Deb Ellis, visiting assistant professor of film and media culture, just received word that her bio-pic film, Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, has been short-listed in the Oscars documentary category. The film is one of 12 films from which the final five nominees will be chosen. Other films include Born into Brothels, Riding Giants, The Story of the Weeping Camel, Super Size Me, and Tupac: Resurrection.
Recently, Seven Days magazine reported:
The honor was all the more surprising because "we had not made it into the big film festivals," Ellis points out. In an age when many documentaries are pushing the stylistic envelope, she adds,Moving Traindelivers its left-of-center political message in a fairly conventional form.
Ellis and [co-director] Mueller submitted the film for Oscar consideration. Their distributor, First Run Features, didn't think they had a chance.
"There's nothing you can do but leave it to the gods at this point," Ellis says calmly, before acknowledging that her excitement can't always be contained.