Support the Free Press | Facts matter. Truth matters. Journalism matters
Salt Lake City Weekly has been Utah's source of independent news and in-depth journalism since 1984. Donate today to ensure the legacy continues.
Film Search
2018 Oscar Shorts: Documentary A
Historically, it’s been easy to guess the winner in this category as “whichever one is based on the most horrifying global tragedy.” These nominees offer more of a challenge, and intriguing diversity of topics and approaches. The shorter B program features two films that both address people trying to help fellow humans at risk: Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s urgent Heroin(e), about three women—a fire chief, a drug court judge and a street missionary—addressing heroin abuse in Huntington, W.V.; and Thomas Lennon’s feel-good Knife Skills, focusing on a Cleveland restaurant that also provides post-incarceration training for ex-convicts. The “A” program ranges from Frank Stiefel’s intriguing portrait of artist Mindy Alper’s struggles with severe mental illness in Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405, to the likely favorite in Laura Checkoway’s Edith + Eddie, about a nonagenarian couple fighting to decide their own fate. And then there’s Kate Davis’s Traffic Stop, a deeply frustrating portrait of a Texas woman’s experience with possible police brutality. Let’s just say if that turns out to be the winner, it will be more about the topic than the execution.
