The 2009 Academy Awards will soon be upon us, and we at DOC take genuine pride and pleasure in bringing you profiles of each of this year’s nominated documentary features.

And while each of the five docs on this year’s short list is an undeniably incredible film, none have the scope or the intimate detail of Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath’s documentary epic “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon).”  Nearly 23 years in the making, “The Betrayal” marks one of the most unique collaborations between director and subject in documentary history.

In “The Betrayal,” documentary filmmaker Kuras doesn’t just let her subject Thavisouk Phrasavath and his family of Loatian refugees shape the content of the film. Kuras goes so far as to credit him as the film’s co-director, co-writer and editor. “The Betrayal” tales the larger than life tale of Phrasavath and his family’s harrowing and incredible journey from a post-Vietnam war torn Loas to the streets of Brooklyn. Each of the more than 20 years in between is chronicled in a way that always manages to be both grand in scale and emotionally intimate in the same moment.

No doubt Kuras’ experience working as a cinematographer helped make “The Betrayal” into the documentary masterpiece that it will surely come to be regarded as in the years to come. It takes no more than a quick scan of her filmography to see that she’s worked with some of the most daring and audacious filmmakers working right now, from Scorsese to Spike Lee to French filmmaker and visual genius Michel Gondry. It would seem that each film on Kuras’ already incredible resume honed her skills to a level rarely glimpsed outside of fictional films.

Between Kuras’ sure hand behind the camera and Phrasavath’s natural charisma, the film lives and breathes, and though it has a running time of just 96 minutes, the distance the Phrasavath film bravely traveled is not only felt but seen. It doesn’t hurt matters that Phrasavath’s film has enough twists and turns to make Agatha Christie proud including a real jaw-dropper of a revelation involving the fate of Thavi’s presumed-dead father. And with Kuras already hard at working shooting filmmaker Sam Mendes (whose Revolutionary Road might bring home an Oscar or two itself this year), we can only hope she won’t stay gone from the documentary world for too long. The Betrayal is truly an unforgettable film. You can see the film’s trailer and find out more about the fascinating Phrasavath family journey on the film’s website at www.thebetrayalmovie.com.

Chris Dortch II