Santa Fe documentarian, Los Alamos screenwriter have Oscar hopes

The Oscar nominations are in, with “The Revenant” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” getting the most nods, and a few New Mexicans in the running for golden statuettes.

For the second time in three years, Santa Fe native Joshua Oppenheimer was nominated in the documentary feature category. His documentary, “The Look of Silence,” is the companion piece to his 2014 Oscar-nominated film “The Act of Killing.”

Through Oppenheimer’s footage of perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide, a family of survivors discovers how their son was murdered, as well as the identities of the killers. The documentary focuses on the youngest son, an optometrist named Adi, who decides to confront the men who killed his brother while testing their eyesight. He asks them to accept responsibility for their actions.

“The result, ‘The Look of Silence,’ is, I hope, a poem about the silence of borne terror — a poem about the necessity of breaking that silence, but also about the trauma that comes when silence is broken,” Oppenheimer said.

Los Alamos’ Drew Goddard picked up a nomination for adapted screenplay with “The Martian.” Goddard adapted Andy Weir’s novel for 20th Century Fox.

The pair worked together a little bit, and Weir said the process was very incremental.

“I love what Drew did with the script,” he said. “When I go back to LA, we will grab a beer and hang out.”

“The Revenant” scored 12 nominations — the most of any film. Bosque School senior Forrest Goodluck was part of the ensemble, cast as Leonardo DiCaprio’s son.

“Being part of this film has helped me learn a lot about myself and the industry,” he told the Journal.

Not surprisingly, Bryan Cranston grabbed a best-actor nomination for his role in “Trumbo.” The film, directed by New Mexico native Jay Roach, is set in 1947 and follows successful screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and other Hollywood figures as they are blacklisted for their political beliefs.