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NetMoore

July 15, 2004, 4:30 pm

Get this — Wired News: Documenting Moore’s Oscar Chances:

The current spotlight on documentaries, particularly those of the political persuasion, means more movie fans than usual are likely to pay attention to the Best Documentary Feature category during the 77th Academy Awards.

But a quirky rule that declares ineligible any documentary distributed on television or the Internet during the nine months after its theatrical release could leave some gaps in the potential nominees.

Here’s an idea; why don’t you jackasses stop worrying about disqualifying it for being netcast and instead disqualify it for NOT BEING A DOCUMENTARY?

Category: Righteous Fiskings

4 Comments

  1. Kynn Bartlett says:
    July 19, 2004 at 1:42 am

    What makes it “not a documentary”?

    –Kynn

  2. Phelps says:
    July 19, 2004 at 8:54 am

    Rule Twelve
    Special Rules for The Documentary Awards

    I. DEFINITION
    1. An eligible documentary film is defined as a theatrically released non-fiction motion picture dealing creatively with cultural, artistic, historical, social, scientific, economic or other subjects. It may be photographed in actual occurrence, or may employ partial re-enactment, stock footage, stills, animation, stop-motion or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on fact and not on fiction.

    2. A film that is primarily a promotional film, a purely technical instructional film or an essentially unfiltered record of a performance will not be considered eligible for consideration for the Documentary awards.

  3. Kynn Bartlett says:
    July 20, 2004 at 8:46 pm

    There’s no emphasis on fiction. Just because you dislike Moore’s opinions doesn’t make his film any less a documentary.

    Documentaries always have an editorial opinion to them. You don’t like this one’s opinion; okay. That doesn’t mean it’s magically fictional.

    And no, Moore’s film isn’t “a promotional film” in the sense used in the rules. You’re grasping at straws here.

    Why can’t you just say “it’s a documentary I dislike”?

    –Kynn

  4. Phelps says:
    July 20, 2004 at 9:00 pm

    F911 is primarily a promotional film, in the sense used in the rules. A promotional film is a film that is designed to persuade one by giving a biased presentation of flattering facts and a predetermined opinion. F911 is a promotional film for the “Defeat Bush” position.

    A promotional film doesn’t generally include anything that is factually false (even though Moore can’t even rise to this standard) but only presents one side of the issue. A documenary is held to a higher standard of nominal objectivity and even-handed presentation, and F911 fails to rise to this standard.