Director James Marsh poses for a portrait while promoting the film ''Project Nim'' during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah January 21, 2011.
Director James Marsh poses for a portrait while promoting the film ''Project Nim'' during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah January 21, 2011. Reuters

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected its shortlist of documentary features that will vie for an Oscar.

The 15 titles announced on Friday include Pina, Wim Wenders' 3D tribute to late choreographer Pina Bausch; Project Nim, the story of a 1970s behavioral project involving a chimpanzee; AIDS-themed chronicle We Were Here and Buck, a portrait of the man who inspired The Horse Whisperer.

A couple of war-themed films made the cut: Hell and Back Again and Under Fire: Journalists in Combat, while Semper Fi: Always Faithful centers on a career military man who exposes a Marine Corps cover-up of an environmental crisis.

Among The highly regarded documentaries that didn't make the shortlist are Werner Herzog's look at capital punishment, Into the Abyss, and Steve James's The Interrupters, an exploration of grassroots attempts to curb urban violence.

For the preliminary round of voting, the Documentary Branch Screening Committee viewed 124 feature-length nonfiction films that qualified in the category. Documentary Branch members will select five nominees from the 15-title shortlist.

Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards will be announced on January 24. The awards ceremony is scheduled for February 26.

The Academy's documentary shortlist, in alphabetical order:

Battle for Brooklyn

Bill Cunningham New York

Buck

Hell and Back Again

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

Jane's Journey

The Loving Story

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Pina

Project Nim

Semper Fi: Always Faithful

Sing Your Song

Undefeated

Under Fire: Journalists in Combat

We Were Here

Academy of motion picture arts and sciences New York Aids New York