The Oscar-nominated short films are playing in select cities around the country. In New York I saw them at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village. Due to licensing issues, God Is the Bigger Elvis did not play in this program.
In the last decade or so documentary feature films have
grown more and more to resemble narrative films. Not only are they often more
professionally made than many documentaries were before, but they push a strong
narrative quality that I imagine is a reflection of the need to compete at the
theatrical box office with fictional films. Often they feel bloated, overblown
and overlong. But what I discovered in experiencing the Oscar-nominated short
films programs is that documentary short films are where really interesting
work – in terms of both subject matter and style – is still being done.
