Oscar-Nominated Documentaries at the Tropic

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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A quartet of documentaries fill the screens at Tropic Cinema this week.

You’ll find four very diverse films here:

“American Factory” is an American-made documentary by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert about a Chinese factory in a city near Dayton, Ohio, that occupies an old GM plant. This film offers “an eye-popping look at the differences between American and Chinese factory workers when they come together at a Chinese car-glass factory.” It won the U.S. Documentary Competition directing prize and the Critics Choice Documentary award for Best Political Documentary, sharing the best directing prize.

“The Edge of Democracy” is a Brazilian documentary by actress Petra Costa that follows the rise and fall of two of that country’s presidents. This has been called “a timely and chilling political cautionary tale about the rise of the far right.”

“Honeyland” is a Macedonian documentary by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov that examines the simple life of a beekeeper that is disrupted by newcomers in a remote mountainous village. This film won the Sundance World Grand Jury Prize and the Best First Feature Documentary Critics Choice Award, the first film to win in both categories.

“The Cave” is a Syrian-Danish documentary by Feras Fayyadthat serves as a companion piece to his earlier film, “Last Men in Aleppo.” This one profiles Amani Ballour, a female doctor who is operating a makeshift hospital inside a cave during the Syrian Civil War.

What do they have in common?

All have been nominated for this year’s Best Documentary Feature in the 92nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science awards – the Oscars, that is.

The only missing nominee is a Syrian doc called “For Sama.” An anti-Assad film, it has taken home the Documentary Audience Award both at SXSW and the Sheffield International Documentary Festival, as well as IDA’s Best Documentary Feature and Courage Under Fire awards.

The winner will be revealed live on air on February 9 on ABC. Or on screen at Tropic Cinema’s annual Oscars bash.

Interestingly, two of the contenders — “American Factory” and “The Edge of Democracy” – were produced by Netflix. “Honeyland” came from Neon, and “The Cave” from NatGeo. The missing “For Sama” was backed by PBS.

A total of 159 films were submitted to the Academy for consideration. The awards are an international recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy’s voting membership.

The Academy’s first feature-length documentary award was given in 1941 as a “Special Award.” Following that, this category has been an annual competition (with the exception of 1946 when no award was made).

So get out your Tropic membership cards, buy a large bag of popcorn, and start your marathon of Oscar-nominated documentaries. After them, you’ll probably have some Best Picture noms to catch up on too.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com