“Oscar’s Docs” Wraps It Up
Beverly Hills, CA — “The Cove,” “Man on Wire” and “An Inconvenient Truth” will be among the 12 Oscar®-winning short and feature documentaries that will screen as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' “Oscar's Docs, Part Six: Academy Award®-Winning Documentaries 2004–2009” beginning Monday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. The screenings will be held Monday evenings and will conclude on May 3.
“Oscar's Docs” is a comprehensive screening series of every short subject and feature to win the Academy Award for documentary filmmaking since the category was established in 1941. Part Six, the final installment in the series, includes the films that were honored earlier this month at the 82nd Academy Awards.
The retrospective will feature the best available prints from the documentary collection of the Academy Film Archive. All of the evenings will feature panel discussions with the filmmakers (schedules permitting).
The complete “Oscar's Docs, Part Six” screening schedule is as follows:
Monday, March 22
“Mighty Times: The Children's March” (2004) – 40 mins.
Thousands of black schoolchildren deserted classrooms in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 2, 1963, touching off a week of mass demonstrations that shocked the nation.
“Born Into Brothels” (2004) – 83 mins.
Photographer Zana Briski helps children of prostitutes in Calcutta create their own photographs with point-and-shoot 35mm cameras.
Featuring an onstage discussion with producer-director Briski.
Monday, March 29
No screenings
Monday, April 5
“A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin” (2005) – 40 mins.
On VE Day, Norman Corwin, the “poet laureate of radio drama,” presented his landmark broadcast, which electrified the nation.
Featuring an onstage discussion with producer-director Eric Simonson and producer Corinne Marrinan.
“March of the Penguins” (2005) – 85 mins.
Each year, Emperor penguins in Antarctica journey to participate in a courtship that, if successful, will result in the creation of new life.
Featuring an onstage discussion with studio executives Mark Gill and Tracey Bing and composer Alex Corman.
Monday, April 12
“The Blood of the Yingzhou District” (2006) – 39 mins.
Children of Yingzhou who have lost their parents to AIDS find their struggles complicated as traditional obligations to family and village collide with the terror of the disease.
Featuring an onstage discussion with producer Thomas Lennon.
“An Inconvenient Truth” (2006) – 100 mins.
Al Gore discusses the science behind global warming, how it has affected our environment, the disastrous consequences of inaction, and what individuals can do to help.
Featuring an onstage discussion with director/executive producer Davis Guggenheim.
Monday, April 19
“Freeheld” (2007) – 40 mins.
Dying of cancer, veteran New Jersey Detective Lieutenant Laurel Hester struggles with local elected officials to transfer her earned pension to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree.
Featuring an onstage discussion with producer Vanessa Roth and director Cynthia Wade.
“Taxi to the Dark Side” (2007) – 106 mins.
An investigation into the homicide of an innocent taxi driver at the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan exposes a Bush Administration policy of detention and interrogation that condones torture and the abrogation of human rights.
Featuring an onstage discussion with producer-director Alex Gibney and producer Eva Orner.
Monday, April 26
“Smile Pinki” (2008) – 39 mins.
A social worker in India travels from village to village gathering patients for a hospital that provides free surgery to thousands each year.
Featuring an onstage discussion with producer-director Megan Mylan.
“Man on Wire” (2008) – 94 mins.
On August 7, 1974, a 24-year-old French high-wire artist named Philippe Petit performed one of the most astonishing feats of the late 20th century by stringing a thin cable between the two towers of the World Trade Center and walking across it.
Monday, May 3
“Music by Prudence” (2009) – 35 mins.
A disabled Zimbabwean singer-songwriter offers a message of hope through her music.
“The Cove” (2009) – 94 mins.
In a cove near the Japanese village of Taiji, a mass dolphin slaughter yields fraudulently labeled meat that finds its way into the lunches of schoolchildren.
Tickets for this final installment of “Oscar's Docs, Part Six” are free, but advance tickets are recommended to ensure a seat. Tickets are available by mail, at the Academy box office (8949 Wilshire Boulevard, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), or online at www.oscars.org.
Doors open one hour prior to the event. All seating is unreserved. The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at the Academy's Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study, 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. For more information call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.
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