Films about Iraq and former US presidential candidate Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" are among the final 15 entries for the 2007 Oscars best documentary, organizers said. Gore's hard-hitting rallying cry against global environmental catastrophe has won glowing reviews and was a hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
Several movies about the conflict in Iraq were also included in the preliminary shortlist, which was whittled down from 81 entries and will eventually be reduced to five nominees early next year.
Among the Iraq movies were "The War Tapes," a groundbreaking effort which was put together using footage shot by US soldiers equipped with mini-cameras.
Other entries using Iraq for their subject matter included "Iraq in Fragments," "The Ground Truth," and "My Country, My Country."
Documentaries about religion are also in the running for honours. "Deliver Us From Evil" deals with sex abuse in the Catholic Church while "Jesus Camp" throws the spotlight on the US evangelical youth movement.
Nominations for the 79th Academy Awards will be announced on January 23 ahead of Oscar night on February 25.