Oscar nominees swap accusations

The producer of an Academy Award-nominated documentary short claims that this year's Oscar-winning film in the same category deceptively used reenactments. In a letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Sister Rose's Passion producer Steve Kalafer said that Mighty Times: The Children's March failed to disclose which parts of the film were reenacted. The academy allows documentaries to contain some re-creations. Robert Hudson, who made Mighty Times with his life partner, Bobby Houston, said Kalafer is behaving like a sore loser. "The pain you feel inside after losing can make anybody spin out of control," he said, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. A phone call to a representative of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seeking comment was not immediately returned early Tuesday. Mighty Times contains interviews, archival footage, and dramatized scenes of black children marching against and being attacked by segregationists. Hudson and Houston have spoken openly about their use of reenactments, saying the technique helps make historical subjects relevant to younger audiences. For example, several hundred extras were used to re-create historical scenes in Mighty Times. Dale Olson, a publicist for Sister Rose's Passion and an academy member, said he believes that Mighty Times was "an intentional deception to the academy." (AP)