Watch and Discuss: 1945 Oscar Winner ‘With Our Marines at Tarawa’ Presents Embedded War Coverage Worth Dying For
From the Documentary Channel streaming library, I present you with With the Marines at Tarawa in honor of the Academy Awards this month. This film received the Oscar for Best Documentary (Short Subject) in 1945. Last week’s dip into the Documentary Channel vault focused on 1943 Oscar winner The Battle of Midway. This week I’m continuing the celebration of Academy Awards month with …
Read MoreLearn About Einstein’s Theory of Relativity From this 90-Year-Old Documentary By Max and Dave Fleischer
It was pretty much declared impossible a year earlier by Scientific American, the idea of a film explaining Albert Einstein‘s Theory of Relativity to a general audience. But following the lead of a successful German production that did just that, Fleischer Studios (then Inkwell) released their animated educational documentary The Einstein Theory of Relativity to cinemas on February 8, 1923. …
Read MoreWatch and Discuss: ‘The Battle of Midway’ is the Best American Propaganda Film of All Time
From the Documentary Channel streaming library, I present you with The Battle of Midway in honor of the Academy Awards this month. This film was one of the first to win in the newly created Oscar category for Best Documentary in 1943. One of my favorite documentary moments ever comes from John Ford‘s The Battle of Midway. It’s a very …
Read MoreWatch Pare Lorentz’s ‘The River’ For Its 75th Anniversary
Today, one of the most notable social documentaries of all time turns 75. Pare Lorentz‘s The River was first publicly shown on February 4, 1938, at the Loew’s Criterion in New York City. It was held over there and later in the month opened in Boston, where it ran for five weeks. Not bad for a half-hour New Deal propaganda …
Read MoreShort Docs In Theaters: Oscar Nominees ‘Inocente,’ ‘Kings Point,’ ‘Mondays at Racine,’ ‘Open Heart’ and ‘Redemption’
Not only is Docs In Theaters back this week, but here’s a bonus edition for the Oscar-nominated short films in the documentary category. These five contenders are playing together (either in a single program or divided into two separate shows), at cinemas nationwide, courtesy of Shorts HD (if you have DirecTV to enjoy Documentary Channel, by the way, Shorts HD …
Read MoreAs Promised, the ‘Detropia’ DVD Has an Insane Amount of Wonderful Bonus Scenes
Last fall, when I interviewed Detropia co-director Heidi Ewing, she noted that the DVD of the film would include 80 minutes of additional and extended scenes. It’s “insane,” she told me. “It’s almost as long as the movie. And they’re great extras.” Well, now the DVD is out today, and in addition to including one of the best documentaries of …
Read MoreOscar Nominees Include Original Song From ‘Chasing Ice’ and Remake of ‘Kon-Tiki’
Update: We’ve received a statement from Oscar nominated songwriter J. Ralph, who is quoted below. The nominees for the 85th Academy Awards were announced this morning, and the contenders in the Best Documentary Feature are Searching for Sugar Man, How to Survive a Plague, The Gatekeepers, The Invisible War and last night’s big Cinema Eye Honors winner, 5 Broken Cameras. …
Read MoreWatch Disney’s Income Tax Propaganda Film ‘The Spirit of ’43′ On Its 70th Anniversary
Three days after taking a look at the 70th anniversary of one Disney animated documentary short (The Grain That Built a Hemisphere), here’s another from the same year. On January 7, 1943, the studio and the U.S. government theatrically released The Spirit of ’43, which stars Donald Duck as a typical American who has just gotten paid and must choose …
Read MoreWatch Disney’s Oscar-Nominated Doc ‘The Grain That Built a Hemisphere’ on Its 70th Anniversary
70 years ago today, the short animated documentary The Grain That Built a Hemisphere was released theatrically. Produced by Walt Disney in partnership with the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affair, the film went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary the following month. This was the first year for the category, and there were …
Read More