A strange calm as blown over the documentary branch of the Academy as they release their oddly thrown together list of the “best” documentaries from this year, as the preliminary, word-of-mouth frontrunners are no where to be seen, including the NYFC’s pick this afternoon, “The Central Park Five”. Peter Jackson produced “West of Memphis” about the Memphis Three also misses it’s mar, as does “Queen of Versailles”, “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”, and “Samsara”.

The frontrunners now included the highly publicized Weinstein baby, “Bully”, the global warming, photojournal, “Chasing Ice”, “How to Survive a Plague”, and, the top two in my opinion, “The Invisible War” and “Searching for Sugar Man”.

1. “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” Never Sorry LLC
2. “Bully,” The Bully Project LLC
3. “Chasing Ice,” Exposure
4. “Detropia,” Loki Films
5. “Ethel,” Moxie Firecracker Films
6. “5 Broken Cameras,” Guy DVD Films
7. “The Gatekeepers,” Les Films du Poisson, Dror Moreh Productions, Cinephil
8. “The House I Live In,” Charlotte Street Films, LLC
9. “How to Survive a Plague,” How to Survive a Plague LLC
10. “The Imposter,” Imposter Pictures Ltd.
11. “The Invisible War,” Chain Camera Pictures
12. “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” Jigsaw Productions in association with Wider Film Projects and Below the Radar Films
13. “Searching for Sugar Man,” Red Box Films
14. “This Is Not a Film,” Wide Management
15. “The Waiting Room,” Open’hood, Inc.