Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup.
It's head-scratching season again, which is to say: it's Oscar time. Last week, the shortlist of 15 documentaries being considered for the five Academy Award nominations was announced. And, sure enough, there were some head-scratchers out there.
The most confounding was the exclusion of Michael Moore's Capitalism. Sure, this further confirms what I said a few weeks ago that he's lost his luster but the Academy took things way too far. Almost as surprising was that RJ Cutler's The September Issue didn't get a chance at a nod, and perhaps not as surprising but equally unjust was that Sacha Gervasi's Anvil: The Story of Anvil was left out in the cold.
Read more after the jump...
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POV's outreach and development assistant Jessica Lee recently attended a screening of POV's The Way We Get By on Capitol Hill. She writes about the experience and tells us what struck her about the film, its subjects and the screening.
Last night's special Veterans Day broadcast of POV's The Way We Get By prompted a tremendous response from PBS viewers — in fact, the most viewer emails, comments, tweets, etc. we've received in a very long time. Many U.S. service men and women and their families wrote to say that the film reminded them of the time they themselves met the Maine Troop Greeters, and how thankful they were that Joan Gaudet, Jerry Mundy, Bill Knight and the other greeters perform this important community service.
New Muslim Cool, which screened on Sept. 24th, was followed by a Q & A with Jason Hamza Pèrez. I found Pèrez particularly interesting, because he explained the techniques that the director, Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, used to help him feel at ease as the subject of her fillm. He told us that Taylor made an impact on him by respecting his privacy and adhering to his rules on where the camera could and couldn't go. He put the documentary into perspective perhaps even better than the filmmaker could — which makes sense, since it was his life that was spotlighted.
A few weeks ago, I spoke with Tod Lending, director of 
In 1990, my last name — the prosaic-in-China but seemingly obscure-in-America "Xu" — was the 10,540th most common name in America. In 2000, my last name had made an incredible leap — it climbed more than 7,000 spots to become the 2,701st most common name in America. What a difference a decade makes! How common is your last name? And has it moved up or down according to the census? Find out in POV's Last Name Popularity Index!