Us, stop talking about the Oscars? We wish it were that easy. But alas, Jerry Seinfeld's on-stage comments are keeping the naked gold man's name in the headlines. If you were fortunate enough to miss the 4-hour broadcast, you'll have no idea what we're talking about, so let's bring you up to speed: Seinfeld introduced the Best Documentary award, but his comments focused on little more than a documentary made about himself, and then calling all five of the nominated movies "incredibly depressing."

Which left documentary filmmakers … pissed.

Typecast Films' John Sinno fired off an angry – but well-versed – open letter to the Academy, which Nikki Finke has published in full. The gist: Seinfeld's comments were uncalled for, the Academy owes documentary types an apology, and what's with no mention of the Iraq war?

While I appreciate the role of humor in our lives, Jerry Seinfeld’s remarks were made at the expense of thousands of documentary filmmakers and the entire documentary genre. Obviously we make films not for awards or money, although we are glad if we are fortunate enough to receive them. The important thing is to tell stories, whether of people who have been damaged by war, of humankind’s reckless attitude toward nature and the environment, or even of the lives and habits of penguins. With his lengthy, dismissive and digressive introduction, Jerry Seinfeld had no time left for any individual description of the five nominated films. And by labeling the documentaries 'incredibly depressing', he indirectly told millions of viewers not to bother seeing them because they’re nothing but downers. He wasted a wonderful opportunity to excite viewers about the nominated films and about the documentary genre in general.

So let us have a hand in correcting the wrong. Herewith, we encourage all readers to go check out the following films.

• Deliver Us From Evil — Pedophiles in the Church, and the cover up!
• An Inconvenient Truth — We're all gonna melt!
• Iraq In Fragments — Bedtime stories from Iraqis whose lives are ruined!
• Jesus Camp — Uplifting tales of child evangelist zealot hopefuls!
• My Country, My Country — On being an Iraqi and trying to cast an election vote without getting blown up!

See, what's to be all depressed about?