Best Documentary Short Contenders

The list for documentary short contenders in this year's Oscar race has been whittled down to eight candidates.  I thought I'd list them by most intriguing, based on subject matter, length, and perceived scope.  Jeffrey Karoff's Cavedigger looks utterly fascinating as it explores an art I didn't even know existed.  The 39-minute short details artist Ra Paulette's internal sculptures within the sandstone cliffs of New Mexico, as a fight between himself and the patrons who commissioned his work led him to veer off to create his own opus.  It looks a bit like Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control, only better!  Its Facebook has 198 likes.  However, his Twitter doesn't have much mileage.

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall was the only short I wasn't able to find any video on.  There appears to be perhaps a clip or something, but a password is required and I only had so much time to hunt down something to watch.  The short is reported to be of forty minutes in length and details inmates who take on the roles of hospice caregivers to nurse an ill prisoner during the last months of his life.  The Facebook page has 44 followers and director Edgar Barens has 486 followers on Twitter.  There's also a Dot Com site in addition to the Blogspot.  Its social media presence was apparent, but lacked some focus and accessibility.

Jason Cohen's Facing Fear is a 23-minute foray in what looks to be an emotionally harrowing confrontation between the perpetrator and victim of a hate crime.  Its Facebook has 220 likes and its Twitter 29 followers.

Malcolm Clark's The Lady in Number 6 looks absolutely delightful, at least, ultimately, as it chronicles the life of the oldest living pianist and Holocaust survivor, Alice Herz Sommer, during its 39-minute runtime.  It currently has 313 followers on Twitter and 1,513 likes on Facebook.

I couldn't find much on Chetin Chabuk's Jujitsuing Reality, which concerned a screenwriter living with Lou Gehrig's Disease.  HOWEVER, it was the only documentary short that you can actually watch on the internet in its 16-minute entirety here.  I did.  It's pretty inspiring.

Sara Ishaq's Karama Has No Walls documents elements of the 2011 Yemeni Revolution over the course of 26 minutes.  It has a Facebook page with a healthy amount of likes (633).  Filmmaker Ishaq has her own Twitter with 1,620 followers.

Nathanael Carton's Recollections from Notrac Productions is 13 minutes in length and was filmed on location in Japan and concerns the plight of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami survivors and the temporary housing projects in which they rebuild their lives.  Its social media presence was pretty limited.

Joshua Izenberg's 18-minute Slomo showcases the life of a former neurologist who decides to movie to San Diego's Pacific Beach and take up rollerblading.  The short's site looks great, and has appropriate links to Facebook (408 likes) and Twitter (104 Followers).

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