Film by J-School documentary Professor Orlando Bagwell shortlisted for Academy Award

A film co-produced by the head of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism’s acclaimed documentary program, Prof. Orlando Bagwell, has been shortlisted for the 2016 Oscars.

In December, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 15 of the 124 films submitted to the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 88th Academy Awards.

The riveting documentary, “3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets,” which premiered at Sundance, explored the trial in Jacksonville, Fla., of a middle-aged white man charged with opening fire on the young black passengers of an SUV who had annoyed him by playing loud music. It explored the brutal dangers of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law by weaving the shooter’s trial with a chorus of opinion, and with slain teenager Jordan Davis’s parents’ wrenching experiences in and out of the courtroom.

“It is an honor for 3 1/2 Minutes to be recognized as one of the films on the shortlist for an Oscar,” said Orlando Bagwell. “For Lucy and Ron the parents of Jordan, and for the memory of Jordan, all of us on the team are proud people will know him and recognize we can not lose beautiful boys like Jordan any longer.”

The film, directed by Marc Silver, and produced by Minette Nelson and Carolyn Hepburn, began airing on HBO this month.

The School hosted a private screening for students and alumni of “3-å_ Minutes” in April followed by a panel with Bagwell, and David Eckles and Minette Nelson of the Filmmaker Fund.

One of the foremost documentarians of his generation, Bagwell brought a career-long commitment to producing distinguished documentaries of his own when he was selected to direct the program in 2014 and take on the job of nurturing the work of aspiring filmmakers at the J-School.

“We’re delighted, though not surprised, at the Academy’s decision to honor this powerful film,” said the School’s dean, Edward Wasserman. “It reminds us of our good fortune in bringing Orlando aboard, and of the professionalism he brings not just to his movies but to his classes as well.”

Bagwell’s work represents some of the industry’s most influential films about the civil rights movement and the history of American race relations. He is best known for producing and directing “Citizen King,” a PBS documentary about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, and “Eyes on the Prize,” the 14-part series about the civil rights movement. He also produced and directed “Roots of Resistance: The Story of the Underground Railroad,” “Malcolm X: Make It Plain,” and “Frederick Douglass: When the Lion Wrote History.”

The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Jan. 14 at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The 88th Oscars themselves will be awarded on Feb. 28 at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live by ABC Television. The Oscar presentation is also shown live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

About the Documentary Program at UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley’s documentary program is widely considered one of the strongest and most important graduate documentary programs in the U.S. Carrying on the work begun by Andrew Stern and pioneering black gay filmmaker Marlon T. Riggs in the 1970s, professors Jon Else and Orlando Bagwell have trained hundreds of young nonfiction filmmakers of astonishing talent, diversity, and accomplishment.

Grounded in the values of professional journalism “Ò accuracy, eloquent clarity, aggressive research and reporting, fine writing, ethics and analysis “Ò combined with fundamentals of solid filmmaking, documentary production at UC Berkeley emphasizes visual imagery and a wide range of storytelling styles “Ò investigative, historical, biography, personal essay, and cinema verite.

The School’s graduate students routinely win more national student Emmys for documentary than those of any other university program in the country. They’ve also won many student Oscars, and alongside alumni, have routinely had premiere screenings at the top film festivals in the world: Sundance, Cannes, SXSW, and Tribeca.

By Marlena Telvick