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The nominations for the 2010 Academy Awards have been announced. Not surprisingly the documentary category was left out of the fancy televised nominees show, deemed by the academy not exciting or important enough to be included.

With some groundbreaking additions to factual programming this year it was a tough shortlist to choose from. While I was happy that eco-doc The Cove and also Which Way Home were announced in this category, I was left a little surprised that they missed out on three exceptional titles from last year: Mugabe and the White African, Sergio and Garbage Dreams.

The Oscars have always been great at sticking to traditions; despite a growing number of humourous documentaries, it seems that they have remained constant to the idea that documentaries should be serious and not funny. It was therefore no surprise that Anvil! The Story of Anvil was neglected from this year’s category. Heartwarming, inspiring and achingly hilarious, this account of an aging metal band chasing its dreams was a brilliant example of how it is possible for a doc to make you laugh and enlighten you at the same time.

With last year’s win of James Marsh’s Man on Wire I was hopeful that the academy were moving towards titles not only of socio, environmental and political content. Here is the full factual category for 2010, Who wins? The Academy decides! Watch it live or catch it here from March 7th.

Documentary Feature:

Burma VJ
Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller

The Cove
Nominees to be determined

Food, Inc.
Robert Kenner and Elise PeaRlstein

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Judith Elrlich and Rick Goldsmith

Which Way Home
Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary Short:

China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill

The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher

The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert

Music by Prudence
Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett

Rabbit à la Berlin
Bartosz Konopka and Anna Wydra