Oscar ballots going in the mail

A total of 311 films, the most in 32 years, are on the nominating ballots for best picture being mailed today to voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The increase in eligible movies is because of a large increase in the number of feature-length documentaries and the release in 2005 of an unusually high number of long-delayed projects, said the academy’s Howard Loberfeld.

Nominations for the 78th Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 31 at 5:30 a.m. in the academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The awards ceremony will be March 5 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.