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The International Documentary Association announced the 17 feature-length and 25 short documentaries included on the shortlists for the 39th IDA Documentary Awards, which will be held during the week of Dec. 11in Los Angeles.

The nominees will be announced on Nov. 21, and IDA members will vote for Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary until Dec. 5.

“The 39th IDA Documentary Awards continues the tradition of celebrating the best of international nonfiction media of the year,” said Ken Ikeda, IDA’s Interim Executive Director. “This year’s Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary shortlists reflect important work from twenty-one countries. We are excited to celebrate the work of our community and present winners this December in Los Angeles.”

The 2023 shortlists and nominees are selected by independent committees of 280 documentary makers, curators, critics and industry experts from 40 countries. IDA received 669 total submissions in all categories from 48 countries.

Best Feature Documentary Shortlist

Against the Tide...

The International Documentary Association (IDA) on Tuesday announced its best feature and short shortlists for the 2023 IDA Documentary Awards.

The ceremony will be held during the week of Dec. 11 in Los Angeles — venue information is set to follow. Starting Nov. 7, IDA members will be able to view each of the shortlisted films on IDA Virtual Cinema, and up to 10 nominees from each category will be selected. The nominees will be announced on Nov. 21.

“The 39th IDA Documentary Awards continues the tradition of celebrating the best of international nonfiction media of the year,” said Ken Ikeda, IDA’s interim executive director. “This year’s best feature documentary and best short documentary shortlists reflect important work from twenty-one countries. We are excited to celebrate the work of our community and present winners this December in Los Angeles.”

280 documentary filmmakers, curators, critics and industry experts from 40 countries selected the shortlists. IDA received 669 total submissions from 48 countries.

The 39th International Documentary Awards have announced their shortlists for the best nonfiction entries of the year, with a ceremony to take place during the week of Dec. 11 in Los Angeles in a venue to be named. The films were selected by independent committees comprised of 280 documentary makers, curators, critics, and industry experts from 40 countries. IDA received 669 total submissions in all categories from 48 countries.

New York Times Op-Docs dominated the Documentary Short category with seven mentions, including entries from the Netherlands (“Neighbour Abdi”), Mexico (“Victoria”) and Hungary (“Away”) among the shortlisted selections. The Documentary Feature category appeared to favor less-buzzy international titles this season.

What is surprising about the IDA shortlist is how many of the year’s presumed top contenders are not included. Of the 21 nonfiction films that have been nominated by the Critics Choice Documentary Awards or placed on the Doc NYC shortlist of likely awards titles, only...

The International Documentary Association has unveiled their shortlist for their 39th annual award ceremony, celebrating the best in documentary filmmaking.

17 feature-length documentaries — including “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” and “Anonymous Sister” — were selected for the shortlist, as were 25 short films. The films hail from over 20 countries, including Canada, India, Cambodia, Denmark, Uganda, France, and South Africa.

From the shortlist, up to 10 nominees in both the Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary categories will be selected by IDA members. In addition, awards will be given to additional films in the following categories: Best Curated Series, Best Episodic Series, Best Multi-Part Documentary, Best TV Feature Documentary or Mini-Series, Best Short Form Series, Best Stand-Alone Audio Documentary, Best Multi-Part Audio Documentary or Series, David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award, Best Music Documentary, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Writing, Best Music Score, ABC News VideoSource Award,...

Growing up in Ecuador, the pop culture I consumed was mainly imported from the U.S. and other Latin American countries. The films and TV shows were often sexist, racist and homophobic. The limited portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in my culture made it challenging for me to find relatable representation. For survival, I became skilled at finding and interpreting subtext. Eventually, the closest I came to seeing someone like myself was Hilary Swank’s portrayal of Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry, but I had to detach from his fate to truly relate.

My ability to be openly trans cannot be separated from the ways in which I occupy locations of privileges — I’m a middle-class, mixed-race, light-skinned immigrant who traveled to the U.S. to pursue a college education. Higher education showed me the different ways I could be an “artist,” and art school is where I came out as queer,...

Sundance Institute, which hosts the annual film festival in Park City, Utah, has announced the six people who were selected for its Trans Possibilities Intensive.

The fellows for 2023 are Seyi Adebanjo, Rajvi Desai, Malik Ever, Nick Janaye, Jamie John and Tee Park Jaehyung. The second edition of the Trans Possibilities Intensive, which is a three-day event to aid project and professional development for transgender storytellers of color, is taking place from March 27-29.

Moi Santos, who founded the program, is leading the initiative with guidance from creative advisers and Sundance Institute’s Equity, Impact and Belonging Program. This year’s creative advisers include Sydney Freeland (“Drunktown’s Finest”), Aitch Alberto (“Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe”), Félix Endara (“Unseen”) and Chase Joynt (“Framing Agnes”).

Sundance describes the Intensive as an “ancillary environment for participating artists to enhance their voice and craft, foster relationships with each other, and...

The Sundance Institute announces today six fellows selected for the second edition of the Trans Possibilities Intensive. Hosted by the Intensive’s founder Moi Santos, the three-part event will take place from March 27-29 and feature mentorship from four creative advisors and Sundance’s Equity, Impact, and Belonging Program. The six fellows for 2023 are Seyi Adebanjo, Rajvi Desai, Malik Ever, Nick Janaye, Jamie John and Tee Park Jaehyung. They will receive guidance from creative advisors Sydney Freeland (Drunktown’s Finest), Aitch Alberto (Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe), Félix Endara (Unseen) and Chase Joynt (Framing Agnes). Originally founded in […]

The post Sundance Institute Announces Six Trans Possibilities Intensive Fellows first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The Sundance Institute announces today six fellows selected for the second edition of the Trans Possibilities Intensive. Hosted by the Intensive’s founder Moi Santos, the three-part event will take place from March 27-29 and feature mentorship from four creative advisors and Sundance’s Equity, Impact, and Belonging Program. The six fellows for 2023 are Seyi Adebanjo, Rajvi Desai, Malik Ever, Nick Janaye, Jamie John and Tee Park Jaehyung. They will receive guidance from creative advisors Sydney Freeland (Drunktown’s Finest), Aitch Alberto (Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe), Félix Endara (Unseen) and Chase Joynt (Framing Agnes). Originally founded in […]

The post Sundance Institute Announces Six Trans Possibilities Intensive Fellows first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Sessions to run from March 27-29.

Six transgender storytellers of colour have been selected for the second edition of Sundance Institute’s Trans Possibilities Intensive programme which runs March 27-29.

The 2023 Fellows are: Seyi Adebanjo, Rajvi Desai, Malik Ever, Nick Janaye, Jamie John, and Tee Park Jaehyung.

Moi Santos will lead the sessions and is founder of the Trans Possibilities Intensive. Leadership includes creative advisors including Sydney Freeland (Drunktown’s Finest), Aitch Alberto (Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe), Félix Endara (Inseen) and Chase Joynt (Framing Agnes), as well as Sundance Institute’s Equity, Impact, and Belonging Program.

The Sundance Institute has named the six transgender storytellers of color set for the second edition of their project and professional development program, the Trans Possibilities Intensive. 2023’s cohort will include Seyi Adebanjo (Afromystic), Rajvi Desai (Mother Wit), Malik Ever (GutBucket), Nick Janaye (Dead Ringer), Jamie John (2Spirit Water Carrier) and Tee Park Jaehyung (Destiny in Sedona).

First introduced in 2021, the Trans Possibilities Intensive builds on Sundance’s proud history of supporting trans artists across artist programs and Festival programming, providing an ancillary environment for creatives to enhance their voice and craft, foster relationships with each other, and challenge the obstacles that continue to exclude transgender artists. 2023 Fellows were selected through a nominations-based application and will benefit from project-based granting, mentorship and other custom, year-round creative and professional development opportunities.

The program, designed by and for trans people, couldn’t be more necessary at a time when attacks on trans rights are so prevalent stateside,...

Summer of Soul is picking up steam as awards season accelerates.

The documentary directed by Amir “Questlove” Thompson, which showcases the long-forgotten music-powered Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, earned a leading four nominations for the International Documentary Association Awards today, a day after winning the top prize at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards. The IDA recognition came for Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Music Documentary and Best Editing.

Earning three IDA nominations apiece were Faya Dayi, director Jessica Beshir’s poetic evocation of Ethiopia, where she spent part of her youth, and Not Going Quietly, director Nicholas Bruckman’s documentary about liberal activist Ady Barkan, who was diagnosed with Als in 2016. Bruckman and Beshir will compete for Best Director with Thompson, Jacinta’s Jessica Earnshaw and Flee’s Jonas Poher Rasmussen. Jacinta and Flee also scored Best Documentary nominations [see full list of nominations below].

Ten films were nominated for Best Feature,...

The 2021 International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards has revealed the nominations for Best Feature and Best Short. In a year crowded with festival hits and critically hailed nonfiction (see the Critics Choice Documentary Award winners), with more debuts unspooling at Doc NYC, every reputable nonfiction awards group helps to curate the sprawling list of eventual Oscar contenders, and the IDA is no exception.

A number of films, including nominations leader “Summer of Soul” (four nominations), “Faya Dayi” and “Not Going Quietly” (three) and animated Danish Oscar submission “Flee” (two), keep turning up on early awards lists. But top dog NatGeo’s high-profile, well-reviewed titles “The Rescue,” “Becoming Cousteau,” and “Fauci” were left out in favor of an international selection of less-hyped titles. (“First Wave” scored the Pare Lorentz award plus a cinematography nomination.) PBS earned 14 nominations across its programming strands, followed by Netflix and Hulu each with seven nominations and HBO with six nominations.

The 2021 International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards has revealed the nominations for Best Feature and Best Short. In a year crowded with festival hits and critically hailed nonfiction (see the Critics Choice Documentary Award winners), with more debuts unspooling at Doc NYC, every reputable nonfiction awards group helps to curate the sprawling list of eventual Oscar contenders, and the IDA is no exception.

A number of films, including nominations leader “Summer of Soul” (four nominations), “Faya Dayi” and “Not Going Quietly” (three) and animated Danish Oscar submission “Flee” (two), keep turning up on early awards lists. But top dog NatGeo’s high-profile, well-reviewed titles “The Rescue,” “Becoming Cousteau,” and “Fauci” were left out in favor of an international selection of less-hyped titles. (“First Wave” scored the Pare Lorentz award plus a cinematography nomination.) PBS earned 14 nominations across its programming strands, followed by Netflix and Hulu each with seven nominations and HBO with six nominations.

The International Documentary Association has announced nominations for its 37th annual awards, with “Summer of Soul” picking up four noms and “Not Going Quietly” nabbing three.

Winners will be announced Feb. 5 at the awards ceremony at Paramount Studios.

“Summer of Soul,” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s look at 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival, picked up nominations for Thompson for director in addition to best feature, best music doc and best editing. “Not Going Quietly,” about healthcare activist Ady Barkan, received noms for Nicholas Bruckman for best director along with best feature and best writing.

IDA members may vote online for the best feature and best short categories starting Dec. 13.

PBS earned 14 nominations, followed by Netflix and Hulu with seven nominations each and HBO with six. This year’s submissions included 314 documentary features, 137 shorts, 172 series, 54 student films, 29 music docs and 41 audio documentaries or podcasts.

Here’s the full list of 2021 nominees:

Best Feature...

The International Documentary Association came out with its shortlist of the year’s best documentaries today, a list as notable for what was left out as what made it in.

A total of 29 feature films earned a spot on the IDA shortlist, including some considered Oscar frontrunners: Summer of Soul, Ascension, and Flee—each of which earned nominations last week for both the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards and the Gotham Awards. But several other films making a strong bid for Oscar attention were snubbed, among them The Rescue, Becoming Cousteau, Attica, Procession, and My Name Is Pauli Murray.

The IDA gave recognition to several documentaries with an international dimension, like Faya Dayi, from Mexican-Ethiopian director Jessica Bashir, Chinese-born filmmaker Nanfu Wang’s Covid-19-related doc In The Same Breath, and Miguel’s War, the story of a gay Lebanese man who exiles himself to Spain. The IDA-shortlisted President focuses on...

Filmmakers to attend Tfi Network during Tribeca Film Festival.

Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) announced on Thursday (21) the selection of 14 scripted and documentary projects for the 16th annual Tribeca All Access (Taa) programme designed to champion under-represented voices.

Taa provides financial support in the form of grants and a range of mentorship for storytellers who “create groundbreaking projects that bring marginalized voices with vital stories to tell, to a mainstream audience.”

The next step for the selected filmmakers will be the Tfi Network, the filmmaker / industry market that takes place during the Tribeca Film Festival and provides an opportunity to meet experts including distributors,...

Selection opens with a documentary about what motivates Somali pirates and includes the European premiere of 20,000 Days on Earth, starring Nick Cave, and 10 world premieres.Scroll down for full list

The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 6-16) has unveiled the 16 films that will make up the documentary section of its Panorama strand.

This year’s Panorama Dokumente comprises 16 films, including ten world premieres, and will open on Feb 7 with the world premiere of Dutch co-production The Last Hijack by Tommy Pallotta and Femke Wolting. The film depicts what motivates piracy in Somalia.

The topic of Africa, which is also reflected in the Ethiopian fictional feature Difret, is also central to Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson in Concerning Violence. This commentary on Africa’s decolonisation, cites Frantz Fanon’s “The Wretched of the Earth” - and Us singer Lauryn Hill lends these texts her voice.

Olsson previously presented The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 about the Afro-American civil rights...