Documentaries questioning the status quo have been an integral part of our culture for generations, giving film artists and audiences a means to express their particular, and sometimes contentious, points of view. Politics, civil rights, labor, punk rock, the Blacklist… these and other topical issues have found their way into movie houses and into the minds of viewers through documentaries, sometimes changing the very conditions the films were investigating. Theatrical documentaries have gained a newfound popularity, in many cases because of their willingness to challenge the status quo.

	Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)

”Documentaries of Dissent, Part II,” a sequel to 2004's historical overview, will spotlight some filmmakers who exemplify alternative voices in recent documentaries and examine the methods they employed to make their voices heard.

Hosted by Kenneth Turan, film critic for the Los Angeles Times, panelists and film excerpts from their work will include:

Kirby Dick, Director of Twist of Faith, Oscar Nominee for Best Documentary Feature (2004).

Kathleen Glynn, Producer of Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) and Bowling for Columbine, Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature (2002).

Robert Greenwald, Producer/Director of Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War (2003) and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005).

Morgan Spurlock (Producer/Director of Supersize Me, Oscar Nominee for Best Documentary Feature (2004).

John Huston

The Academy’s John Huston Lecture on Documentary Film is named to honor Huston’s legacy as witnessed in his controversial World War II documentaries, Report from the Aleutians (1943), The Battle of San Pietro (1944), and Let There Be Light (1946). Let There Be Light was banned for decades by the very agency which commissioned it, the U.S. War Department, and was finally released in 1980. The Battle of San Pietro was not released publicly until 1945, when General George Marshall removed its “classified” status.