Academy Awards Picks “Paraíso” for Documentary Shortlist
Kurtz is hoping to take his movie about three unassuming Mexican immigrant window washers all the way to the Academy Awards and he just might. Chicago’s own Cruz Guzman, Jaime Polanco and Sergio Polanco may be on the red carpet since the Academy this week announced the field of Documentary Short Subject contenders had been narrowed to eight and “Paraíso” was one of them.
The eight short films were selected from a pool of 31 films and only three to five of the eight selected will earn an Oscar nomination. The nominations will be announced on January 10, 2013 and the 85th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, February 24, 2013.
This ten minute visual treat has been winning its way through the film festival circuit and hopes to win here in Chicago, the city of its birth. The film short was directed and produced by Kurtz and features employees of Corporate Cleaning Services atop some of Chicago’s most iconic buildings cleaning, philosophizing and laughing. The movie is presented in Spanish with English subtitles.
The eight nominated short films are listed below in alphabetical order by title:
“The Education of Mohammad Hussein,”
“Inocente,”
“Kings Point,”
“Mondays at Racine,”
“Open Heart,”
“Paraíso,”
“The Perfect Fit,”
“Redemption”
This article was first published in Hispanically Speaking News.
[Photo courtesy Chicago International Film Festival]
