Mumbai: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 81st Academy Awards. A record 94 pictures had originally qualified in the category. The Documentary Branch Screening Committee viewed all the eligible documentaries for the preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the titles on the shortlist.

The 15 films are:

At the Death House Door

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)

Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh

Encounters at the End of the World

Fuel

The Garden

Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts

I.O.U.S.A.

In a Dream

Made in America

Man on Wire

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Standard Operating Procedure

They Killed Sister Dorothy

Trouble the Water

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on 22 January, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on 22 February, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.