Feb 4, 2009–The International Documentary Association (IDA) will celebrate the documentary nominees of the 81st Annual Academy Awards at the organization’s 27th Annual Nominees Reception on Wednesday, February 18 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Headquarters in Los Angeles, California. One of America's foremost comediennes, Lily Tomlin, will host this year’s celebration of the best documentaries of 2008.
Sponsored by Media/Professional Insurance, a business unit of the Select Markets Division of AXIS Insurance, the evening includes a catered reception prior to the program, which will include clips from the nominated films as well and comments from the filmmakers.
“For twenty-seven years, the International Documentary Association has recognized the documentary films and filmmakers nominated to receive the Academy’s coveted Oscar”, said IDA’s Executive Director Michael Lumpkin, “these, some of the year’s most important and inspirational films, deserve their time in the spotlight. This annual event also brings together the vibrant documentary film community to celebrate the talent and dedication shared by documentary filmmakers and documentary lovers around the world.”
The Best Documentary Feature Film nominees are The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), A Pandinlao Films Production by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath; Encounters at the End of the World, A Creative Differences Production by Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser; The Garden, A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy; Man on Wire, A Wall to Wall in association with Red Box Films Production by James Marsh and Simon Chinn; and Trouble the Water, An Elsewhere Films Production by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal.
Nominated for Best Documentary Short Film are The Conscience of Nhem En, A Farallon Films Production by Steven Okazaki; The Final Inch, Vermillion Films in association with Google.org, by Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant; Smile Pinki, a Principe Production by Megan Mylan; and The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306, A Rock Paper Scissors Production by Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde.
All of this year’s Oscar Award nominated documentaries will be screened by IDA in both Los Angeles and New York City prior to the presentation of the 81st Academy Awards. DocuDay Los Angeles will be held on Saturday, February 21, at the Writers Guild of America Theater in Beverly Hills. Co-presented with the Paley Center for Media, DocuDay New York will screen this year’s nominated documentaries on Saturday, February 21, and Sunday, February 22, at the Paley Center in New York City.
Throughout her extraordinary entertainment career, Tomlin has continued to venture across an ever-widening range of media, starring in television, theatre, motion pictures, animation and video. She has received numerous awards, including six Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, two Peabody Awards, a Grammy Award, an Outer Critics’ Circle Award and a CableAce Award.
The International Documentary Association is a nonprofit, public interest organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the art of documentary film.
