Penguins documentary on Oscars shortlist
Hit film March Of The Penguins is one of 15 documentaries shortlisted for an Oscar at next year’s Academy Awards.
The Antarctic documentary, narrated by Morgan Freeman, won rave reviews and packed US cinemas this summer despite competing with big budget Hollywood blockbusters.
It was shortlisted by a screening committee which whittled down a list of 82 nominations in the category to just 15, up from the usual dozen.
Other contenders include Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, about the collapse of the energy giant, On Native Soil: The Documentary Of The 9/11 Commission Report, and Occupation: Dreamland about the Iraq war.
The final five will be announced along with all Oscar nominations on January 31.
March Of The Penguins was made by a four-man French film crew who followed Emperor penguins as they made their annual trek across the Antarctic to breed.
It became the most successful French film ever released in America, making almost $77m (€64m) at the box office and ranking second only to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 as the highest grossing documentary in America.
It is released in Ireland on December 9.
The 2006 Oscars ceremony will take place at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on March 5.
