October 4, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:  Leslie Unger — (310) 247-3000
                            lunger@oscars.org

“Oscar’s Docs” Begin to Shift Focus
Beyond WWII

Documentary Feature winner "Design for Death" (1947), which examines Japanese culture and how it led to Japan's role in WWII.

Beverly Hills, CA — The Oscar®-winning documentaries of 1947 and 1948 will screen on Monday, October 10, at 7:30 p.m., in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Linwood Dunn Theater as part of "Oscar’s Docs: The First Twenty Years of Academy Award®-Winning Documentaries.” The 12-week series showcases the first 40 short and feature-length documentaries honored by the Academy since the inception of the category in 1941.

“First Steps,” produced by the United Nations Division of Films and Visual Information, was the first Oscar-winning documentary that was not about World War II. The winner of the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1947 focuses on physical therapy for ailing children.

However, WWII was clearly still on the minds of non-fiction film makers in the late 1940s. “Design for Death,” the Documentary Feature winner for 1947, took a controversial look at Japanese culture and how it led to Japan’s role in WWII. Both winners of 1948 also kept their focus on the military but began to study different aspects of the armed services. “Toward Independence,” the Short Subject winner in 1948, examined the rehabilitation of Army soldiers injured during the war. The U.S. Navy’s “Operation Highjump” was the subject of “The Secret Land,” the 1948 Documentary Feature winner, which explored the military possibilities of Antarctica. New 35mm prints of “First Steps” and “Toward Independence,” made from preserved elements in the Academy Film Archive’s War Film Collection, will be screened. Warner Bros. has donated a new 35mm print of “The Secret Land” to the Academy Film Archive’s collection and has loaned the Academy a 35mm print of “Design for Death” for this “Oscar’s Docs” screening.

The October 17 installment of “Oscar’s Docs” will be a panel discussion on nature documentaries featuring documentarians Paul Kenworthy, Roy Disney and Alec Lorimore, along with film historian and documentary camerman Robert Dickson, who will present a historical overview of nature film documentaries from 1898 to 1948.

Passes for "Oscar’s Docs: The First Twenty Years of Academy Award-Winning Documentaries" are available at a cost of $30 for the general public and $25 for Academy members and students with valid I.D. Tickets for individual evenings of the series are available for $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with valid I.D. Passes and tickets may be purchased by mail, in person at the Academy during regular business hours or, pending availability, the night of the screening when the doors open at 6:30 p.m. The Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. For more information call (310) 247-3000, ext. 111.

Editors: Please note that downloadable photos from these films are available at http://photos.oscars.org

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