And the Academy for Best Achievement in Editing of a Documentary..
doesn’t exist. Neither does Best Cinematography or Best Director. It’s all just “Best Documentary.”
AJ Schnack (director About a Son/nominee for the 2007 Truer than Fiction - Independent Spirit Award) working in collaboration with festival programmers from the major North American festivals and distributor IndiePix have announced a new awards event focusing exclusively on documentary film. It seeks to broaden recognition of accomplishments in documentary film by expanding the categories it awards filmmakers. These include:
- Best documentary
- Best international feature
- Best debut feature
- Best achievement in directing
- Best achievement in producing
- Best achievement in editing
- Best achievement in cinematography
- Best achievement in graphics and animation
When you think about it, it’s hard to believe these kinds of categories haven’t existed for documentaries at the Oscars. Of course, mainstream audiences (and therefore advertisers) want to see celebrities succeed and fail, so why spend time on Documentaries, Shorts, or Animated films? (Have you seen what your average animator looks like? Not pretty… 
Anyways, it seems like such an inspired and long overdue idea. Which makes The Unforeseen being shortlisted all the more of an honor. You can read more about this at Schnack’s blog “All these wonderful things.”
THE UNFORESEEN
Directed by Laura Dunn
Laura Dunn takes a straight-forward (and oft-covered) subject - urban sprawl and threats to the environment - and with impecable craft, turns it into a gorgeous, cinematic vision of what it means to lose one’s sense of neighborhood. Barton Springs in Austin, Texas is a community treasure - both old time swimming hole and artesian aquifer - and beloved by old and young, so when plans by developers threaten the Springs, a familiar green vs greed battle is in the offing. But Dunn, working with cinematographers Lee Daniel and Vance Holmes, co-editor Emily Morris and graphic designer Jef Sewell, creates a lyrical and beautiful film that stuns with the ambition of its opening. Notable too is her choice to allow the film’s “bad guy”, developer Gary Bradley, tell much of the story. The title ends up referring not just to the unanticipated harm to Barton Springs, but also to the twists and turns of Bradley’s role in Austin’s super sizing.
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About The Unforeseen
The Unforeseen, executive produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Called "the best film at the festival, hands down" by Film Comment's Gavin Smith, the film documents the struggles between development and preservation of Austin Texas.