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Universal’s Oppenheimer and Focus Features’ The Holdovers won the top theatrical prizes Sunday at the 74th Annual Ace Eddie Awards, presented by the American Cinema Editors at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

Ace president Kevin Tent, who presided over the event, won best edited feature film, comedy, for The Holdovers, while the drama feature award went to Oppenheimer editor Jennifer Lame.

Other theatrical winners include animated feature winner Michael Andrews for Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and documentary winner Michael Harte for Apple’s Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. Television winners include The Bear‘s Joanna Naugle, who won for the acclaimed episode “Fishes” that featured a star-studded lineup of guest actors led by Jamie Lee Curtis; The Last of Us‘ Timothy A. Good, for the episode “Long, Long Time;” Beef‘s Harry Yoon and Laura Zempel; and How I Met Your Father‘s Russell Griffin.

The team...

It’s an old canard in the movie business: Never underestimate a Holocaust movie when it comes to Oscar attention. From Hungary’s Best Foreign Language winner “Son of Saul” (2016) and Oscar-winners “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961), “Cabaret” (1973), “Sophie’s Choice” (1983), and “The Pianist” (2004) to Steven Spielberg’s Best Picture winner “Schindler’s List” (1994), many Holocaust subjects, especially shorts and documentary features, have won Oscars. Documentaries like “Anne Frank Remembered” won for 1995, “The Long Way Home” for 1997, “The Last Days” for 1998, and “Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport” for 2000, and more recently, the nonfiction short “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” won for 2014 — just one week after its subject, Alice Herz-Sommer, the world’s oldest Holocaust survivor, passed away.

This season’s most decorated Holocaust film, “The Zone of Interest” (Metascore: 91) has multiple Oscar advantages. First, the film, which British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer adapted from the Martin Amis novel of the same name,...

The documentary “Foster” features numerous individuals in the foster care system, but the inspiration for the film started with just one child.

About 25 years ago, producer Deborah Oppenheimer met a 6-year-old boy named Patrick, while she was volunteering at a public school.

“I asked his story and discovered that he had been removed from his parents, he was living in an orphanage in Hollywood,” says Oppenheimer, who recalls “sobbing” after returning home that day. “I had never encountered a foster youth in the system before, and I resolved to continue to work with him.”

That experience became the seed for the film, which was acquired by HBO out of Sundance this year and is set to premiere Tuesday. However, Oppenheimer and director Mark Jonathan Harris intended to make a decade ago, but their schedules didn’t collide until 2014. The filmmakers, best known for the Academy Award-winning doc “Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport...

For the five days leading up to the Oscars on March 4, the academy will showcase the nominees in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Short Film categories. The events at the Samuel Goldwyn theater will include screenings, film clips and discussions with the nominated filmmakers and artists.

On the evening of Tuesday Feb. 27 Oscar-nominated director Taika Waititi (“Two Cars, One Night”) will host a screening of the five nominees in each of the Animated and Live Action Short Film categories and lead a discussion with the filmmakers.

On Wednesday evening Documentary Branch governor and two-time Academy Awards winner Kate Amend (“Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport”; “The Long Way Home” ) along with fellow governor and Oscar champ Roger Ross Williams (“Music by Prudence”) will steer a conversation with those nominated for both Documentary Short Subject and Documentary Feature awards.

On Thursday evening directors...

Now in its fourth year, Oregon Doc Camp invites experienced documentary filmmakers to a four-day documentary retreat May 18-21, 2017 at Silver Falls State Park in central Oregon. Developed by Women in Film Portland, Oregon Doc Camp gives working documentary filmmakers an opportunity to gather in an informal setting, learn from each other and build community in an ever-changing industry. This year, Kate Amend, editor of the Academy Award-winning documentaries Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport and The Long Way Home, as well as The Case Against 8, and many other films, will present the keynote speech. Currently on the faculty […]...

(Courtesy: Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

We are finally on our way to finding out which film will be nominated and ultimately win the best documentary feature category at the Oscars taking place in 2017. While the Academy has announced their shortlist of 15 documentaries from which they’ll narrow down to the five nominees, the question still remains: can history perhaps tell us who will reign victorious?

This year’s shortlist is made up of the following films: Cameraperson; Command and Control; The Eagle Huntress; Fire at Sea; Gleason; Hooligan Sparrow; I Am Not Your Negro; The Ivory Game; Life, Animated; O.J.: Made in America; 13th; Tower; Weiner; The Witness; and Zero Days. Can the distributors — anywhere from theatrical to TV — of these films provide hints as to how the Oscars race will end up this year? Let’s take a look throughout the post-2000 history of the category and see.

Ava DuVernay (Courtesy: Kevork Djansezian/Reuters)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

Let’s talk about race in this year’s Oscar race, shall we? Three of the top films up for best documentary feature this year — 13th (Netflix), I Am Not Your Negro (Magnolia), and O.J.: Made in America (Espn) — all deal with the black experience in the United States through various lenses. These movies, all favorites to make the official list of five nominees that will battle it out for the big win, drive home the fact that this is still a very important and is one of the Academy’s favorite topics to highlight — but has that always been the case?

First, let’s take a more in-depth look at what these three leading docs deal center around. Ava DuVernay’s 13th provides an in-depth look at the prison system and how the nation’s history of racial...

“From documentaries, we learn about our world and humanity,” was the greeting by Documentary Branch governor Kate Amend to the audience in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wednesday evening at the opening of Documentary program. Amend said while this year’s nominated shorts were tragic, they were also about “courage and compassion.”

Referring to the Documentary Shorts as “The Big Shorts,” Amend (editor of The Long Way Home, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport and The Case against 8) mentioned that 124 films qualified in both the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short Subject categories.

The evening included a screening of clips from the nominated films. Nominees from all 10 films also took part in panel discussions talked about their own films and shared insights on the craft of documentary filmmaking. All the directors gratefully acknowledged the collaboration of the cinematographers and editors in the success of their movies.

Best...

If you’re in the Southern California area during the days leading up the 88th Oscars on February 28th, there are great events at the Academy that no movie fan will wants to miss.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present a series of public programs celebrating this year’s nominees in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Animated and Live Action Short Film categories. All events will be held at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The Oscar Week schedule is as follows:

Oscar Week: Shorts

Tuesday, February 23, 7 p.m.

Hosted by director Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Yuh Nelson received an Oscar nomination in the Animated Feature Film category for “Kung Fu Panda 2” and is the director of the sequel “Kung Fu Panda 3,” currently in theaters. The program will delve into the...

Last night, the short list for Best Documentary Feature was revealed, whittling down the field of contenders to just 15. As always, there were some obvious picks and some surprises (both in terms of what was chosen and what wasn’t), but I think the overall list is pretty strong now. It’ll be hard for the Oscars to come up with a final five that isn’t very solid, but that will be on the Academy if they somehow mess that up. There’s more than enough quality to go around now, and that’s what I’ll be taking a look at in this piece. I’ve written about the Documentary Feature category a bit before, but now is a perfect time to do it again… Of course, it wasn’t sunshine and roses for all. Among the many snubbed docs include Racing Extinction, (T)error, The Wolfpack, and many more.

Like politicians who carp about “tax-and-spend” liberals (never mind that Obama has reduced the deficit, and taxes) commentators on the Oscar doc race seem to think it’s still 1997— when Spike Lee was complaining, with some justification, that the odds of beating a Holocaust film for Best Doc were worse than being the Knicks, down 10 points in the fourth quarter. Lee’s “Four Little Girls” lost to “The Long Way Home” (arguably, an act of larceny). But a Holocaust-related movie hasn’t won since 2000 (“Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport”) and in more recent years, the doc branch—and those who ultimately vote in the finals— have generally been making selections off Doc Lite menu. Over the last 10 years, the winners have included two music docs, one about penguins, one about dolphins, one about football and one about a man on a wire. It’s hard to...

Pioneering woman director Lois Weber socially conscious drama 'Shoes' among Library of Congress' Packard Theater movies (photo: Mary MacLaren in 'Shoes') In February 2015, National Film Registry titles will be showcased at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus Theater – aka the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation – in Culpeper, Virginia. These range from pioneering woman director Lois Weber's socially conscious 1916 drama Shoes to Robert Zemeckis' 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future. Another Packard Theater highlight next month is Sam Peckinpah's ultra-violent Western The Wild Bunch (1969), starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine. Also, Howard Hawks' "anti-High Noon" Western Rio Bravo (1959), toplining John Wayne and Dean Martin. And George Cukor's costly remake of A Star Is Born (1954), featuring Academy Award nominees Judy Garland and James Mason in the old Janet Gaynor and Fredric March roles. There's more: Jeff Bridges delivers a colorful performance in...

Every year, the National Film Registry within the Library of Congress selects 25 films worthy of preservation. The films must be at least 10 years old, and this year’s crop includes such films as Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, The Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski, the John Wayne vehicle Rio Bravo and the beloved children’s classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

The full list of films now includes 650 films, with the most recent now being from 2004, James Benning’s documentary 13 Lakes.

The full list of additions is below:

13 Lakes (2004) Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913) The Big Lebowski (1998) Down Argentine Way (1940) The Dragon Painter (1919) Felicia (1965) Saving Private Ryan (1998) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) The Gang’s All Here (1943) House of Wax (1953) Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000) Little Big Man (1970) Luxo Jr. (1986) Moon Breath Beat (1980) Please Don’t Bury Me Alive! (1976) The Power and the Glory...

Every year since 1989, the National Film Registry has done its part to ensure the continued existence of the greatest and most important movies ever made. They do this by adding 25 titles at a time to the Library of Congress, where they are maintained and kept in the hopes of keeping them around forever. In the past we.ve seen them add titles like Pulp Fiction, The Matrix, and Silence of the Lambs, and today, the 2014 group of films has been announced. It.s a list with more than a few titles you.ll be happy to see, and you can check out the full list below: 13 Lakes (2004) Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913) The Big Lebowski (1998) Down Argentine Way (1940) The Dragon Painter (1919) Felicia (1965) Ferris Bueller.s Day Off (1986) The Gang.s All Here (1943) House of Wax (1953) Into The Arms Of Strangers: Stories Of The Kindertransport (2000) Little Big Man (1970) Luxo...

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has announced the twenty-five films that have been added to National Film Registry this year. Each of these titles are set to be preserved for all time as "cinematic treasures."

Amongst the highlights of this year's batch are the Coens' "The Big Lebowski," Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby," Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan," the original "House of Wax" and "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," the John Wayne classic "Rio Bravo," and iconic 1980s comedy "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".

Every year, twenty-five films that are deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant have been added to the list. One condition - the films must be at least ten years old. This year's full list includes:

13 Lakes (2004)

Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Down Argentine Way (1940)

The Dragon Painter (1919)

Felicia (1965)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

The Gang's All Here (1943)

House of Wax (1953)

Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport...

Each year, the Library of Congress selects 25 films to be named to the National Film Registry, a proclamation of commitment to preserving the chosen pictures for all time. They can be big studio pictures or experimental short films, goofball comedies or poetic meditations on life. The National Film Registery "showcases the extraordinary diversity of America’s film heritage and the disparate strands making it so vibrant" and by preserving the films, the Library of Congress hopes to "a crucial element of American creativity, culture and history.” This year’s selections span the period 1913 to 2004 and include a number of films you’re familiar with. Unless you’ve never heard of "Saving Private Ryan," "The Big Lebowski," “Rosemary’s Baby” or "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Highlights from the list include the aforementioned film, Arthur Penn’s Western "Little Big Man," John Lasseter’s 1986 animated film, “Luxo Jr.," 1953’s “House of Wax,...

Spanning the years 1913-2004, the 25 films to be added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry for 2014 include Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, Arthur Penn’s Little Big Man, John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski. The annual selection helps to ensure that the movies will be preserved for all time. This year’s list brings the number of films in the registry to 650.

Also on the list are John Lasseter’s 1986 animated film, Luxo Jr; the original Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder; and Howard Hawks’ classic 1959 Western Rio Bravo. Documentaries and silent films also make up part of the selection which represents titles that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant; they must also each be at least 10 years old. Check out the rundown of all 25 movies below:

2014 National Film Registry...

As we rush towards Christmas, the speed of news from Hollywood and beyond begins to slow. But there are some traditions that still happen around this time of year, and one of them is the list of films submitted for preservation by America’s National Film Registry. Amongst them this year? The Big Lebowski, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Rio Bravo.Steven Spielberg sees a fifth film – Saving Private Ryan – admitted this year, while horror thrillers House Of Wax and Rosemary’s Baby have both scared up a place in the Library of Congress.Also this year, Luxor Jr., which helped usher in Pixar, has made the cut, alongside 1917’s silent-era short Unmasked. Preston Sturges’ The Power And The Glory won a place with State Fair, Ruggles Of Red Gap, Down Argentine Way, 1919’s The Dragon Painter, Felicia from 1965, The Gang’s All Here (1943), the affective Into The Arms Of Strangers: Stories Of The Kindertransport...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

This year’s Oscar race could make history with two possible best picture nominees directed by women — Ava DuVernay’s Selma and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. If both women are nominated for best director, that would also be a historical moment. But though these accomplishments in the narrative field are possible, more women directors are breaking into the documentary categories. Four of the 15 shortlisted documentaries feature women at the helm: Jennifer Grausman (co-directed with Sam Cullman and Mark Becker) with Art and Craft, Tia Lessin (co-directed with Carl Deal) with Citizen Koch, Laura Poitras with Citizenfour and Rory Kennedy with Last Days in Vietnam. Additionally, three of the eight shortlisted documentary shorts feature female directors: Ellen Goosenberg Kent with Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Aneta Kopacz with Joanna and Lucy Walker with The Lion’s Mouth Opens. More often than not, women directors tend to...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

Voting ends today for the Academy’s documentary branch who must narrow the list of 134 documentaries vying for a spot in the Oscar race to a shortlist of 15 films, which will be released in December. Of the 15 films, five Oscar nominees will be chosen in January.

Though a number of film festivals, such as the Savannah Film Fest, are becoming documentary hotspots, a number of Oscar-nominated documentaries premiere at the Sundance Film Festival each year. In the 21st century, seven of the Oscar winners have debuted in Utah: Born into Brothels (2004), March of the Penguins (2005), An Inconvenient Truth (2006), Man on Wire (2008), The Cove (2009), Searching for Sugar Man (2012) and 20 Feet from Stardom (2013).

The rest of the documentary winners were unveiled in the states (2000’s Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport and 2001’s Murder on Sunday Morning) and at the Cannes, (2002’s Bowling for Columbine,...

Birdman, Fury and Leviathan among main competition titles; Roland Joffé to preside over main jury.

Alejandro G Ińárritu, Yimou Zhang, Mike Leigh and Jean-Marc Vallée are among the directors with films screening in competition at the 22nd Camerimage (Nov 15-22), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography.

The main competition at the festival, held in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, comprises:

Alejandro G Ińárritu’s Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance); USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki

Yimou Zhang’s Coming Home (Gui lai); China, 2014; Cinematographer: Zhao Xiaoding

Richard Raymond’s Desert Dancer; UK, 2014; Cinematographer: Carlos Catalán Alucha

Lech J. Majewski’s Field of Dogs - Onirica (Onirica - Psie pole); Poland, 2014; Cinematographers: Paweł Tybora and Lech J. Majewski

Krzysztof Zanussi’s Foreign Body (Obce cialo); Poland, Italy, Russia, 2014; Cinematographer: Piotr Niemyjski

David Ayer’s Fury; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Roman Vasyanov

Tate Taylor’s Get on Up; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Stephen Goldblatt

Łukasz Palkowski’s Gods (Bogowie); Poland, 2014; Cinematographer:...

Polish film festival sets competition juries; Roland Joffe to preside over main competition.

Camerimage (Nov 15-22), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, has set an impressive roster of jurors for its various competition categories.

The Killing Fields director Roland Joffe will preside over the main competition jury, which incldues cinematographers Christian Berger and Manuel Alberto Claro.

Caleb Deschanel has been appointed president of the Polish Films Competition.

The full list of jurors is below.

Main Competition

Roland Joffé – Jury President (director, producer; The Killing Fields, The Mission, Vatel)

Christian Berger (cinematographer; The Piano Teacher, Hidden, The White Ribbon)

Ryszard Bugajski (director, screenwriter; Interrogation, General Nil, The Closed Circuit)

Ryszard Horowitz (photographer)

David Gropman (cinematographer; The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, Life of Pi)

Arthur Reinhart (cinematographer, producer; Crows, Tristan + Isolde, Venice)

Oliver Stapleton (cinematographer; The Cider House Rules, Pay It Forward, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark)

Manuel Alberto Claro (cinematographer; Reconstruction, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac...

This is another Doc Option that requires a “yes I’m serious” disclaimer. How, you may ask, can a documentary about a WWII-era social program that rescued Jewish children from Nazi Germany possibly be compared to a whimsical stop-motion animated film about cute trolls that wear boxes? All shall be explained! The Boxtrolls is a delightful romp, and in addition to engaging any child who sees it, the movie will gently introduce them to certain darker truths about the world. Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport can then help them understand those truths as they apply to real life. The story of The Boxtrolls focuses on the struggle of the eponymous race of creatures to survive while human exterminators are trying to hunt them all down. These villains use propaganda to demonize the boxtrolls so that the common people solicit their efforts. They round up the boxtrolls and put them to heavy labor in...

Producer Albert Berger, an Oscar nominee for Nebraska, Warner Bros. distribution executive Daniel Fellman and documentary filmmaker Kate Amend, who served as film editor on the Oscar-winning Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport,  are joining the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Also joining the board as first-time governors are Bob Rogers, a two-time Academy Award nominee for best live action short film, who will represent the short films and feature animation branch, and Mark Mangini, a three-time nominee for sound editing, who will rep the sound branch.

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President Obama today announced the appointment of NBCUniversal’s International Television Production Evp Deborah A. Oppenheimer as a member to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. She created and produced the critically-acclaimed documentary, Into The Arms Of Strangers: Stories Of The Kindertransport which she won an Academy Award in 2000. She co-authored the film’s companion book and oversaw the writing of the teachers’ Study Guide. She has judged documentaries for the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust and the Producers Guild of America. In addition, Ms. Oppenheimer has volunteered in various capacities with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the Hollygrove Orphans Home Society, and the Los Angeles Unified School District. Oppenheimer is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors.

President Obama today announced the appointment of NBCUniversal’s International Television Production Evp Deborah A. Oppenheimer as a member to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. She created and produced the critically-acclaimed documentary, Into The Arms Of Strangers: Stories Of The Kindertransport which she won an Academy Award in 2000. She co-authored the film’s companion book and oversaw the writing of the teachers’ Study Guide. She has judged documentaries for the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust and the Producers Guild of America. In addition, Ms. Oppenheimer has volunteered in various capacities with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the Hollygrove Orphans Home Society, and the Los Angeles Unified School District. Oppenheimer is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors.

Today and tomorrow, Lee will remember five Holocaust documentaries he worked on. Few composers had the chance to revisit this event so many times and find so many musical ways in music to underscore the unusual, horrifying and sometimes inspirational stories which all started from an event that denies human logic.

I am normally a reasonable and logical person with a good sense of balance and an understanding of fairness. However, there is no part of me that can understand or comprehend or explain the horror of the Holocaust.  I have worked on five very distinguished documentary feature films about the Holocaust and each one of them makes me fall silent and sends me into a deep disturbed  questioning as to why, why, why? I have been privileged to work with some very distinguished film makers on these amazing films: Richard Trank, Mark Jonathan Harris, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Deborah Oppenheimer,...

The International Documentary Assn. this year will recognize the work of documentary film editors for the first time at IDA's 21st annual Award Gala. Kate Amend (2000's Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport) will be the first person honored for outstanding documentary editing Dec. 9 at the IDA Distinguished Documentary Achievement Awards Gala Benefit at the DGA Theater in Hollywood. IDA executive director Sandra Ruch said that the IDA board of directors decided to create an award that celebrates editors' careers because of their vital contributions to the collaborative process of nonfiction filmmaking.