A Washington County-centered documentary is aiming to make the shortlist for the 2019 Academy Awards.

Saving Brinton, a documentary that follows local historian Michael Zahs as he works to preserve and share some of the world’s oldest films, is one of the documentaries eligible for Oscar consideration this year. Zahs shares the deadline for the 400 people who vote on the documentary consideration for the Oscars is due today (12/11), “They each have a copy of the film. And many of them have been contacted to make sure that they watched it. Many were supposed to come, and RSVPed that they’d come when we were in Los Angeles, and the fires closed the interstate. And they couldn’t come, 250 said they’d be there and the interstate kept most of them away because of the fires. But we’re hoping that they’ve all watched the film.” The pool started with about 200 documentaries and has been narrowed down to about 50. The next group will be 15. Zahs says they hope to hear by Christmas that Saving Brinton has made the shortlist of 15, and the final five nominees will be named in January. Speaking of being a nominee, Zahs says, “We don’t want to put too much emphasis on that, but it would be sort of cool.” The film is now available for purchase, both physical copies and digitally.