If I'd had 45 seconds, I would have woven in elements from all the nominated docs to make an anti-war statement and help give the attention to non-fiction film they deserve. His remarks backstage were more reflective and effective (you can watch some of them in RealVideo). One of Moore's next projects is an animated film with Dan Perkins (Tom Tomorrow).

While "Bowling" isn't the best documentary ever made (even if it was, it would be too soon to make that judgement), I disagree with Aaron Barnhart and Andy Ihnatko that it isn't a documentary. It is a film essay, but that is a long-standing type of film within documentary and the failure to understand that has been the source of a lot of the criticism of Moore's work all the way back to "Roger & Me." Another example is Chris Marker's "A Grin Without a Cat" (which Larry Bensky appears in).

"Prisoner of Paradise" was going to air on PBS in April, but that has been postponed since the film will be released in theaters (this article has a bit of background).

"Winged Migration" begins opening in theaters April 18th. Director Jacques Perrin will present it at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The documentary which invented new ways to film birds in flight is an amazing visual experience and should be seen in a theater.

"Spellbound" opens at the Film Forum in NYC April 30th and will expand to other cities starting May 16th. It will later be shown on HBO or Cinemax.

Zap2It has an overview of nominees for best documentary short. "Twin Towers" won.

An earlier version of this appeared on TVBarn.