On 28 February 2016 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, the Academy presents the Oscars. Also in the running are two documentaries dedicated to Amy Winehouse and Nina Simone.
This year's edition of the Academy Awards (the 88th) has already ignited debate in the United States and around the world over the possible racism said to pervade the "Hollywood system": people of colour are not represented by the Academy at all, and among the nominations there is a complete absence of non-white candidates in the acting categories.
But on 28 February at the Dolby Theatre, beyond the controversy (and the films themselves), there will fortunately be another star of the show: music.
For some years now, music has been the driving force behind the success of some of the best documentaries to reach cinemas (who could forget Searching for Sugar Man, winner of best documentary at the 85th edition; or the recent Janis, about the life of Janis Joplin, presented at the most recent Venice Film Festival). This year too, two of the five feature films nominated by the Academy in the best documentary category are music films.
Amy
The first is Amy by Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees, both first-time Oscar nominees. The film traces the life of British artist Amy Winehouse from the origins of her success — marked by excess — through to her death on 23 July 2011 at her home in London. The documentary was a major critical and commercial success, exploring in depth the fragility of a talent, and has so far received 33 nominations and 27 awards, the most recent being the BAFTA (British Academy Film Awards), received on 14 February.
What Happened, Miss Simone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moOQXZxriKY
Also in the running for the statuette is another music documentary about another towering female figure: What Happened, Miss Simone? examines the life of Eunice Kathleen Waymon, known professionally as Nina Simone. Directed by Liz Garbus and produced by Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes, the film features the participation of Lisa Simone Kelly, Nina Simone's daughter. Here too the artist's life — as tormented as it was brilliant — is retraced from the very beginnings of her artistic career, while also delving into the more delicate aspects of her private life through interviews and archival material.
Italy's only two Oscar nominations are both in music: Ennio Morricone, having won the Golden Globe for best original score for Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, is looking to repeat the feat in Los Angeles.
Youth by Paolo Sorrentino, having narrowly missed out on a nomination for best foreign language film, is still in the running for a statuette in the best original song category, thanks to Simple Song #3 by American composer David Lang — already a Pulitzer Prize winner for music for The Little Match Girl Passion and a collaborator of Sorrentino's on the score of the Oscar-winning film La grande bellezza.
Also nominated in the best original song category are, among others, Til It Happens to You by Lady Gaga, produced and written for the documentary about sexual violence on American university campuses, The Hunting Ground, and Manta Ray by J. Ralph and Anohni — known as Antony Hegarty and the first transgender artist ever to be nominated by the Academy — nominated for Racing Extinction, a film about protecting the environment and the extinction of animal species in our era.
Both Anohni and South Korean soprano Sumi Jo, the performer of David Lang's song, were excluded without explanation from the evening's performers. Tradition dictates, in fact, that the nominated original songs are performed live. For this reason, artist Anohni announced the decision not to attend the awards ceremony.