The 2011 nominees for Best Documentary in the Academy Awards deal with front-page topics like terrorism in the Middle East, climate change, Iraq war vets and pollution in China.
Unusually for this category, the 30-40 minute documentaries up for the golden statue cover subjects that could comfortably run in a nightly news program.
Here are the five nominees in the Best Documentary (short feature) category, including one funded in part by a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting grant:
Killing in the Name, which at first appears to be about Islamic terrorism and Jihad, but is a personal story about a Muslim whose wedding was bombed by terrorists.
The Warriors of Qiugang about a small village in Southern China that worked to remove a toxic chemical plant destroying the lives of everyone nearby.
Poster Girl The story of Robynn Murray, an all-American high-school cheerleader turned “poster girl” for women in combat.
Strangers No More, about a school in Tel Aviv where children from 48 nationalities study, many of them fleeing poverty, political adversity and genocide.
Sun Come Up Pulitzer Center grantee Jennifer Redfearn traveled to the Carteret Islands to document the story of climate change refugees.
Via Paste Magazine