Annal:2008 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature

Taxi to the Dark Side

Alex Gibney

• 2008 Oscar-Documentary winner
• Score: 10.58

Taxi to the Dark Side is a gripping investigation into the reckless abuse of power by the Bush Administration. By probing the homicide of an innocent taxi driver at the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, the film exposes a worldwide policy of detention and interrogation that condones torture and the abrogation of human rights. This disturbing and often brutal film is the most incisive examination to date of the Bush Administration’s willingness, in its prosecution of the “war on terror,” to undermine the essence of the rule of law. The film asks and answers a key question: what happens when a few men use the wartime powers of the executive to undermine the very principles on which the United States was founded.

No End in Sight

Charles Ferguson

• 2008 Oscar-Documentary nominee
• Score: 6.58

No End In Sight provides an exclusive and candid telling of Iraq’s descent into chaos and warfare as a consequence of the debilitating decisions made by US Policy as generated by the Bush Administration. Based on over 200 hours of footage, the film captures insider disclosure by high-ranking officials who describe Baghdad’s fall in 2003 and the manner in which arrogance, ignorance, and principal errors of judgment created the anarchy and warfare that engulfs Iraq today.

Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience

Richard E. Robbins

• 2008 Oscar-Documentary nominee
• Score: 6.58

This pioneering film illuminates the extraordinary experiences of American servicemen and women through their own powerful stories. Based on the acclaimed NEA-sponsored book of the same name, this eloquent and moving (Entertainment Weekly) film offers a profound look at the lives of those serving in America s armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Distinguished actors like Robert Duvall, Beau Bridges and Aaron Eckhart give voice to the poems, stories, essays, letters, and journal entries of people on the frontlines. An honest and intensely personal look at war through firsthand accounts, this groundbreaking documentary adds depth to individual experiences by looking at them within the context of the long and venerable tradition of war writing. By turns poetic, comic, and chilling (Variety), this film gives voice to those heroes who have served and wish to share their experiences with the world.

Sicko

Michael Moore

• 2008 Oscar-Documentary nominee
• Score: 6.58

Following on the heels of his Palm d’Or winning Fahrenheit 9/11 and his Oscar winning film Bowling for Columbine, acclaimed filmmaker Michael Moore’s new documentary sets out to investigate the American healthcare system. Sticking to his tried-and-true one-man approach, Moore sheds light on the complicated medical affairs of individuals and local communities.

War Dance

Sean Fine, Andrea Nix

• 2008 Oscar-Documentary nominee
• Score: 6.58

Set in Northern Uganda, a country ravaged by more than two decades of civil war, War Dance tells the story of Dominic, Rose, and Nancy, three children whose families have been torn apart, their homes destroyed, and who currently reside in a displaced persons camp n Patongo. When they are invited to compete in an annual music and dance festival, their historic journey to their nation’s capital is also an opportunity to regain a part of their childhood and to taste victory for the first time in their lives.