It has been reported that Exit Through the Gift Shop, the Banksy documentary that was released earlier this year is now seen as a strong contender for the award for best documentary. The film has already been nominated for a BAFTA, named documentary of the year by the Online Film Critics Society and was runner up in a similar survey of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. More importantly, the newspaper reports, the Academy is already considering what do in the likely event that the ‘reclusive’ artist fails to show up to collect the award should he win it.The film was placed on the long-list, for an Oscar in the category of, Best Documentary Film.The shortlist announced 25 January now places the film in the top 5 and a strong contender for the prize. See Link: Banksy Latest Oscar News The feature, which is narrated by Welsh Actor, Rhys Ifans and is really more about the French/American Graffiti Artist/Fan Thierry Guetta, is an engaging and extremely watchable film. The outsider status of graffiti artist Banksy may be further challenged but the bottom line is, this is a very good film. Earlier this year the film received the Grierson documentary award, considered a tick box for Oscar consideration. The film has also been critically acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic. The film, premiered at the Sundance film festival last year and was described by the artist as “the story of how one man set out to film the unfilmable – and failed”. It tells the story of a Los Angeles T-shirt printer and Gorilla film maker called, Thierry Guetta who becomes obsessed with street art and attempts to make a film about it, only to have Banksy, on seeing the catastrophic results, turn the camera on Guetta. Guetta also known as Mr Brainwash is a real-life character that began his career as a filmmaker, documenting the emerging graffiti art scene in LA. The Lost Angeles Times described it as “subversive, provocative and unexpected … a hall of mirrors as unsettling as anything Lewis Carroll’s Alice ever experienced”.
The long-list for the category of documentary film stands at 15 and includes films by a number of other Brits, Enemies Of The People, a personal film about the killing fields of Cambodia directed by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, and Waste Land by Lucy Walker a film about an artist who works with Brazilian slum-dwellers to create works of art made from rubbish.
Here Are The Long And Short Lists ‘For Your Consideration’
Long Oscar List
* Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, Alex Gibney, director (ES Productions LLC)
* Enemies of the People, Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, directors (Old Street Films)
* Exit through the Gift Shop, Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures)
* Gasland, Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC)
* Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont, directors (White Pine Pictures)
* Inside Job, Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures)
* The Lottery, Madeleine Sackler, director (Great Curve Films)
* Precious Life, Shlomi Eldar, director (Origami Productions)
* Quest for Honor, Mary Ann Smothers Bruni, director (Smothers Bruni Productions)
* Restrepo, Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films)
* This Way of Life, Thomas Burstyn, director (Cloud South Films)
* The Tillman Story, Amir Bar-Lev, director (Passion Pictures/Axis Films)
* Waiting for ‘Superman’, Davis Guggenheim, director (Electric Kinney Films)
* Waste Land, Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects)
* William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, directors (Disturbing the Universe LLC)
The list will be shaved down to five and the announcement made at the 83rd Academy Awards nominations, live on January 25, 2011
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Production year: 2010
1. Countries: Rest of the world, UK, USA
2. Cert (UK): 15
3. Runtime: 86 mins
4. Directors: Banksy, Thierry Guetta
5. Cast: Banksy, Rhys Ifans, Shepard Fairey
Short Lists
Oscar List – Best Documentary Feature Film
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land
Bafta List – Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
The Arbor – Clio Bernard (director), Tracy O’Riordan (producer)
Exit Through The Gift Shop – Banksy (director), Jaimie D’Cruz (producer)
Four Lions – Chris Morris (director/writer)
Monster – Gareth Edwards (director/writer)
Skeletons – Nick Whitfield (director/Writer)