2012 International Documentary Association Award Winners

Usually I do not cover documentary films but this year there are so many great documentaries that decided to give these films a voice in the blog. Last night IDA had the awards ceremony at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles and honored the film "Searching for Sugar Man" with the top award.

I have been following Malik Bendjelloul's debut film since learned the unbelievable great story that tells when was screened at 2012 Sundance where won audience and jury awards, went to win the Silver George Best Documentary at 2012 Moscow fest and continue to collect honors in the fest circuit. Now Searching for Sugar Man started to collect honors in the American award season including being shortlisted by Oscar and wining the top award at IDA. What amazes me the most is that this is a Sweden/UK production telling the story of an unknown American man that was very famous in South Africa.

After this long introduction let me share with you both the nominees and the award winners of 2012 IDA Documentary Awards. Winners are in *BLUE.

Best Feature Award
*Searching for Sugar Man, Malik Bendjelloul, Sweden and UK
The Central Park Five, Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon, USA
The Invisible War, Kirby Dick, USA
The Queen of Versailles, Lauren Greenfield, USA, UK, Netherlands and Denmark
Kokvinnorna (Women With Cows), Peter Gerdehag, Sweden

Best Short Award
*Saving Face, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, USA and Pakistan
God is the Bigger Elvis, Rebecca Cammisa, USA
Kings Point, Sari Gilman, USA
Mondays at Racine, Cynthia Wade, USA
Open Heart, Kief Davidson, USA

Best Continuing Series (TV)
*American Masters
Independent Lens
POV

Best Limited Series
*On Death Row, Werner Herzog, USA, UK and Austria
Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan, USA
George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Martin Scorsese, USA
Slavery: A 21st Century Evil, David Hickman, Tim Tate and Tom Phillips
The Weight of the Nation

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award
This award recognizes exceptional achievement in non-fiction film and video production at the university level and brings greater public and industry awareness to the work of students in the documentary field.

*La Camioneta (La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus), Mark Kendall, USA
The A-Word, Lindsay Ellis, USA
Captive Radio, Lauren Rosenfeld, USA and Colombia
Julian, Bao Nguyen, USA
Meanwhile in Namelodi, Bejamin Kahlmeyer, Germany

ABCNEWS Videosource Award
This award is given each year for the best use of news footage as an integral component in a documentary.

*Harvest of Empire, Peter Getzels and Eduardo López, USA
Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story, Raymond De Felitta, USA
The Central Park Five, Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon, USA
The Family, Hussein Elrazzaz, Egypt
We Are Wisconsin, Amie Williams, USA

Humanitas Documentary Award
This award is given to a film that explores the hopes and fears of human beings who are very different in culture, race, lifestyle, political loyalties and religious beliefs in order to break down the walls of ignorance which separate us.

*Bitter Seeds, Micha X. Peled, USA
American Experience: The Amish, David Belton, USA
Call Me Kuchu, Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, USA and Uganda
Harvest of Empire, Peter Getzels and Eduardo López, USA
La Vierge, les Coptes et moi... (The Virgin, The Copts and Me), Namir Abdel Messeeh, France, Qatar and Egypt

Pare Lorentz Award: The Island President, Jon Shenk, USA
The Pare Lorentz Award recognizes films that demonstrates exemplary filmmaking while focusing on the appropriate use of the natural environment, justice for all and the illumination of pressing social problems.

Creative Recognition Awards

Best Cinematography: Peter Gerdehag for Kokvinnorna (Women With Cows)
Best Editing: Rodney Ascher for Room 237
Best Writing: Keith Patterson for Ann Richards' Texas
Best Music: Searching for Sugar Man, original songs by Sixto Rodriguez and additional score by Malik Bendjelloul

Jaqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award: David France
Career Achievement Award: Arnold Shapiro
Pioneer Award: Sundance Documentry Program and Fund (DPF)

As you know this blog lists film name and director but if you wish to learn producers please go to IDA official site where you also can find film info plus how to watch each film information, some links allow you to watch the entire documentary film.

I feel very lucky as have seen many of the honored documentaries; some with very entertaining stories in great productions while others tell very hard-to-watch stories, especially those related to women in very adverse conditions. Still there are others that have not seen and definitively I'm looking forward to watch.

I believe that this year was an outstanding year for documentary films and we have to celebrate it by viewing the above and many more films that are finding a voice in this blog.

Cheers!!!