Documentaries everyone should see

When the Academy Awards are presented Sunday night, not everyone will pay close attention to the best documentary category.

But documentary filmmaker Robert Hillmann of Graton, who serves on the Academy’s nomination committee for that category, is pretty excited.

This year’s nominees for feature-length documentary, chosen from some 130 entries, are: “Citizenfour,” “Finding Vivien Maier,” “Last Days in Vietnam,” “The Salt of the Earth” and “Virunga.”

While he won’t make predictions about which films will win Oscars, Hillman thinks very highly of some of the couple hundred documentaries he screened as part of the nomination process.

“There are two particular films that are nominated for best documentary,” he said. “One that has gotten a lot of recognition internationally, and is very important to see, is ‘Citizenfour.’ ”

The film trails director Laura Poitras as she answers a mystery-shrouded summons to meet in Hong Kong with a man who turned out to be Edward Snowden, who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency to the media.

“ ‘Citizenfour’ is worth seeing,” Hillman said, “because you come away with an insight into this person, Snowden, and his character.”

Hillmann also recommends watching another Oscar-nominated documentary, “The Salt of the Earth,” about globe-trotting photographer Sebastião Salgado, co-directed by the photographer’s son, Juliano Salgado, and German director Wim Wenders.

“The son of the photographer had missed his father through much of his childhood. His father was always gone for months at a time to take photographs in Africa or New Guinea or some faraway place,” Hillmann said. “So when the kid grew up, he got himself a movie camera and said, ‘I’m old enough to come with you now.’ ”

Hillmann also urges people to see several other documentaries that weren’t nominated this year, including “The Internet’s Own Boy,” about Internet “hacktivist” Aaron Schwartz.

Other recommendations include:

“Keep On Keepin’ On,” about jazz musician Clark Terry and his friendship with blind piano prodigy Justin Kauflin.

“Alive Inside,” about the use of memorable music from dementia or Alzheimer’s patients’ early lives to reach them via headphones or ear buds. Patients “come to life before your eyes,” Hillman said.

“Merchants of Doubt,” about organized campaigns to question scientists’ warnings about dangers to the public, from the effects of smoking to the current debate over climate change.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.