The Numbers Game

Last year, when I received notice I had been accepted to the Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies program at The New School, I began keeping track of the documentaries I watched.

"An Inconvenient Truth" was the 100th since I started that list. Of course, it won at the Academy Awards on Sunday night, and "The Blood of Yingzhou District" won in the short doc category.

That was number 94 for me.

DocuDay NY 2007

In the cab heading down to 53rd Street, I told the driver I was going to spend 14 hours watching documentaries. He seemed horrified at first, then said: "I could watch that much baseball. I guess it's good if it's what you like."

I stared out the window, watching snow-covered Central Park fly past, and thought, "Yep. It's what I like."

Each year, DocuDay screens the feature and short documentaries nominated for the Academy Award. This year's program:

Deliver Us From Evil
Iraq In Fragments
The Blood of Yingzhou District (39-minute short) 
Recycled Life (38-minute short) 
Rehearsing a Dream (39-minute short) 
Two Hands (18-minute short) 
Jesus Camp 
My Country, My Country
An Inconvenient Truth