the film who was shooting us. So there was an abundance of footage.

[00:23:45] The military entered Basel's home twice and confiscated computers and cameras. So we were always very, very stressed. It was complicated logistically and quite stressful, but in the end we managed. And yeah, this is what I noticed about this in particular and something that I liked, but I think it'll vary per person is this was a very personal, up close, deep in the details of the situation film. Absolutely. A hundred percent.

[00:24:13] Um, yet another one where the subjects are literally driving the story with their action. Um, my mind immediately goes to five broken cameras from 2011, which was a film that actually was the thing that taught me about Palestine, uh, for the first time. Um, and this is such an, uh, fascinating evolution of kind of a similar concept of someone trying to film the experience of, of the terror in their home.

[00:24:39] Um, yeah, I will say the cinematography in this was gorgeous. I was so every angle, every, even just sitting and chatting. Um, Rachel, if they said she was the cinematographer, just unreal. It was so beautiful. It's hard to find a flaw in this film for me. The access unreal, obviously. Um, the impact doesn't even need to be like, we couldn't, they couldn't get distribution in

[00:25:07] the U S which is despite winning every award overseas. I mean, you know, clearly this is something that needs to be talked about if there's this huge kind of barrier. Um, you know, I, I, I like there was one conversation. There's so many conversations, but just one specifically when, um, the, the two, the two men were, were driving around and Basil was, was, you know, um, kind of chiding the other guy for being so enthusiastic. Right.

[00:25:35] And that conversation almost unedited was just one of like had so much in it and it really blew my mind. Um, yeah, he was like, he was like, don't, um, you, you're too eager. Like you, you think it's going to be solved in two weeks. He keeps saying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and there's just so much in that conversation between the two of them.

[00:26:01] And, and I call it a love story because they really, they really do seem to love each other. Um, and I just found that so unique. And so there was just so much going on there for me. I would watch it again without it being too devastating. Um, it's definitely something you could revisit. Yeah. No, I mean, it is, it's heavy, but it's, uh, I do think it's ironically kind of one of the lighter ones, perhaps in this category. Um, it is.

[00:26:31] So I think though it worked best on me because when I saw criticisms of it, I think it's people who don't necessarily have the context for it. And, um, I do have context for it because like I've known Israeli people who lived in those settlements and they're actually the ones who told me about what was going on in the West bank, which is for anyone who's confused, it is separate from Gaza. Um, yeah, yeah. Part of Palestine and parallel with different, uh, situations going on there.

[00:27:00] And so at the end of this movie, they address, you know, October 7th. And, um, but I would say for this particular conflict that's going on, if you don't have the context for it, um, it might be worth watching John Oliver's, uh, recap of it. He did a 30 minute recap of the entire situation like six months ago. So you can just on YouTube, look up John Oliver, the West bank, and, uh, that will give you all

[00:27:25] the context you need to understand this doc better and, and what you're seeing on the ground in a very closeup way. And I guess I could say there's another doc that came out this year, the BB files, which gives more of a higher up political context in a way just of, of corruption and the government. Uh, but, uh, I think honestly the John Oliver West bank thing is the, it's a good pairing. That's a good shout out. I love John Oliver. I think he does a really good job. I think he has good people working for him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:27:54] And he, he does a good job of really looking at the nuances of situations. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, this one premiered at the Berlin international film festival and it won the panorama audience award for best documentary film and the Berlinale documentary film award. Um, it is, it could not get a U S distributor. So they had like a special, you know, there's in order to be qualified for an Oscar nomination, you have to, um, air like a show. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.

[00:28:24] What's the word I'm looking for? Um, real. Yes. Screen. Thank you. You need to screen your film, uh, in the U S for a specified period of time. And so they managed to have a qualifying screening, uh, so that they could qualify for this award. And now it's the favorite to win, even though it's not distributed in the U S. So as far as watching it in the U S, I'm not sure what exactly the options are.

[00:28:50] It's on video on demand in the, in the Netherlands, uh, probably other countries. Yes. I, I, I, I found it through means it's out there. It's possible to watch. And I should say it also got a BAFTA nomination, the British Academy Awards as well. So that's, that's often a good sign, you know, that tips things in the favorite status or winners. Yeah. Okay.

[00:29:16] And that brings us to black box diaries, one hour and 43 minutes long. And this is by, uh, Shiori Ito with Eric Nyaiari and Hannah Akvillen. Sorry. I did not practice these names. You're doing so good. You're doing so good. Um, and this is produced and directed by Shiori Ito, uh, and it documents her sexual assault investigation and case in Japan. So yeah, you were talking about sugar cane being an investigation.

[00:29:44] I enjoyed about this one that it's a real, it's her on the ground investigating, trying not to like get too emotional because it's about what's ruined her life. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. The ultimate of what I was talking about with the, the, the subject propelling literally the story forward. Um, as soon as I watched this and sorry to be blunt, but I, I emailed my, my family who watches all the Oscars saying, this is the best rate documentary I've ever seen.

[00:30:14] Um, which I know might not sound like the biggest, like a super exciting sales point. Cause it is dark. I really loved the trigger warning at the front. I thought that was really beautifully handled. Um, but it really is. I think because it's driven by her, you know, the fact that she's a journalist, she knows how to get to the heart of a story. Um, it doesn't feel exploitative at all because it's her own words, her own work, her own experience.

[00:30:44] Um, and her trying to find her own peace and her own justice. I thought it was just marvelously done. Yeah. It, it, it, it was incredibly impressive to me. I would recommend it to absolutely everybody. There's so many similarities in the legal system in terms of how they deal with sexual assault, uh, claims from women in Japan and in America.

[00:31:06] Um, I don't know how things are where you are, but there's so much there to consider in terms of justice and, and how to, uh, address harm. Um, I think you, in your notes, you're going to mention shout out to the doorman, no spoilers, but oh my gosh. Like, was that just, I think I cheered when, yeah, a little bit that phone call.

[00:31:31] I mean, no spoilers, but it's just, you know, there, there is some moments of grace in the film that kind of restore what might be lost on the, on the journey. Um, yeah. Yeah. It's very personal. It's, it's about how the victims get blamed and silenced out of shame.

[00:31:50] But then that gives this empowering feeling when you see that the fact that she's stepping forward a great, you know, personal, um, not even just risk to herself, but great personal cost to herself. Yes. But then you see how that causes other women to start stepping up behind her, you know? And yeah. Yeah.

[00:32:13] Um, so the, the perpetrator in this is a man named Nuri Yuki Yamaguchi, who was then the Washington DC bureau chief of the Tokyo broadcasting system. And he was a good friend of the late Shinzo Abe. So this does, I did not realize Shinzo Abe was so shady. Yeah.

[00:32:36] No, I, I knew his connections with the church, um, because of that seemed led to his assassination. I was not aware of the corruption, you know? Um, so very, yeah, you talk about risk to herself, um, where she's going after very, very powerful people and her background as a journalist just, just makes it seem so, um, I don't know.

[00:33:04] Uh, I'm trying to find the right words for it. It feels less like a documentary where someone's telling a story and more of an investigation, more of a, uh, a memoir almost. It's, um, it was great. Yeah. I really loved it. Yeah. So this one also premiered at Sundance. It was nominated for the world cinema documentary grand jury prize, but we already said that that went to another one.

[00:33:29] Uh, this one is also nominated for a BAFTA this year and it is available on Paramount plus in the U S and so, yeah, it's, it's pretty easy to find. It's widely available. And that brings us to the last in this category, which is my personal favorite at a whopping two and a half. Two and a half hours of length, uh, soundtrack to a coup d'etat. And okay. I said it's two and a half hours, but honestly, I watched it one night and then I got up and watched it again the next morning.

[00:33:56] Like I liked it that much and it just zipped by. So this one is, uh, from Johan Grimontre, uh, Dan Milius and Rémy Gretti. Killed it. Doing my best. I don't even know their, I'm trying to figure out from their names, like what even countries they're from, but I guess they're Belgian. They must all be Belgian. Yeah.

[00:34:18] Uh, so this is, it is about the Belgian colonialism in the Congo about, uh, the cold war episode that led to American musicians, Abby Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN security council in protest against the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. And, um, so soundtrack to a coup d'etat.

[00:34:41] Well, the soundtrack is jazz and some blues and some Congolese music and it's music is playing the entire time, but it also informs the structure of the piece. So it actually plays out like jazz. And one of the reasons, the main reason, I guess I watched it twice in a row, basically is because it tells you the bits of the story out of order. So you kind of have to piece it together at the end. So it, for me, it had a high rewatch value.

[00:35:06] And it also just, um, it mixes together excerpts from important texts about the Congo, um, from, you know, people like, uh, Nikita Khrushchev, um, my, uh, my country Africa by Andre Bluyn, uh, just, yeah. And then in these interviews and the way it's done with the music, it's like everything is spoken word. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. I mean, form, right?

[00:35:35] Like the form on display in this film is unreal. It's new. It's going to stick with me for a really long time. Um, I took my time watching it. I kind of watched it in like three different sections because there's so much information happening at every second. And there's constant stimulation. You said in the, in the death race group that it being your favorite is the sign of your ADHD. And I totally agree.

[00:36:04] Everything's firing on all cylinders. Yeah. So I would have this film recommended to me at the end of last year from a colleague, um, because they knew the way I approach edit. And this is just an editor's dream. I'm, I'm, it's maybe one of my favorite things I've ever seen. I, I'm going to be obsessed with it forever. Um, the, I'm actually conceptualizing a project now inspired by it.

[00:36:30] The use of the audio, both the music and the interviews as kind of this bed. And then saying, you know, just really jazzing up the visuals and, and going wherever you, where it leads you and, and feeling the music and, and just trying to create this pastiche of a moment without really necessarily adhering to. It's like strict doc standards of truth. Like we were replaying certain home videos over again, that were kind of hypnotic, the girl riding on the bicycle.

[00:36:58] And then you had, um, representational imagery of like, uh, an elephant walking through water and then being carried onto a ship. And then we, no rules at all. We're now showing a Tesla ad from 2023. Um, we're obviously jumping into the present briefly to talk about the current situation in the Congo. Um, just no rules, just right.

[00:37:20] It was, it was so inspiring to me just of just letting the story and the rhythm of the story dictate what the visuals were. Right. It was so inspiring to me. Yeah. Because I mean, so the Tesla ad, it took me like a little bit to connect it, but of course they're saying that they're stripping the Congo of the resources. And this is where it's still going to today. This is in this, they just have these little, like something like that peppered in to say, you know, this isn't over. Yeah.

[00:37:48] Maybe this part of the story we're focusing on is over, but this is still an ongoing thing. Yeah. And I do, by the way, think that this film actually deserved to be nominated in the film editing and sound categories as well. Like the sound thing was insane. Preach. I, I get to, the editing category drives me crazy every single year. It's always just five of the best pictures. I don't, I don't like it. This should, this should win for editing. I, I think there was a couple docs this year that were beautifully put together.

[00:38:18] And this is obviously one of them. I think it broke editing grounds. I think there's going to be editors talking about this for, for decades. Yeah. Yeah. I have to say it made me, you know, I say it was, it's, it's the least favorite to win. I should say, by the way, in the odds givers is a lot of people, it seems to be hit or miss. Like, you know, whether you, you like it or you're confused by it. Um, another way that it did affect me is that it kind of put me in the colonial shoes just because, because it's Belgian.

[00:38:48] They, the colon, you know, the colonizers were all speaking Dutch and French. And then I just had this awkward feeling of like, oh God, I can understand the words that they're saying. I don't know. It just made me feel uncomfortable in a good way. For sure. I wish, you know, hopefully is, is part of what this exercise of watching these documentaries is, is making us feel a little comfortable. You know, as an American, it's usually always all our fault. So I was thrilled for a bit.

[00:39:17] We're like, all right, the Belgians. Okay. Like this is something I don't really know as much about. But then of course it's also our fault. Inevitably. Always. Without, without, I didn't know Eisenhower had green lit assassination attempts. Like that was new to me, you know, but like seeing the, the storming of the, uh, from an American point of view, living in New York city, the Harlem aspect of it was very, very interesting. Like love hearing Malcolm speak.

[00:39:44] Anytime you can inject some Malcolm into a documentary, please let him live on forever. So yeah, the New York aspects of it as a New Yorker, uh, was pretty cool to see the, the scene of them crashing the security council. It was just like, how have I not heard about that before? That's so rock and roll. It's jazz, I guess, but it's, that should be, that should be mythical in this country. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so this one, it also had a Sundance premiere. It was nominated in the world cinema documentary grand jury prize.

[00:40:13] Uh, but it won the special jury award for cinematic innovation and deservedly, I would say. I love that. Yeah. It feels innovative. It feels like a, like a, like a shift for me. Yeah. And I think this is another one on video on demand. So it's very gettable. Okay. Let's shift our attention to the other category. Doc shorts. Um, what are your overall thoughts on this category this year? The shorts. The shorts. Um, let me just scroll through them real quick.

[00:40:43] Um, an interesting, an interesting group. Um, yeah, I think I have varied feelings on them. Um, not really sure if like an overall theme pull, uh, strikes me. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I, I'm not sure that I was necessarily as deeply engaged with the shorts this year. Um, but there, yeah, it's, it's an interesting mix.

[00:41:11] Uh, and, and once again, the theater packages, if you're in the U S that's the best place to see them all. You can watch them together, especially the elusive death by numbers, but, uh, some of them are available elsewhere. We'll, we'll shout that out as we go through the first one. We'll talk about that elusive death by numbers, 33 minutes long by Kim a Snyder and Janique L Robillard. And yeah, this I said, I have here, AKA the film most likely to trip you during your death race.

[00:41:41] And this is about a Parkland school shooting survivor confronts her assailant in a poetic journey of empowerment. And you said you got to see a Q and a of this when you watched this last night. Yes, I did. I got to, uh, briefly talk to Kim. Um, and, uh, yeah, I think yet another one where Sam, the, the subject of the documentary was heavily involved in the creative process and the creative decision-making.

[00:42:09] Um, and I think the interest, most interesting thing to me about this short was that, how a lot of the time was spent during this sentencing phase of this trial, which I don't know how, um, international it was, but in America, it was a very big deal. Lots of people were having opinions.

[00:42:32] Um, it was, it was everywhere, but the film itself is a little less concerned about the verdict and the outcome. Um, and very explicitly, Sam is not looking to the courts for any sort of kind of resolution. And the question I asked Kim was how do you balance that? The fact that your subject is participating in this, but is, is very much not looking for the death penalty as a solution to her harm.

[00:43:00] But many people were, they said, she said they were down there for four months, um, at this trial, listening to all of the, the, the testimony from all the victims and the family members. And there were many people who very much wanted a specific outcome. Um, and she just talked about focusing on Sam and how this was really her project and how it was so much more about like a duality of healing about how, you know, she doesn't expect to heal from this anytime soon.

[00:43:28] This isn't a thing where she's looking for a fine finality to the process. The trauma is, is really what it's about. And that's going to be ongoing regardless of what happens, um, in a criminal trial. So I found that really interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I do remember it coming out because I am, I mean, I don't mind saying here that I'm, I'm just not in favor of the death penalty for a number of reasons I won't get into. And so when he was not sentenced to the death penalty, there were people who judged me for

[00:43:57] not being angry about that. But then, I don't know. I just think of the, I think the most powerful moment of this short is there's a confrontation in court. We won't quote unquote spoil it if that's such a thing as possible. But, um, uh, just, there was one short exchange there where she's like saying to him, I, I knew you, you know, we, we knew who each other were. I knew who you were. I knew where you sat at lunch and he just kind of, he's wearing, um, a mask, you know, like a, uh, sick mask, you know?

[00:44:26] And, um, but he, he below behind that, you know, he nods and like blinks his eyes and a way of recognition. And that's just the moment that sticks with me a lot. Which is interesting because that's the only time we really see him early. Right. Early on. They blur him out a lot. Yeah. They have kind of, and I really liked form wise, the, the, the numbers being a, a, a kind of through line, these different numbers, her writing obviously. And then the visual representation. Yeah. And the visual representation of her writing.

[00:44:57] Yeah. She didn't want to see him. She didn't want to see him. But then in the moment where she is going to confront him, we leave him. Yeah. I thought that was very effective. Yeah. Because I am normally a person who is interested in documentary terms and investigating the perpetrator just because I want to understand why. And, you know, in, in, in trying to understand why I try to imagine how we can prevent things like this from happening, prevent someone from going that far.

[00:45:26] Um, and this is very much not that, and I do have to appreciate that, that that's what it is. It is about the experience of this girl who lived through this while not all of her friends did. And, you know, she brings up that others took their own lives after that and just the lasting impact of it and, and, you know, her physical therapy and everything. Cause she was shot. Um, yeah, it's, it's, it's about her healing. Yes. Her search for healing. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:45:56] Which is going to be an interesting mirror to the last one we talk about in this category. Indeed. Indeed. But the next one we're going to talk about is incident. You referenced it earlier, 30 minutes long by Bill Morrison and Jamie Calvin. And this film explores the 2018 killing of Harith Snoop Augustus by Chicago police officer, Dylan Haley via montages of body cam and surveillance footage. And this is the other one you were saying along with soundtrack to coup d'etat.

[00:46:23] This is the other one that's doing something interesting with form. Absolutely. Um, loved the form in this thought. This was just the best way possible to tackle something like this. Um, I would watch a hundred more versions of this. Um, you know, you have all these body cams, you have this kind of quad box of four different cameras going at once. We're choosing which sound is coming up. Some are fading out. Some are fading.

[00:46:50] Sometimes we do full screen, but just kind of this, these simultaneous images playing at the same time. It's just so cool. So dope. Such a great way to approach it. Um, I had a lot, this is one of the, the two films, this one and the last one we'll talk about where I feel close to the subject matter. So it's hard for me to judge the impact of the film. Um, uh, cards on the table. I'm an abolitionist.

[00:47:18] I believe the prison industrial complex, every part of it needs to be blown up. Um, but so it's hard for me to see how impactful this film is because I've seen footage like this thousands and thousands of times, but just speaking strictly. As an editor, strictly from form. I thought this was, uh, very, very interesting, very engaging. Um, for us ADHD minds, there's always something to look at. Um, I found it overwhelming in that front. Actually.

[00:47:44] I thought it took me a little while to come around to it because at first I was like, it was too much to take in at first. I, because I guess soundtrack to coup d'etat was cutting back and forth a lot. And this one had a lot of things happening at the same time. And I didn't know my eyes didn't know where to go. Right. Right. I could see that. I could see that. Yeah. I, uh, I, I found, I found it very interesting. You know, it is such a hot topic, even in the moment. It's a hot topic.

[00:48:12] As soon as it happens, you have people arguing about it. Right. It's kind of showing all the different perspectives at once is kind of the content matching the form there in an interesting way. Yeah. Yeah. Because so it basically, uh, it starts by saying that there was this law change in Chicago where they had to make this footage public. So this is from police body cams. This is from, you know, CCTV footage. Um, and it's, so it's real time footage playing up to, you know, the moment of the incident

[00:48:41] and then what the chaos that plays out afterwards where, you know, there's witnesses on the street, like he was just getting a haircut. Yeah. For me, one moment that especially stood out where my eyes just snapped to it is you see a, uh, police officer in a body cam and he just puts some disinfectant on his hands and is like washing them, washing them. And it was, I call it the lady Macbeth moment. Yeah.

[00:49:07] I mean, I hit the, the partner officer, the, the blonde woman who was with him. I have so many thoughts about her. So many thoughts, but, um, yeah, it's just kind of all there slayed out for you. I really love how the, the, the final beat of the film is showing the incident again. I love the word incident. I think it's, it's so, um, sterile that it, it, it, it, it, it means something in kind of

[00:49:36] the conflict of how unsterile the situation is. Um, but we're, we're returning back to the incident after we saw all the fallout to watch and slow motion one more time without really kind of tipping the hand of the filmmaker in terms of what they want us to see or think or take away from it. It's very just kind of, um, objective in that way. So yeah, I respected the hell out of it. Yeah. And this one it's predicted as a potential dark horse winner.

[00:50:04] The last one we're going to talk about is the predicted winner, but shorts categories are notoriously difficult to predict. And this is one that definitely has a lot of love. All right. Number three in the shorts category is the only girl in the orchestra 35 minutes long. This one's when the easiest to watch it's just on Netflix. And this is by Molly O'Brien and Lisa Remington.

[00:50:26] And so Molly is the niece of Oren O'Brien, who was a, well is a double bassist, but she became the New York Philharmonica's first female musician in 1966 hired by Leonard Bernstein himself. And now she's 87 and recently retired. And so this is a documentary her niece has made reflecting on her career.

[00:50:50] And, um, she, Oren talks about how she found fulfillment in life by playing her parents for, by the way, actors. And she, but she liked to play a supporting role as in a double bassist. What did you think of this one? Um, I, I had conflicted feelings on this, but 10 stars to any film that teaches me anything about anything. Like I love knowing this woman exists. I love knowing her story. I love knowing her impact.

[00:51:18] Um, she looks incredible for 87. Yeah. What? I think I missed that she was 87 as it was going. And then I, someone said that to me the other day and I'm like, no way. Um, easiest to watch in terms of both. You can find it easily and it's not a hard watch at all. It's pleasant. No, no. It's like the worst part there is, is like, there's some old newspaper articles where people are like, oh, and you know, that gal joined the orchestra. Yeah.

[00:51:48] Yeah. Just some of that good old fashioned sexism thrown in there. Um, but she's a lovely human. I, I do agree with some chatter that, that was in the Oscar death race group that her being a reluctant subject puts a weird taste in my mouth. Um, she clearly wasn't like, please get these cameras away from me, but there's an element of it that I couldn't help but feel was a little forced.

[00:52:17] Um, one thing, the shorts that happen is you kind of get these films that seem very specific to whatever the filmmaker wanted and maybe only exclusively them. Um, it seems like an insider's kind of personal film. And this one kind of had a little bit of that flavor for me. Um, obviously she's a person who's worth talking about, but if she doesn't see herself as worthy of talking about it, it kind of, it was a strange thing to start with.

[00:52:46] I'll say I would have maybe saved her reluctance till the end. Um, because then I was kind of questioning while I was, why I was there the whole time. Um, yeah. But that would be really the only bad thing I'd say about it. Yeah. So this category, I realized I don't really have it ranked in any sort of way. I don't actually know what my ranking is for this category, but, um, this one is, was, I found it a pleasant watch, but it's not one that's sticking with me afterwards. So yeah. Yeah.

[00:53:16] Not a lot of impact on this. No, no. But it's, yeah. Uh, as you say, it taught me about this woman and I am glad that to know about her. Absolutely. So moving on to one you referenced at the beginning, Instruments of a Beating Heart, 23 minutes. Uh, Emma, Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nayari are the filmmakers and Yamazaki was also the editor on Black Box Diaries. Oh, wow. Look at that. Yeah. Nice.

[00:53:46] Didn't know that. So this documentary follows Ayame, a Tokyo school girl eager to participate in a group performance of Beethoven's Ode to Joy to welcome new first graders. Um, so what did you think of this one? Um, I think it's a perfect little film. Um, you know, obviously the impact is very small. It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a first grader. It's dealing with life when you're that young and the emotions are so strong.

[00:54:14] Um, but I think the form is, is, is, it was well put together. Not a lot of wasted time. I am curious about the production. I would guess that maybe they were going to profile a couple of kids and then they, they realized this girl is where, where the money is. Um, the emotions are just so relatable, too relatable. And they're just right there happening in front of the camera. Um, I was joking with my parents that if I had been in the room when the teacher started

[00:54:42] making her cry, I would have punched him in the throat. It would have been an uncontrollable urge. I was so mad at him. There was, yeah, there's one point where there's a tough love teacher and I found that difficult to watch. But thankfully there was also a soft love teacher who, and you see in this that, I mean, sorry, minor spoiler, but you see in this, the soft love teacher, it's her reassurance that gets her to break through that block that she had reached. Absolutely. It's just going to show you.

[00:55:12] It's yeah. It's such an incredible real time short, like, I don't know how long this week, a couple weeks, maybe a month, um, like, uh, illustration of a core human experience of failure and, you know, the forces that'll come to try and push you down and then the forces that'll come and try and lift you up. There's just so much humanity in this, in this tiny little film. And they're all just so adorable too. I mean. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:55:42] Such cute kids. Yeah, it is. It's very cute. And it's, uh, to see all their little personalities and, you know, the differences in their personalities and just how they support each other too. Like the one crying. So cute. So cute. Yeah. I would, I would, there's a, there's a show on Netflix called old enough, um, where it's little Japanese kids under the age of five going on their first errand, um, by themselves.

[00:56:11] And it kind of reminded me of that, the, the independence of these young Japanese kids is just so admirable. It's so impressive. Um, so I would highly recommend old enough on Netflix. If you enjoyed this. Yeah. And, um, instruments of a beating heart is distributed by the New York times. So I think you can still find it on YouTube. So that one's an easier one to watch it. It's also an easier one to watch. Yes. If you haven't watched this yet and you're trying to get through all the Oscars, maybe save this one for last.

[00:56:41] It's it'll leave you with a smile for sure. Yeah. And that brings us to the last one, uh, which is I am ready warden 37 minutes. And this one's available on Paramount plus, and it is the favorite to win in the odds ways. Uh, it's made by Smitri Mundra and Maya Gnup. And Mundra is also the executive producer and creator of Netflix's original reality series,

[00:57:08] um, Indian matchmaking, which I watched the first season of. Oh, okay. And she was also nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary shorts, uh, for her film, St. Louis Superman in 2020. Okay. And the other creator, can you, if I'm saying that name correctly, sorry. Um, and she was funnily, she's the executive producer of the TV series Muslim matchmaker, which is, uh, was commissioned.

[00:57:38] It's going to be on Hulu and Disney plus. So I wonder there's got to be a connection there that, but it's funny that one's, one's on Netflix. One is on Disney. That's funny. But the film recounts the emotionally charged story of John Henry Ramirez, who is convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 2008. And, um, I would say this also the interesting thing, you know, we talked about with, with

[00:58:03] death by numbers, how it's really not from the perpetrator's view, but it's from the victim's view. In this case, it is mostly from the perpetrator's view, but at the same time they do weave in, um, he, he is in jail because he killed a man and they never really fully explained what happened that night, which they do leave me curious about, but I guess maybe that's

[00:58:28] kind of beside the point, but they show the struggle of the son of his victim growing up without his father because of this and the anger that he harbors. And yeah. So we get both sides of the story here. Yeah. Really interesting piece. Um, another one where I feel like I, I, I can't judge it well in terms of impact because I've made a few documentaries about people on death row.

[00:58:56] Um, I've profiled, I've gone into dozens of these cases before. Um, so I'm very used to the incredible strength and depth of character that people develop while they're sitting on death row and this sense of, um, through, through help, through lots of help.

[00:59:21] This sense of, of peace that they end up finding is always, um, miraculous to me. Um, I, this felt like an MTV doc. This played like an MTV doc to me. The form of it was a little too easy for me. I will say, I think that for people who might not be as comfortable throwing away the death penalty.

[00:59:48] I think that the reaction from the victim's son as towards the end of the film might be enlightening for some folks. I think, you know, there are no easy answers in death by numbers. She said, no, there are no winners once the crime is in this is the case. I think that this is a very good example of that. Um, it's access wise.

[01:00:13] We don't often see that moment, you know, that ends towards the end of the film. That's not something we see very often. Yeah. And, uh, I thought that that could have some, some serious impact, but I think overall for me, just as a, as the way it was edited and scored and kind of put together, it, I felt wasn't special, which seems awful to say considering subject matter. Um, but it's an incredibly important film.

[01:00:42] Um, I understand why it would win. And, um, I think personally, I'm just kind of in a place where I'm not sure that telling these stories makes much of a difference. I get kind of sad about that, but I'm, I'm, uh, one of the executive producers is Carrie Blakinger who, who wrote a phenomenal book that I would highly, highly recommend, which I'm blanking on the name right now. Um, but I read it for a book club I did on my Twitch channel actually. Um, so I would highly recommend that. Gosh, what is it called? But yeah.

[01:01:12] How did you, how did you respond to the film? Um, yeah, it's, I, there were moments where I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like kind of almost mad at the camera people, like when they're in the face of his son and during the, I'm like, I understand you want to film this moment, but like this feels exploitive in a way. Um, yeah. Yeah. But there, but there were also a lot of really powerful moments.

[01:01:37] And as I said, I also, I have, I have opinions about the death penalty that do not align with, I think the majority of Americans or maybe just the majority of Americans I know. So that does impact how I experienced this film as well. Um, yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's a tough one. I find it interesting that it is the presumptive front runner, although I'm not sure what else should be. I don't know. Yeah.

[01:02:06] Uh, corrections and ink is the book that I wanted to recommend by the producer of this film. Um, yeah, I'm not really sure. You know, for me, if, if I were to pick one, I think. Like, you know, after saying all this stuff in the feature category about how, you know, issue films are important. I think instruments of a beating heart is just best put together film. Um, but I don't know. I think, um, going through them with you now here, I, I, I'm not sure that there's one that screams like this is.

[01:02:36] This is my favorite. Yeah. This is my favorite. Um, yeah. Yeah. I agree. Instruments of a beating heart is the production, but wise. Uh, that's, yeah. It feels complete to me. All the ideas were executed. I mean, but it's a smaller, they're not reaching for very much. But I like, you know, I like sometimes a documentary, especially documentary short can just be about a small specific subject. Like one of my favorite docs of the year, which I don't even think is widely available yet, which is a real shame.

[01:03:06] Um, it's called Pelican Blue. I don't know if you got to see that one. I have. Uh, it's, it's an animated documentary from Hungary. Love that. And it's just, it's just about a ring of people who used to forge tickets for traveling around Europe back in like the nineties and stuff. Right. And so it's a small specific thing, but it ends up playing like a crime heist in a way. And, um, and so they have all these interviews from over the years with these different people.

[01:03:35] And then they animated these situations and just sometimes like a, something that's small and specific, but gives you a window into a world is just, uh, I, I, a documentary can be good for that. For just understanding that there are worlds and experiences different than your own, not necessarily. And they're blowing up right now, you know, doesn't always have to be. Yeah. Yeah. That's perfectly put. I mean, you know, I, I, I totally agree, especially in the short format, like taking on

[01:04:01] things like police brutality and the death penalty seems like a big ask for 40 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so we got a voicemail from a member of the community, Red Zippy, uh, Lisa. So let's hear what she has to say about the docs short category. Hey, Alicia, this is Lisa, AKA Red Zippy 330 calling in with my thoughts on the documentary shorts.

[01:04:26] I've seen all but one, can you guess death by numbers, which I can't find anywhere. So, um, I've seen the other four. Uh, overall, I thought this was a weaker field this year. Uh, when I was putting my notes together, I had to look up the synopsis of instruments of a beating heart. I had zero recollection of this film. I haven't really examined the shortlist, um, for this category, but I can't imagine how

[01:04:55] that one made the final cut. Um, I'd have to say my favorite of the four I've seen is I am ready warden, uh, which covered a Texas death row inmate in his final days before his execution. I really found the film, uh, to be balanced and empathetic. I mean, the, the really tight knit story showed remorse, forgiveness, and our, the human capacity

[01:05:22] for change and, and having an open mind to learn and listen. Um, to hear from people on all sides whose lives were affected was really, I thought, authentic and very moving. Uh, to say our criminal justice system in this country is complex is an understatement, but I thought this movie did a great job in illustrating those, uh, real life complications.

[01:05:47] Speaking of our criminal justice system, um, incident emphasized the systemic issues, uh, within policing. I can say living in Akron, Ohio, where in 2022, a traffic stop of a 25 year old black man, Jaden Walker, ended with Walker getting shot 46 times by police.

[01:06:11] I'm literally living in a community that is still reeling from this, um, just North in Cleveland, Ohio, 10 years earlier, two African Americans were killed by police. Uh, 13 police officers fired more than 137 shots at two unarmed people while they sat in their car in a parking lot at the end of a 22 minute police chase.

[01:06:36] Uh, the pursuit began downtown Cleveland after the cops mistakenly thought the shots had been fired at them as the two folks drove past a squad car. Turns out that that sound was determined to be their vehicle's exhaust backfiring. So they were chased for 22 minutes and then shot at more than 137 times.

[01:07:03] So incident made me extremely angry, but in a way no different than how the topic is covered in our news here in Ohio all the time. I enjoyed, um, the only girl in the orchestra. Uh, that was, uh, very nice and, uh, delightful. I liked her a lot, but, uh, I have to say I'm ready.

[01:07:28] Warden is, uh, is top and likely, uh, going to win. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks for all the coverage you're doing. Well, thank you, Lisa, for, for sharing that and, and for, you know, emphasizing the, the gravitas and, and really why, why are we telling these hard stories? Why are we asking people to pay attention to these hard stories? Um, it's because we want to stop. Absolutely. Thank you so much.

[01:07:58] Lisa, was that her name? Thank you so much, Lisa, for, for sharing those, those stories. I'm, I'm with you in your, I could feel it in your voice, Lisa. We are, we are kindred spirits here in this country trying to hope for the best. So yes. Hmm. Do you have any other favorites that you want to shout out from this year in, in docs or any other film categories? You know, it's interesting. She, she mentioned the long list or the, the short list and I'm, I just pulled it up to see if there's anything else that I had seen that I feel like, um, should have been

[01:08:28] on there. Um, seat 31 impact wise, um, about Zoe Zephyr obviously would have been nice to see that in there. Yeah. That was on mine is my list here as well. Just because, um, also just the, you just see how she goes through like all this terrible treatment where she's, she's an elected official who's not allowed to into the chamber because she's trans. And so she just sets up shop on a bench next to the snack bar and just keeps a smile on her

[01:08:57] face and, and sticks it out as long as she can. It's yeah. Her energy in that is so inspiring. Um, and I wish more people would have had the, the opportunity to see that. So, yeah. So I hear that. Um, I will shout out, I am Celine Dion because one of my best friends in the world made that film. And she, that was, I think on the long list for BAFTA. So I think some of our crew got to watch it, but, um, she worked on that film for a very long time.

[01:09:24] And I'm very glad that, uh, it got some recognition. I'm going to, it's yeah, it's on the Mecca death race. So I'll be watching it at some point. Yeah. Nice. There's a cool access. I mean, I, I kind of threw celebrity docs under the bus there a little bit, but this is not your conventional celebrity doc. I'll say. Yeah. Um, so I already shouted out Pelican blue, the animated Hungarian one. Um, the other one, my favorite doc feature of this year was the remarkable life of Evelyn.

[01:09:54] Uh, it is, uh, it's on Netflix. So easy to watch. It is about a, a, a guy, a man who, well, from when he's a teen into his twenties, when he suddenly passes away of a, um, muscle muscle must not muscular dystrophy, but something where he's basically his muscles are, are giving way. And, um, he builds this life for him in world of Warcraft.

[01:10:21] And it's about, you know, when he passes away, his parents didn't realize what a strong community of people he had had and what a full life he had lived there. And, uh, all these people start reaching out to them and telling their stories. And, and it's a beautifully made documentary. I like cried the entire time, but like a, a cleansing cry that made me appreciate the people in my life. Uh, just really. Absolutely. All right. Have you ever played any wow? Are you a wow person at all? Yes, I am.

[01:10:51] I mean, I, yeah, I'm more of a D and D girl, but I did used to play wow. Also druid regular listeners. No, I'm a druid. Nice. I was a night elf rogue. I, uh, I hopped off right before cataclysm. That's kind of the last bit I played. Yeah. Yeah. But, but I mean, same. I thought I, and I got really close with my guild at the time. So I, I'm curious how people who haven't lived in that world, like, cause the, the world

[01:11:21] of wow feels like, I feel like a dream about it still. Like I can remember walking those paths. Like there's something so physical about it. So I responded much like you. I thought it was incredible. I wept the whole time. The, the use of the archive that they found that they had logged where he was and everything they said, I thought just what a great idea for a film. Yeah. So they could recreate interactions between, you know, him and, and the other people because

[01:11:46] they had these, these archives of all their conversations and then they used, you know, the graphics from wow at that time. So it's kind of like this retro look nowadays and to animate this stuff and, and reenact these, these interactions. And that was, yeah, that was really beautiful. And I think, I mean, I think a, if you are a gamer or if just in general, if you have found,

[01:12:10] um, online community, this is something that, that you'll connect with that will be meaningful to you. But I think even otherwise it's, it is, it's just about human connection. It's about found family. And maybe if, if you don't understand an online community, this can help you understand why it's so impactful to some people. I think people dismiss online communities very often as not having any sort of real emotional,

[01:12:35] um, connection, but this is a strong argument and the contrary there. Right. Right. Yeah. Um, and I feel like I should, uh, shout out the BAFTA nominees cause I think they had a good bunch this year who could have just as easily been in this list. Um, Netherland and Black Box Diaries are on this list, but also, uh, Daughters was another one. I mentioned that actually in the music episode because, um, the, the song from Sing Sing,

[01:13:04] uh, the lyrics reminded me of in Daughters, which is about, uh, fathers, incarcerated men who they go through this program so they can have a daddy daughter dance with their daughters and form connection there. And, uh, the lyrics of the Sing Sing song reminded me of the vow they make to their daughters. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, another, there are a lot of films about the American incarceration system in the Mecca this year.

[01:13:33] And yeah, yeah. It's obviously, uh, it's a top of mind, uh, topic apparently. Yeah. Um, but then on the celebrity side, Superman, the Christopher Reeve story, I did watch that one and I thought that that was very good, um, about, yeah, just his story as Superman and his paralysis and his family life and all that. And then I haven't gotten to watch it yet, but I know a lot of people love Will and Harper, which is about, uh, Will Ferrell and his best friends who is a trans woman and they kind of take a road trip together. Am I right?

[01:14:03] Yes. I need to watch that one. Um, yeah, Harper loves, uh, diners and kind of seedy places around America. And she wants to now kind of see if she can still have that lifestyle post-transition. And, and Will says, yeah, I'll come along with you and we could try and do it together. Yeah. And then nobody's going to notice that it's Will Ferrell. Yes. I think he both in that film overestimates and underestimates his own celebrity, which is an interesting thing to watch.

[01:14:33] Um, which would be my only takeaway, my negative to that film is that, you know, I, I want as, I want more Harper, maybe less Will. Yeah. More cowbell. No, sorry. Um, but yeah, no, that's, that's definitely one everybody should watch, especially in the United States for sure. Yeah. And I think that one's on Netflix too, right? Uh, yes, I believe so. Or somewhere equally accessible. Yes. Right. And then the Superman, the Christopher Reeve story is on HBO and Daughters is on Netflix. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

[01:15:02] So a lot of accessible, both in terms of subjects matter and in terms of, uh, streaming documentaries. Any final thoughts about these categories or Oscars in general? You know, it's, it's, I've, I've been watching every, trying to watch every film that's been nominated for an Oscar since I was like eight years old. Um, I loved joining the death race, uh, which is how we got hooked up because now there's even

[01:15:28] more films to watch, um, the ceremony itself has lessened in importance in my life as things go on. I'm just so thankful for the opportunity to watch as many movies as possible to watch different movies, to watch new movies, to watch international films, to watch these documentaries. Um, so I think that's why I participate is, is less than I really care about who's winning

[01:15:51] any award and more just the opportunity, uh, kind of with guidelines to watch so many movies. It's right. And documentaries, you know, every year I walk away feeling like I've, I've learned something important. Um, and that's just such a gift. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I think, you know, I was talking about in the animation episode in this feed with Benoit from animation showcase about the importance of curating these films because there's such an overwhelming number.

[01:16:19] And that is one of, one of my friends was asking me today, he was like, well, why, you know, why do people care about the Oscars? Basically was the crux of his question. And, uh, I was saying, well, you know, it's not that it's a perfect voting body that always votes for the right movie or, you know, uh, doesn't get some things wrong when it comes to controversies, things like that. But it is such an important platform, like particularly for me with documentaries, it's

[01:16:46] not, uh, I'm not spending the entire year watching documentaries. Like there are some that trickle in, but for the most part, I'm waiting for these nominations to tell me which to watch. Yeah. So it is an important platform still. For sure. I mean, you just saw flow. I think I saw the numbers for the international box office for flow is now. Yeah. Like 20 million. Yeah. For a tiny film like that. Yeah. These, these, these awards have power and yes, they're not perfect, but you know, anytime

[01:17:13] they can push us towards to all having some sort of joint conversation, get a little bit of that monoculture we've, we've lost as, as we've all kind of bifurcated into our little worlds. I think that's, that's a gift. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you for the gift of your time today to talk through these and your expertise and insights. Well, thank you so much for having me. This has been a blast. All right. Well, happy death racing. So you have the finish line. Good luck.

[01:17:43] Thank you again, Rebecca and listeners do check out the show notes for links to Rebecca's IMDB page where you can check out more of her work. And also there's a link to the trailer for her latest project, girls gone wild, the untold story, which is streaming on Peacock in the U S and on other streamers around the world. And by the way, update since this conversation is that porcelain war, the one with the Ukrainian artists is now available to watch on YouTube for free.

[01:18:13] So that makes that one a lot easier to watch. Now on another topic, I just want to note, this is the first episode released since the BAFTAs aired last night. The British Academy of Film and Television Awards is one of the most important precursors leading into the Oscars. So I want to take a moment to take a look at some of the winners in the categories we've discussed so far.

[01:18:38] So as far as what we discussed this episode, the Doc's winner wound up being Superman, the Christopher Reeve story. And the animated winners were, there's actually two animated categories more or less now. There's the regular animated category and there's now at the BAFTAs a new children's and family film category. Wallace and Gromit won both of them, which, yeah, I mean, it's just a very British pick. So that means absolutely nothing for the Oscars.

[01:19:08] But the fact that the short animated film that won is Wander to Wonder could be a good sign for that short animated film to win at the Oscars, which was my favorite. So I'd be happy for that. Emilia Perez did get two awards for the film, not in the English language and supporting actress for Zoe Saldana. And as far as music, they don't have a song category at the BAFTAs and but score went to

[01:19:36] The Brutalist, which was my pick. So congratulations to all those winners. We'll talk through more of them as they pertain to the categories we'll be discussing in the episodes to come. Also worth noting is that it was a very good night at the BAFTAs for Conclave, which took home not only adapted screenplay, but both best British film, despite having a German director and best film overall.

[01:20:03] We'll discuss over the coming episodes what that could mean for the Oscars. Next up is going to be a shorter episode diving into one of my favorite categories, live action shorts, which features a particularly good lineup this year. As usual, I'll tell you enough about each to decide if you want to watch. But fair warning, a lot of love will be heaped on a dark sci-fi comedy, I Am Not a Robot. So in case you want to watch that one in advance, you'll find that link in the show notes as well.

[01:20:32] And I'll be joined for that one by Catherine October Matthews, who Will Shift Dust listeners might know from our Spooktober episode on The Craft. And we're going to be using a framework she developed called the Emotion Mixer to help us discuss these stories. So we'll explain what exactly that means and how that helps us unlock the storytelling decisions the filmmakers made. Coming up this week after that will be the Writing and International Categories episode

[01:21:02] and the Blockbuster Awards, or tech awards if you're being boring about it. But these are the awards featuring the films you're most likely to have seen. In the meantime, check the show notes for links to the Oscar-nominated movies we've already done deep dives into, plus our previous Oscars coverage this year and last. And watch us feed for a new Silmarillion Stories episode, Mai and Jean's reaction to the Captain America movie, which is coming start of next week,

[01:21:29] and a Lorehounds play of the new Indiana Jones game is coming soon too. If you're a Severance fan, do make sure you're subscribed to the separate Severance Lorehounds feed. And there's also a special season pass for there, but Supercast and Patreon subscribers have access to all the extra Severance topic deep dive episodes. And, of course, our monthly second breakfast episode is coming with updates and discussion about this time comfort food.

[01:21:58] And this month's 11 Z's is dedicated to David Lynch. We're going to be talking about Eraserhead, the poll winner for this month. You can explore the link tree in the show notes to find all of these things, and also explore the affiliates like Woolshift Dust, my podcast, which just wrapped up Silo, and we're starting up Dune, the Star Wars Canon Timeline podcast, Star Wars in Timeline Order, Radioactive

[01:22:25] Ramblings, doing Ghibli and Invincible, and Nevermind the Music, where psychology meets music. You'll also find in that link tree a link to our Discord, where there's a special awards season channel under Current Shows, as well as channels for everything else that we're talking about and more. We also want to hear your thoughts on this year's Oscars. What nominated movies are you rooting for?

[01:22:52] Or what are your other favorite movies of the year that maybe didn't get nominated? We'd love especially if you could record a voice message about what exactly you loved and why, and then email that to Oscars at the Lorehounds.com so that we can include you in the conversation in the episodes to come. And if you enjoyed this episode, please do share it with someone else you think might like some Oscar insights to give them the edge in their office pool or to pull out some party tricks at a cocktail party.

[01:23:21] Finally, we always end with a shout out to both our Discord server boosters and especially our lore masters, our top tier of subscribers who are helping us to build a sustainable podcasting model so that we can afford to keep doing this. And so this time to the Toons of Longing from the horror folder, because that felt appropriate for the contents of the documentaries this year. Thank you to Discord server boosters, Aaron Kaye, Tiller the Thriller, Dork of the Ninjas,

[01:23:50] Doove71, Athena Adjalea, Tina, Lisdu, Nancy M, Ghost of Perdition, and Radioactive Richard. Thank you to all of our listeners. Thank you, especially to our subscribers, our lore hounds. And thank you most of all to our lore masters. Thank you genuinely. We could not keep going without you. Thank you.

[01:24:44] See you next time. One of my happy places, live action shorts. The Lore Hounds podcast is produced and published by the Lore Hounds. You can send questions and feedback and voicemails at thelorehounds.com slash contact. Get early and ad free access to all Lore Hounds podcasts at patreon.com slash the Lore Hounds.

[01:25:11] Any opinions stated are ours personally and do not reflect the opinion of or belong to any employers or other entities. Thanks for listening. The Lore Hounds podcast is produced and published by the Lore Hounds. You can send questions and feedback and voicemails at thelorehounds.com slash contact. Get early and ad free access to all Lore Hounds podcasts at patreon.com slash the Lore Hounds. Any opinions stated are ours personally and do not reflect the opinion of or belong to any employers or other entities.

[01:25:40] Thanks for listening. Hey, everyone. David here. Severance is back. The Lore Hounds are partnering with Properly Howard to bring you in-depth weekly coverage of season two. Join me, John, Anthony, and Steve as we unpack every twist, theory, and revelation.

[01:26:08] We've created a dedicated feed just for our Severance coverage. Simply search for Severance Lore Hounds in your podcast app or find the direct link in our link tree. Our weekly episodes dig deep into the show's mysteries, themes, and bigger questions about identity and consciousness that make Severance so compelling. Season Pass and regular community subscribers get ad-free access to our weekly episodes, plus

[01:26:37] exclusive content like our Supply Closet bonus series featuring fascinating conversations with experts like the team from Nevermind the Music. We've explored the neuroscience of memory and personality, decoded the hidden meanings in the show's musical themes, and there's much more to come. You'll also get Steve and Anthony's complete season one rewatch series. We believe in total transparency with our listeners.

[01:27:06] And unlike Mammalians Nurturable, we're happy to share all of our secrets. Find the link for the Severance feed in the show notes below, or search Severance Lore Hounds wherever you get your podcasts. Come theorize with us about what's really happening at Lumen.