The Dellies - 2012 Best Documentary Feature

I'll be honest right off the bat. This is the category I am probably least qualified to present an award, not that I'm actually qualified to give any, but you get my drift. For much of my life I only watched one or two docs per year and kept telling myself I should watch more. Recently, I have. However, that still only amounts to a handful each of the last few years (not quite that many this year). Sadly, my handful doesn't fully match the Academy's nominees. Still, I'll give it a go. Click on the titles of my nominees to read my full reviews.

2012 Best Documentary - Feature

The Real Nominees: 5 Broken Cameras (Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi), The Gatekeepers (Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarski, and Estelle Fialon), How to Survive a Plague (David France and Howard Gertler), The Invisible War (Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering), Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn)

My Nominees:

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Directed by Alison Klayman

With such dedication to both his ideals and working toward them combined with his popularity, it can be argued that Ai Weiwei is the most important artist in the world. Never Sorry ably conveys this point.

How to Survive a Plague

Directed by David France and Howard Gertler

Its story is very well told. It is also a reminder that even though AIDS isn't the immediate nailing up of the coffin it once was, it’s still out there and plenty of people continue to die from it.

The Invisible War

Directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering

The film itself contributed to changes in how allegations of sex crimes are handled. Like many policy changes, it’s not a solution by itself, but a step in the right direction.

The Queen of Versailles

Directed by Lauren Greenfield

Real life intervened and gave us a plot. We get to see people go through a range of emotions, both good and bad. We see a change in the way they interact with one another. There is substance and even sadness in watching their family fortune deteriorate.

Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap

Directed by Ice-T

If you’re at all a (hip hop) fan, the nearly two hours flies by as a new perspective or another rhyme is never too far away.


The Real Winner: Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn)

And My Winner Is...

The Invisible War

Directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering

"There are some works of writing or painting, speech, or film that do more than just stand as great works of art. They change things. They put before us something fundamentally wrong with the world — with the society we take for granted, with the institutions on which we depend and that in turn depend on us — and demand change. "The Invisible War" belongs in that pantheon, and is easily one of the most important films of the year." - Jonathan Hahn, The Los Angeles Review of Books

Click here to see all of The Dellies!