Indie filmmakers more often than not are very good at holding a mirror up to "the establishment" to let them know what they are doing wrong. Though things are changing ever so slightly, documentary filmmakers are the epitome of indie filmmakers and are always going to lead the charge against what is wrong with the way things are going. Therefore it comes as no surprise at all that when the shortlist for the feature length documentary category for the 2007 Academy Awards was announced this week, the list was dominated by films about the war in Iraq. For those of you who don't know, there is a documentary branch of the Academy that screens a number of docs to get to a preliminary list of 15 films that will then be narrowed down to the five nominations.

Of the 15 films on the shortlist, the Iraq centered films includes Patricia Foulkrod's "The Ground Truth," which offers up the testimony of veterans of the war; James Longley's "Iraq in Fragments," in which Iraqis detail their own accounts of life in wartime; Laura Poitras' "My Country, My Country," which focuses on a Sunni doctor as he campaigns in the 2005 election; and Deborah Scranton's "The War Tapes," which accompanies a National Guard unit into action and Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck's "Shut Up & Sing," which documents the backlash encountered by the Dixie Chicks after Natalie Maines criticized President Bush's invasion of Iraq.

However, even though Iraq was a dominant theme, doc filmmakers did focus their cameras on some rather fascinating other subjects and some of these films did make the shortlist.

They include:

Frank Popper's "Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?" a film about a teacher who ran for a Missouri Senate seat in 2004
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's incredible "Jesus Camp," a film which explores a camp for preteen evangelicals and the connection to Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court
Amy Berg's "Deliver Us From Evil,"about a Catholic priest who admits to a long history of pedophilia
Lucy Walker's "Blindsight" which follows six blind Tibetan youths as they attempt to scale a Himalayan peak - if you get a chance catch Lucy's fabulous "Devil's Playground" about Amish youths going through Rumspringa on DVD.
Florence Ayisi and Kim Longinotto's "Sisters in Law," which looks at women and justice in Cameroon
Yael Klopmann's "Storm of Emotions," about Israel's disengagement from Gaza
Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg's "The Trials of Darryl Hunt," which explores the case of a man wrongly convicted of rape and murder
Davis Guggenheim's "An Inconvenient Truth" about Al Gore's quest to save us from ourselves with regards to the environment
Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan's "An Unreasonable Man," about consumer activist Ralph Nader.

One of my favorite films that made the list is Stanley Nelson's "Jonestown: The Life and Death of People's Temple,"an incredible exploration into cult leader Jim Jones' ill-fated settlement in Guyana. Partly because Guyana is where my family is from and partly because it is a film that goes into the psychology of cult behavior in a riveting and personal way that I have not yet seen. Marvelous.

Most of these films have or will have theatrical and/or DVD distribution so I strongly encourage you to check them out. Sometimes that mirror is not just for the establishment but for us as well.

Nominations are announced January 23, 2007.

Keeping it indie,

Julie

Earlier this week, I was shocked and saddened to hear the tragic news about indie actress/filmmaker Adrienne Shelly. On November 1, Shelly was found dead in her New York office. At first, her death was ruled a suicide but later evidence revealed she was murdered during an argument with a construction worker. Shelly is survived by her husband, Andy Ostroy, and a three-year-old daughter Sophie.

Shelly was born Adrienne Levine in Queens, New York and raised on Long Island. She is best known for her performances in Hal Hartley's films The Unbelievable Truth and Trust. Trust, still one of my favorite films is the first time I discovered this actress and Hal Hartley. I remember relating to Maria, the pregnant high school drop-out, who Shelly played with such such conviction. Over the years, Shelly appeared in several films and television dramas, and most recently starred in Bent Hammer'sFactotum. Shelly also wrote and directed Sudden, Manhattan (1997) and I'll Take You There (1999) and most recently completed Waitress, a feature film starring Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines and Jeremy Sisto. The film was waiting to hear if it was accepted into Sundance, so hopefully the film will still be able to find distribution.

I send out my prayers and best wishes to Adrienne Shelly's family.

Long live indie film,

Michelle

I know that this might prove to be difficult if you are over 12 and are not up during the hours of midnight and 3 AM when it seems to be the only time MTV shows actual videos, BUT I strongly encourage you to TIVO or just stay up a little late one night and check out what is happening on the music video front. I, myself, am not an avid MTV watcher but I recently got a gym membership and most times when I am huffing away on the treadmill there are a string of music videos on. How delightful! Some are what you would expect - The Pussycat Dolls dancing around in their underwear and flipping their hair so much that I am sure the wind mustered could power a car, Beyounce sadly doing the same hair flip action and a hip hop artist I have never heard of in a flash car with a bunch of scantily clad big bottomed women. However, in amongst the excess skin and the hair flip, there are some fabulously cinematic gems.

Case in point: Christina Aguilera's HURT - directed by the fabulous Floria Sigismondi - this video harkens back to vaudeville with a storyline of a liitle girl whose father was the center of her world and is not around to see her later success which now seems empty without him. Shot beautifully in sepia tones and elegant costumes, Christina emotes! The video is a film about love, loss, and fame. Floria has been around for quite a while shooting videos for the likes of Sigur Ros, Interpol, Incubus, and The Cure. She is a master of visual style and innovation. If I were a producer and she wanted to make a feature, I would just write her the check - no questions asked.

Where Floria has a mass of experience, Barney Clay - the director of the equally fabulous Gnarls Barkley video - WHO CARES - is relatively new on the scene. He has shot videos for hip bands such as Dirty Pretty Things and Zero 7. WHO CARES is a sadly hilarious take on the blaxploitation classic, Blacula. The lead character, played by Mario Van Peebles, is a vampire who has lost his mojo. Even when he bites someone, the guy just ends up inviting him up to watch TV. This would be a great short film even without the music.

A few years ago, the graduating class of music video director to filmmaker was crowded with the likes of Michel Gondry (Massive Attack to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Jonathan Glazer (Radiohead to Sexy Beast), Mark Romanek (Michael and Janet to One Hour Photo) and of course, Spike Jonze (Beastie Boys to Being John Malkovich).
Though there has been, in my opinion, a bit of a fallow period, things seem to be looking up. Bryan Barber just directed Idylewild with Outkast and Tim Burton is in post production on The Killers new video, Bones,

Will music videos replace short films entirely as calling cards for filmmakers? I am not sure but judging from the work that I am seeing in the music video world - videos are certainly giving short films a run for their money.

Keeping it indie,

Julie