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 Hosted by Sandra Tsing Loh  Wednesday, February 20, 2008 Tickets for sale at event on a space available basis, starting at 6:30pm. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211 - MAP PARKING INFORMATION IDA congratulates the Oscars® nominees in the Documentary Categories! BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: 
NO END IN SIGHTDirector/Producer/Writer: Charles Ferguson Producers: Audrey Marrs, Jennie Amias, Jessie Vogelson Executive Producer: Alex Gibney Cinematographer: Antonio Rossi Editors: Chad Beck, Cindy Lee Composer: Peter Nashel Representational Pictures, Magnolia Pictures The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq’s descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality and anarchy, No End in Sight is a jaw-dropping, insider’s tale of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality. Based on over 200 hours of footage, the film provides a candid retelling of the events following the fall of Baghdad in 2003 by high-ranking officials, as well as Iraqi civilians, American soldiers and prominent analysts. No End in Sight dissects the people, issues and facts behind the Bush Administration’s decisions and their consequences on the ground to provide a powerful look into how arrogance and ignorance turned a military victory into a seemingly endless and deepening nightmare of a war. 
OPERATION HOMECOMING : WRITING THE WARTIME EXPERIENCEDirector/Producer: Richard E. Robbins Executive Producer: Tom Yellin Writers: Colby Buzzell, Edward Parker Gyokeres, Sangjoon Han, Ed Hrivnak, Jack Lewis, John McCary, Denis Prior, Michael Strobl, Brian Turner Cinematographer: Jason Ellson Editor: Gillian McCarthy Composer: Ben Decter The Documentary Group, PBS Unlike any documentary yet to emerge from the war in Iraq, Operation Homecoming explores the first-hand accounts of American soldiers through their own words. Built upon a project created by the National Endowment for the Arts to gather the writing of soldiers who have participated in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the film presents a profound window into the human side of America’s current conflicts. IDA Awards Feature Finalist. IDA Pare Lorentz Award Nominee. 
SICKODirector/Producer/Writer: Michael Moore Producer: Meghan O’Hara Executive Producers: Kathleen Glynn, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein Composer: Erin O’Hara Editors: Geoffrey Richman, Chris Seward, Dan Swietlik Dog Eat Dog Films, Lionsgate Films, The Weinstein Company Opening with profiles of several ordinary Americans whose lives have been disrupted, shattered and, in some cases, ended by health care catastrophe, SiCKO makes clear that the crisis doesn’t only affect the 47 million uninsured citizens; millions of others who dutifully pay their premiums often get strangled by bureaucratic red tape as well. After detailing just how the system got into such a mess, we visit countries such as Canada, Great Britain and France, where all citizens receive free medical benefits. Finally, Moore gathers a group of 9/11 rescue workers now suffering from debilitating illnesses, who have been denied medical attention in the US. He takes them to a most unexpected place, and in addition to receiving care, they also engage in some unexpected diplomacy. IDA Awards Feature Finalist. 
TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE - Read filmmaker Q&ADirector/Producer/Writer: Alex Gibney Producers: Eva Orner, Susannah Shipman Executive Producers: Don Glascoss, Robert Johnson, Sidney Blumenthal, Jedd Wider, Todd Wider Cinematographers: Maryse Alberti, Greg Andracke Editor: Sloane Klevin Composers: Ivor Guest, Robert Logan X-Ray Productions, Jigsaw Productions, THINKFilm Taxi to the Darkside examines the death of an Afghan taxi driver at Bagram Air Base from injuries inflicted by US soldiers. In an unflinching look at the Bush administration’s policy on torture, filmmaker Alex Gibney takes us from a village in Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay and straight to the White House. IDA Awards Feature Finalist. DocuWeek™ official selection. 
WAR/DANCE - Read filmmaker Q&ADirectors: Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine Producer: Albie Hecht Executive Producers: Susan MacLaury, Mark Urman, Daniel Katz, Douglas Eger, Stephen Nemeth, Erik Cleage Cinematographer: Sean Fine Editor: Jeff Consiglio Composers: Asche & Spencer Shine Global, Fine Films, THINKFilm Set in Northern Uganda, a country ravaged by more than two decades of civil war, War/Dance tells the story of three children whose families have been torn apart and who currently reside in a displaced persons camp in Patongo. When they are invited to compete in a music and dance festival, their historic journey to their nation’s capital becomes an opportunity to regain part of their childhood and taste victory for the first time in their lives. IDA/Alan Ett Music Award Finalist. BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: 
FREEHELD - Read filmmaker Q&ADirector/Producer/Cinematographer: Cynthia Wade Producers: Vanessa Roth, Matthew Syrett Editor: David Teague Composer: Rob Schwimmer Lieutenant Films Inc. Freeheld follows the battle of Laurel Hester, a dying police officer who fights to transfer her pension to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree. As her elected officials, The Freeholders, stand against her, and the town explodes around her, Laurel races against time to provide for the love of her life. IDA Awards Short Finalist. 
LA CORONA (THE CROWN) - Read filmmaker Q&ADirectors/Producers/Cinematographers: Amanda Micheli, Isabel Vega Editors: Carla Gutierrez, Luis Colina Composer: Camara Kambon Runaway Films, Vega Films, HBO Documentary Films The contestants are murderers, guerillas and thieves. The runner-up will cry when she doesn’t get the tiara, wiping her tears with a tattooed hand. The winner will be crowned Queen, but she won’t be invited on a press tour as a role model for young girls. Instead, she will be escorted back to her cell. This is a beauty pageant like no other, and it happens every year in the Women’s Penitentiary in Bogotá, Colombia. La Coronais a character-driven documentary that follows four inmates competing for the crown in the annual beauty pageant of the Bogotá women’s prison. 
SALIM BABA - Read filmmaker Q&ADirector: Tim Sternberg Producers: Francisco Bello, Scott Mosier, Raja Dey Cinematographers: Francisco Bello, Raja Dey Editors: Tim Sternberg, Arturo Sosa Composer: David Darling Ropa Veija Films, Paradox Smoke Productions Salim Muhammad lives in North Kolkata, India, with his wife and five children. Since the age of ten, he has made a living screening discarded film scraps for the kids in his surrounding neighborhood, using a hand-cranked projector that he inherited from his father. A pragmatic businessman as well as a cinephile, Salim runs his projector with his sons in the hopes that they will carry on his legacy of showing films to the local children. DocuWeek™ official selection. 
SARI'S MOTHERDirector/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor/Composer: James Longley Editor: Fiona Otway Daylight Factory LLC Sari’s Mother follows the struggle of an Iraqi mother to help her 10-year-old son, Sari, who is dying of AIDS. The Zegum family lives in the restive Mahmudiyah area of central Iraq. Sari’s mother administers injections to her son, whose condition is gradually deteriorating. She seeks help in Baghdad’s hospitals and ministries, but discovers that the Iraq healthcare system is in even worse condition under the US occupation than before the war. DocuWeek™ official selection.
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