The Fifteen 2010 Documentaries Shortlisted for Oscar

The Academy Awards documentary branch announced yesterday their shortlist for documentary contenders for this years award.

Like last year, I hope to watch as many of these as possible before nominations are announced.

By Oscar Nomination Morning (a holiday in my book) 5 of these will be chosen as nominees for the Oscar for best feature length documentary.

Here's a little about the 15 film contenders, soon it will be 5 nominees, and eventually 1 will be an Academy Award winner:

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, Alex Gibney: The story of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, whose quick gubernatorial position ended with resignation when plagued by scandal.

Enemies of the People, Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath. A son of victims of slaughtering of Khmer Rouge in Cambodia's killing fields, film maker Thet Sambath spends time earning the trust of those who participated in the massacres and tells their story.

Exit through the Gift Shop, Bansky: Banksy a famous graffiti artists who has maintained general anonymity turn the camera on a French shop owner who is attempting to capture Bansky on film.

GasLand, Josh Fox: Josh Fox travels across the United States to investigate the American natural gas boom that is created when the new drilling process of "fracking" starts to boom.

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont: An attempt to tell the story of the personal life of the Canadian piano mastermind Glenn Gould.

Inside Job, Charles Ferguson: A film that attempts to tell the story of the global financial meltdown of 2008 with narration by Matt Damon.

The Lottery, Madeleine Sackler: The story of four African American families in the The Bronx and Harlem who enter their children in a charter school lottery in hopes of a better education for their children.

Precious Life, Shomi Eldar: The story of an Israeli pediatrician and Palestinian mother who is trying to get treatment for her baby with an incurable disease.

Quest for Honor, Mary Ann Smothers Bruni: The investigation of honor killings of women in tribal regions of Kurdistan.

Restrepo, Tim Hetherington and Sephastian Junger: A film following a US Army Platoon's deployment, the journalist covering them for Vanity Fair and their time at their outpost, OP Restrepo .

This Way of Life, Thomas Burstyn: The story of four years in the life man and his family in New Zealand living a life that's in contrast to much of the developed world with six kids, 50 horses and a parenting style that's different the man's malevolent adoptive father.

The Tillman Story, Amir Bar-Lev: A film about Matt Tillman, the America football player who enlisted in the United States Army after September 11, 2001 and died in friendly fire, although it was originally presented as a death in combat.

Waiting for 'Superman', Davis Guggenheim: A film by Guggenheim (Oscar win for An Inconvenient Truth) that follows kids through an education system presented as an inhibitor to true academic success.

Waste Land, Lucy Walker: A story that follows contemporary artist Vik Muniz who's story from the world's largest landfill to international art stardom restoring landfill items and turning them into art.

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler: Two daughters explore the life of the father one of the most polarizing lawyers of the 20th century who had represented clients such as Malcolm X, Abby Hoffman, and Martin Luther King Jr.