Since the 2009 Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has nominated ten feature films per year for Best Picture, the only category to honor more than five titles. The advance notice of the shortlist for the feature documentaries comes close to that kind of inclusivity and we’re happy to shine a projector bulb light on ten of the fifteen of them this month. We currently have a daily engagement of ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED in Glendale and are adding another this Friday in Claremont. We’ll screen CHILDREN OF THE MIST in Glendale, Santa Monica and Claremont as part of our Culture Vulture series. We will screen ten of the remaining fifteen of these brilliant movies this weekend and next at the Laemmle Glendale and at the Monica Film Center:
The 2023 Oscar Shortlisted Documentary Features.
ALL THAT BREATHES: Amidst the darkening backdrop of Delhi’s terrible air pollution and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protecting Black Kite raptors.
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BAD AXE: An Asian-American family in Trump’s rural America fights to keep their restaurant and American dream alive in the face of a pandemic, neo-Nazis, and generational scars from the Killing Fields.
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FIRE OF LOVE: Intrepid scientists/lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that brought them together: studying volcanoes by capturing the most explosive imagery ever recorded.
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HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, A JOURNEY, A SONG: A focus on one of his masterpieces.
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HIDDEN LETTERS: Two Chinese women try to balance their lives as independent women while confronting the traditional gender roles that define but also oppress them.
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THE JANES: Using code names, blindfolds and safe houses, a clandestine network of woman built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions.
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LAST FLIGHT HOME: A stunning verité account of a family confronting the end of an extraordinary life.
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MOONAGE DAYDREAM: A cinematic exploration of Bowie’s genius.
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RETROGRADE: The last months of the war in Afghanistan through the experiences of Green Berets and the Afghan officers they trained.
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THE TERRITORY: A young Indigenous Brazilian leader and his mentor defend the Amazon and an uncontacted group living deep in the forest.