I received an email link to this from Eugene Hernandez, which means it is important. I missed the Oscar presentation to the docs but heard about Seinfeld’s intro and thought I must be hearing only part of the story. How could the Oscars producers allow such condescension when it is honoring filmmakers? The producer of nominated Iraq in Fragments John Sinno takes aim:

I had the great fortune of attending the 79th Academy Awards following my nomination as producer for a film in the Best Documentary Feature category. At the Awards ceremony, most categories featured an introduction that glorified the filmmakers’ craft and the role it plays for the film audience and industry. But when comedian Jerry Seinfeld introduced the award for Best Documentary Feature, he began by referring to a documentary that features himself as a subject, then proceeded to poke fun at it by saying it won no awards and made no money. He then revealed his love of documentaries, as they have a very “real” quality, while making a comically sour face. This less-than-flattering beginning was followed by a lengthy digression that had nothing whatsoever to do with documentary films. The clincher, however, came when he wrapped up his introduction by calling all five nominated films “incredibly depressing!” Read the entire letter>>