News

Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence in director Edward Berger’s ‘Conclave’ (Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024)

Conclave and The Brutalist tied with four wins at the 2025 Ee BAFTA Film Awards, announced on January 16th during a ceremony hosted by David Tennant. Anora, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Perez, A Real Pain, Wicked, and Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Foul each picked up two awards, and David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus) was the recipient of this year’s Ee Rising Star Award.

Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldaña, and Kieran Culkin took home their first BAFTA Film Awards wins. Warwick Davis was honored with the BAFTA Fellowship in recognition of “his work as an actor and for using his platform to challenge societal prejudice and champion self-empowerment, advocating that people with dwarfism can and do lead full and meaningful lives.”

BAFTA Awards 2025 Nominees and Winners

Best Film

Anora

The Brutalist

A Complete...

“Satisfied,” a documentary about Renée Elise Goldsberry’s life while creating her iconic onstage role in “Hamilton” and “Black Box Diaries” — the Oscar-nominated documentary about a director’s investigation into sexual assault — are part of the 2025 Athena Film Festival at Barnard College’s line-up.

Aff announced its narrative and documentary feature lineup ahead of the event taking place from March 6-9 on the Barnard campus in New York City. This year marks the festival’s 15th anniversary and comes with a partnership between Barnard’s Athena Center for Leadership and the Women and Hollywood initiative.

“Our 2025 festival marks 15 years of championing diverse, authentic narratives through a powerful, women-centered lens,” artistic director of Aff Melissa Silverstein said. “The impact of this endeavor is shaped by the creators who bring these stories to life, as well as the audiences who support and amplify their reach.”

Check out this year’s line-up below:...

Danish documentary festival Cph:dox is partnering with Copenhagen’s Kunsthal Charlottenborg art institution on Human:Rights, an initiative aiming to improve tawareness of human rights.

The three-year initiative will include an exhibition at the Kunsthal Charlottenborg venue, as well as a thematic film programme, talks and debates, and an educational programme for schools.

The festival cited a Nordic survey from December 2024, which showed 53% of Danes could not name a specific human right.

“Through documentary films, art, conversation, and debate, Cph:dox and Kunsthal Charlottenborg have both the credibility and the platform to communicate human rights through real people and lived experiences,” says Niklas Engstrom,...

Danish documentary festival Cph:dox is partnering with Copenhagen’s Kunsthal Charlottenborg art institution on Human:Rights, an initiative aiming to improve awareness of human rights.

The three-year initiative will include an exhibition at the Kunsthal Charlottenborg venue; a thematic film programme; talks and debates; and an educational programme for schools.

The initiative has been created to ‘demonstrate to audiences that human rights and discussions about them remain crucial’, according to the festival. It cites a Nordic survey from December 2024, which showed that 53% of Danes could not name a specific human right.

“Through documentary films, art, conversation, and debate, Cph:dox and...

Gold Derby’s top news stories for Jan. 10, 2025 2025 Cinema Eye Honors announces winners

On Thursday, Cinema Eye announced this year’s documentary and nonfiction winners at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem. No Other Land, the war doc made by four young Palestinian and Isreali filmmakers, won three trophies including Best Nonfiction Feature. Directors Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor shared the award for Debut Feature, while Abraham and Adra were also recognized as Unforgettables for their onscreen appearances. No Other Land is currently the Oscar frontrunner to win Best Documentary Feature. Here is the complete list of winners for the 2025 Cinema Eye Honors:

Nonfiction Feature: No Other Land

Direction: Mati Diop, Dahomey

Editing: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Rik Chaubet)

Production: Union (Bretty Story, Stephen Mang, Mars Verrone, Samantha Curley, and Martin Dicicco)

Cinematography: Sugarcane (Christopher Lamarca and Emily Kassie)

Original Music...

Last year’s top two documentary titles from the Berlinale continue there winning ways landing the top prizes at last night’s Cinema Eye Honors. Docus that premiered at Sundance dominated the other major categories, with Soundtrack to a Coup d’État, Union, Sugarcane, and The Remarkable Life of Ibelin all taking home awards. As we creep up towards the Oscar noms date, No Other Land (they also took the Best Debut doc) and Dahomey are probable locks for the top five. Here are all the winners

Nonfiction Feature

“No Other Land,” Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Julius Pollux Rothlaender, and Bård Harazi Farbu

Direction

Mati Diop for “Dahomey”

Editing

Rik Chaubet for “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”

Production

Brett Story, Stephen Maing, Mars Verrone, Samantha Curley, and Martin Dicicco for “Union”

Cinematography

Christopher Lamarca and Emily Kassie for “Sugarcane”

Original...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

2073 (Asif Kapadia)

Asif Kapadia––the biographical documentary wiz behind contemporary classics like Senna and Amy––opens his semi-fictional film 2073 in a flurry of doc footage. Wildfires, floods, and other such natural disasters set the tone while disturbing clips of cops bashing skulls and riot police brutalizing innocent people cement it for the next 85 minutes. Then comes the fiction: it’s been 37 years since “The Event,” and we’re in the future: the year 2073. – Luke H. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD

Black Box Diaries (Shiori Ito)

In the middle of Black Box Diaries, journalist Shiori Ito’s debut documentary, Ito grins at the camera as she strolls through downtown Tokyo on the day of her book launch. It’s October 18, 2017. The...

Even as it continues to seek U.S. distribution, “No Other Land” is continuing its remarkable awards season run. The latest win for the documentary, made by a Palestinian/Israeli collective that includes directors and activists Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, and Basel Adra: a trio of awards at this year’s Cinema Eye Honors.

At the 18th annual Cinema Eye Honors, which took place Thursday, January 9 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem, the film walked away with three awards, including Cinema Eye’s top prize, Outstanding Nonfiction Filmmaking. Directors Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor also received the award for Debut Feature, with Abraham and Adra also Honored as Unforgettables for their appearance on screen in the film.

This year’s nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors, which honors the best in documentary fiction and TV, included a healthy crop...

“No Other Land” has been named named the best feature of 2024 at the Cinema Eye Honors, the New York-based documentary awards that were established to celebrate all aspects of nonfiction filmmaking. The show took place on Friday night at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem in New York City.

The film was made by two Israeli and two Palestinian filmmakers over the last five years during the conflict in Gaza. It also won the best-feature award at the IDA Documentary Awards, the other major award devoted to nonfiction films.

“Porcelain War” won the Audience Choice Award, the one Cinema Eye category voted on by the public.

The award for directing went to Mati Diop for “Dahomey,” while the production award went to “Union.” “No Other Land” won the award for the best first feature.

“Eno” won for visual design, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” for editing and sound design,...

“Sugarcane” earned a leading five nominations, followed by “Soundtrack to Coup d’Etat” with four for the 40th annual International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards. These Oscar precursors will be celebrated in a ceremony on Dec. 5 at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. See the full list of nominees below.

Among this year’s IDA nominees for Best Feature, only “Sugarcane” was also nominated for the top prize by the Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Nominees in Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short categories have been selected from the shortlists previously announced. IDA members will have access to view each of the nominated films and can begin voting on November 19, 2024.

IDA has been an inconsistent, but important precursor for the Oscars. Last year, only one of the IDA top 10 went on to contend for Best Documentary Feature: “Bobi Wine: The People’s President” lost that Oscar race to “20 Days in Mariupol.

“Sugarcane,” the documentary about the mistreatment of Indigenous children in Canada, has received the most nominations at yet another awards show for nonfiction features, picking up five noms to lead the field at the International Documentary Association’s IDA Documentary Awards.

In nominations announced on Tuesday, the film by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie was nominated in the Best Feature Documentary category, as well as for its directing, cinematography, editing and musical score. It had previously led in nominations at the Cinema Eye Honors and Critics Choice Documentary Awards as well.

“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” received four nominations, while “Black Box Diaries” and “Queendom” each received three.

In the Best Feature Documentary category, those four films were nominated alongside “Agent of Happiness,” “Dahomey,” “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” “No Other Land,” “Seeking Mavis Beacon” and “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin.”

Additional nominations were made in the episodic series,...

Sugarcane earned a leading five nominations as the IDA Documentary Awards announced its nominees today, followed closely by Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat with four.

Black Box Diaries, My Sweet Land, and Queendom earned three nominations apiece. Also earning multiple nominations were Agent of Happiness, No Other Land, Seeking Mavis Beacon, and The Remarkable Life of Ibelin – each with two nominations.

Sugarcane’s nods came for Best Documentary Feature and Best Director, recognizing the work of Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, as well as nominations for cinematography, editing, and score. The National Geographic documentary investigates the systematic abuse of Indigenous children who attended a so-called “Indian Residential School” in British Columbia.

‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’s recognition came in the Best Documentary Feature category, as well as Best Director for Johan Grimonprez, Best Editing, and Best Writing. The film from Kino Lorber looks at how the U.

The 40th annual IDA Documentary Awards has officially unveiled its list of nominees, including this year’s most beloved and buzziest documentary features. The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced the nominations in 14 categories for the 2024 awards ceremony, which will take place December 5 at The Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. The ceremony will be streamed live on documentary.org and on the IDA YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram channels. The awards show will be hosted by actor, comedian, and writer Adam Conover.

This year, IDA received more than 700 entries in all categories from 77 countries, an increase over last year both in the total number of entries and the countries represented. All IDA Documentary Awards entries were selected by jurors from over 40 countries; the shortlists for the Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary categories were previously announced on October 24.

The IDA will honor prolific documentarian Dawn Porter with the Career Achievement Award.

Sugarcane leads the International Documentary Association’s 2024 IDA Documentary Awards nominees.

The film about the abusive legacy of Catholic-run Native American missionary schools racked up five nods, including for best feature.

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat scored four nods and three titles — Queendom, Black Box Diaries and My Sweet Land — landed three nominations apiece.

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Queendom and Black Box Diaries are up for best feature alongside Dahomey and double nominees Agent of Happiness, Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, No Other Land, Seeking Mavis Beacon and The Remarkable Life of Ibelin.

And the directors of Sugarcane, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Queendom, Black Box Diaries and No Other Land are all up for best director.

This year’s IDA Documentary Awards nominees were selected from more than 700 entries from 77 countries, both up from last year, and, in the feature and shortlist categories, were chosen from shortlists announced on Oct.

National Geographic’s “Sugarcane,” a film about abuse and missing children at an Indigenous boarding school in Canada, leads this year’s nominations for the Cinema Eye Honors awards with six. Cinema Eye recognizes excellence in the artistry and craft of nonfiction filmmaking. “Sugarcane” will face off against “Black Box Diaries,” “Dahomey,” “Daughters,” “Look Into My Eyes,” “No Other Land,” and “Soundtrack to Coup d’Etat” for Best Feature. See the full list of nominees below.

In 2023, four of the five eventual Academy Award nominated Documentary Feature films were nominated by Ceh earlier in the season, including the Oscar winner “20 Days in Mariupol.” Last year’s Ceh winner “32 Sounds” failed to earn a nomination from the Academy. The last two films to win the Oscar without first being recognized with a nomination by Ceh were “My Octopus Teacher” in 2020 and “Free Solo” in 2018.

Cinema Eye will return to...

Sugarcane, the story of sexual abuse and disappearances at a school for Indigenous children in British Columbia, leads the nominations for the prestigious documentary-focused Cinema Eye Honors awards with six. Four films are next with five noms each: Dahomey, Eno, Frida and No Other Land. See the full list below.

Sugarcane, Dahomey and No Other Land will vie for the marquee Nonfiction Feature prize along with Black Box Diaries, Daughters, Look Into My Eyes and Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat. This is the first year that the named nominees in the Nonfiction Feature category will include the entire creative team: directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, composers, sound designers, visual designers and significant on-screen participants.

The producers of Sugarcane, No Other Land, Hollywoodgate, Mistress Dispeller, Porcelain War and Union are up for the Production prize. The Cinema Eye winner in that category has gone on to take the Documentary Feature Academy...

Sugarcane, the Nat Geo documentary feature about abuse and forced separations in a Canadian Indigenous community, landed a field-leading six nominations for the Cinema Eye Honors, the organization, which celebrates nonfiction work made for big and small screens, announced on Thursday.

Among the noms for Sugarcane is one for best nonfiction feature, a category in which it will compete alongside Mubi’s Dahomey and the U.S.-distributor-less No Other Land, which both garnered five noms, and MTV Docs’ Black Box Diaries, Netflix’s Daughters, A24’s Look Into My Eyes and Kino Lorber’s Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat.

This is the first year in which the nominees for best nonfiction feature will include the entire creative team behind each doc — the directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, composers, sound designers, visual designers and significant on-screen participants.

The audience choice award, nominees for which were determined by more than 30,000 votes from nonfiction lovers around the world,...

The Canadian film “Sugarcane” continued its impressive awards-season streak on Thursday, leading all films in nominations for the 18th annual Cinema Eye Honors.

The film from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, which looks into cases of abuse and forced separation in an Indigenous community, received six nominations, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature. Mati Diop’s “Dahomey” and Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor’s “No Other Land” received five nominations.

“Sugarcane” is now the only film of 2024 to be nominated in the top nonfiction category at the Cinema Eye Honors, Critics Choice Documentary Awards and Gotham Awards, and also to be included on the International Documentary Association’s IDA Documentary Awards long list and Doc NYC’s short list of likely awards contenders.

Nominees in the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category were “Sugarcane,” “Dahomey,” “No Other Land,” “Black Box Diaries,” “Daughters,” “Look Into My Eyes” and “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat.

The Cinema Eye Honors, an Oscar bellwether that often predicts the Best Documentary Feature race, has unveiled its 2025 nominations.

Leading the pack is “Sugarcane,” Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie’s documentary about abuse in an Indian residential school in Canada. The film earned rave reviews out of Sundance, and here earned six nominations. It’s followed by two hits from the 2024 Berlin Film Festival: “Dahomey,” Mati Diop’s exploration of the artifacts of colonial Africa, and Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor’s Israel-Palestine conflict documentary “No Other Land,” which each received five nominations. Two portraits of major 20th-century artists, Carla Gutiérrez’s “Frida” and Gary Hustwit’s “Eno,” also received five nominations a piece.

The 18th annual Cinema Eye Honors will take place on Thursday, January 9 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem. Keep reading for a complete list of nominees.

Nonfiction...

At Wednesday’s annual Doc NYC Visionaries Tribute Luncheon, over 500 of the documentary community’s best and brightest attempted to remain positive about the future of not only docus, but also America under Donald Trump’s leadership.

The Gotham Hall gala, which marked the opening day of the 15th annual Doc NYC film festival, attracted filmmakers with documentaries vying for a spot on the Oscar shortlist, including R.J. Cutler (“Martha”), Alexis Bloom (“The Bibi Files”), Hasan Oswald (“Mediha”), Carla Gutiérrez (“Frida”) and Shiori Ito (“Black Box Diaries”). The luncheon also drew hundreds of docu cinematographers, producers, editors, publicists, distributors, and perhaps most importantly, an abundance of Academy doc branch members.

During her speech, Lifetime Achievement honoree Marcia Smith, Firelight Media president/co-founder, relayed her concerns for the doc community at large.

“Friends have been laid off, whole doc divisions eliminated or consolidated, budgets have shrunk, and juicy festival sales have been few and far between,...

Great Oscar-contending documentaries and the Scad Savannah Film Festival: for more than a decade now, the two have been virtually synonymous thanks to the ‘Docs to Watch’ panel, which is presented by The Hollywood Reporter, moderated by yours truly and brings to the nation’s largest university-run film festival the directors of 10 of the year’s finest nonfiction features.

Indeed, over the 10 years that the panel was held prior to this year, 21 of the 97 docs that were featured went on to nominations for the best documentary feature Oscar, and eight of those ultimately won that award: 2015’s Amy, 2016’s O.J.: Made in America, 2017’s Icarus, 2018’s Free Solo, 2019’s American Factory, 2021’s Summer of Soul, 2022’s Navalny and 2023’s 20 Days in Mariupol.

This year’s gathering took place on Oct. 30 at Scad’s Lucas Theatre as part of the fest’s 27th edition, and, as you can see for...

There’s a scene in Shiori Ito’s searing documentary Black Box Diaries, in which the director, who is also the film’s subject, tells a swarm of reporters about trying to press criminal charges against her rapist. Like many sexual violence survivors forced into this ritual of public re-litigation, she is a model of what society has come to expect of courageous women. Her face betrays no emotion and she is dressed in the chaste uniform of the aggrieved: delicate earrings (Ito opts for pearls), a conservatively tailored blouse (a black button down here), and wearing little to no makeup (faint signs of blush and a single stroke of eyeliner).

Ito’s voice remains calm as she recounts the police’s initial refusal to accept her victim’s report and their arsenal of excuses: Sex crimes were difficult to investigate, they said; her rapist, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, the former Washington Bureau...

Shiori Ito’s Black Box Diaries is a film the Japanese journalist should never have had to make. Based on her international bestseller, the Sundance-premiering doc is a dogged investigation into a rape perpetrated by another Japanese journalist, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a longtime friend of the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose biography the offender penned as well. It’s also a somewhat surreal journey, given that the brave survivor in the purposely stalled case is Ito herself. Through an engaging mix of secret recordings, vérité shooting and confessional video, we’re invited along on an increasingly maddening odyssey through the shockingly antiquated Japanese […]

The post “A Deep Dive Into My Trauma”: Shiori Ito on Black Box Diaries first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Shiori Ito’s Black Box Diaries is a film the Japanese journalist should never have had to make. Based on her international bestseller, the Sundance-premiering doc is a dogged investigation into a rape perpetrated by another Japanese journalist, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a longtime friend of the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose biography the offender penned as well. It’s also a somewhat surreal journey, given that the brave survivor in the purposely stalled case is Ito herself. Through an engaging mix of secret recordings, vérité shooting and confessional video, we’re invited along on an increasingly maddening odyssey through the shockingly antiquated Japanese […]

The post “A Deep Dive Into My Trauma”: Shiori Ito on Black Box Diaries first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Venom: The Last Dance is this weekend’s widest opener, playing at 622 locations for Sony.

This marks the end of the Tom Hardy-led trilogy, and kicks off with Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote on the run in Mexico. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans and Stephen Graham also star, with Kelly Marcel, writer of the first two films, directing.

It is the widest release of the trilogy. The second film,Let There Be Carnage, opened in 596 locations in October 2021 – up by 50 from 2018’s Venom. Venom took £5.6m across its first weekend, while Let There Be Carnage grossed £6.2m.

Documentaries don’t get much more personal or intimate than this one, as Japanese journalist Shiori Ito bravely - although this adjective is extremely loaded - points the camera at herself as she tries to get justice after being raped. The result, which rightfully begins with a trigger warning, is a raw consideration of the legal and societal barriers that lay in the way of Ito’s goal.

The film foregrounds the evidence. A car ride with the taxi driver who took her to the hotel where she was attacked on the night in question sees him admit that she wanted to be dropped off at the station but was repeatedly overruled by her attacker, fellow journalist Noriyuki Yamaguchi. The driver also notes she was barely able to stand and had to be lifted from the car - evidence that we see play out before us on CCTV footage.

The tacit enablement of.

Apple TV+’s Girls State and HBO’s Ren Faire scored three nominations apiece to lead all broadcast nominees announced Thursday for the 18th Cinema Eye Honors. The group, which recognizes the year’s outstanding nonfiction and documentary films and TV series, also revealed the 16-film longlist for its annual Audience Choice Prize, won last year by National Geographic’s Bobi Wine: The People’s President, which went on to get nominated for the Documentary Feature Oscar.

The past six winners of the Best Documentary Feature Oscar — this year’s winner 20 Days in Mariupol, Navalny, Summer of Soul, My Octopus Teacher, American Factory and Free Solo — were all Audience Choice Prize nominees. Fans voting will whittle the list to 10 beginning next week, with winners in that and all categories to be announced at an awards ceremony January 9 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem.

The full list...

Cinema Eye Honors today shared a string of announcements, including the 16 films on its Audience Choice Prize Longlist, the unveiling of this year’s Unforgettables Honorees, nominees in its five Broadcast categories, and its annual Shorts List — spotlighting 11 of the year’s top documentary short films — at its 7th annual Cinema Eye Fall Lunch in Downtown Los Angeles on October 24, 2024.

Spotlighted on the film side are several major Best Documentary Feature contenders including “Will & Harper,” “Black Box Diaries,” and “No Other Land,” which all also factored into the organization’s list of Unforgettables — standout on-camera collaborators from eight feature documentaries. This next ceremony will be the first time those honorees, like Harper Steele, Shiori Ito, and Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham for those respective films, receive a special medallion honoring their contribution to their Cinema Eye-winning films.

Highlights among the Broadcast nominees include filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, nominated for both...

The Apple TV+ documentary “Girls State” and the HBO doc series “Ren Faire” led all projects in nominations in the Cinema Eye Honors broadcast categories, which were announced on Thursday in Los Angeles.

“Girls State” was nominated in the Broadcast Film category and also for its editing and cinematography. “Ren Faire” was also nominated in those last two categories, as well as for Nonfiction Series.

Other broadcast films and series with multiple nominations included Netflix’s “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders,” Apple’s “The Enfield Poltergeist,” HBO’s “Telemarketers” and National Geographic’s “Photographer.”

At its annual Cinema Eye Fall Lunch at Redbird in downtown Los Angeles, the New York-based organization also announced the Audience Choice Award Long List, 16 films that will compete for the audience-voted award; 11 semi-finalists in the short doc category; and “The Unforgettables,” its annual list of the year’s most interesting documentary subjects.

The Audience...

In a sea of formulaic documentaries about every true crime story under the sun, “Black Box Diaries” differentiates itself with one big decision: It is not only guided by its central sexual assault survivor, but also directed by her. That means that many of the typical, tiresome true crime tropes — waterfalls of sensationalist soundbites, talking head interviews with experts, a manipulative structure that deliberately withholds key pieces of information — go out the window in favor of intimate time spent alongside the story’s young heroine, Shiori Ito.

Unspooling chronologically, the film, which premiered at Sundance last year, opens on a trigger warning for themes of sexual assault before cutting to its director in a front-facing cellphone video. Speaking into the camera, Ito says that, as a journalist, she feels the need to document what’s happening to her, both as a form of self-protection and as a quest for truth.

The International Documentary Association today released its shortlist of contenders for Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary, a possible harbinger of Oscar success.

Among the features making the list is No Other Land, a documentary by a collective of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers that has yet to secure U.S. distribution. It has won awards at festivals from Berlin and Busan to Belfast and beyond.

Queendom, a film about the extraordinary Russian drag performance artist Jenna Marvin continues its surge, making the IDA shortlist after securing a place on the Doc NYC shortlist of the year’s best documentaries.

National Geographic’s Sugarcane, about atrocities at a so-called Indian residential school in Canada, continued its strong pre-Oscar awards run by making the IDA list of contenders. Netflix made the list with The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, a strong Oscar contender. And MTV Documentary Films earned a spot with Black Box Diaries,...

“Dahomey,” “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” and “Sugarcane” are among the 20 nonfiction films that have made the shortlist for the International Documentary Association’s 2024 IDA Documentary Awards, the IDA announced on Thursday morning.

The shortlisted features come from 21 different countries and include works by Mati Diop (“Dahomey”), Raoul Peck (“Ernest Cole: Lost and Found”). The IDA’s feature shortlist is typically idiosyncratic in that it doesn’t include several of the most acclaimed and highest-profile nonfiction films of the year, including “Will & Harper,” “Daughters,” “Piece by Piece,” “Mountain Queen” and “Union.”

Of the 20 films on the IDA shortlist, eight also appeared on the Doc NYC list of likely awards titles: “Black Box Diaries,” “Dahomey,” “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” “No Other Land,” Queendom,” “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” and “Sugarcane.”

The IDA’s shortlist...

The International Documentary Association (IDA) has revealed which 20 feature-length and 20 short documentaries have made it onto the shortlists for the 40th IDA Documentary Awards.

Among the films that have a shot at becoming a nominee at the upcoming awards ceremony set to take place on December 5, 2024 at The Orpheum Theater in Downtown Los Angeles are major Best Documentary Feature contenders like “Sugarcane” and “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” as well as titles that have been harder to come by, like “Brisa” and “Kamay.”

As part of the announcement, Dominic Asmall Willsdon, IDA’s Executive Director, said via statement, “The 40th IDA Documentary Awards continues the tradition of celebrating the best of international nonfiction media of the year. We are grateful to all filmmakers who shared their work for consideration this year, representing a record amount of countries in the award’s history. The impressive shortlist for Best Features and Best...

Shiori Ito hoped her film might aid survivors around the world. In Black Box Diaries, this brave Japanese journalist invites viewers into her harrowing yet inspiring pursuit of justice. Released at Sundance in 2024 amid rising calls for change, Ito’s documentary shines a light on gender injustice—and one woman’s refusal to surrender her truth.

We join Ito’s story in 2015. As a young intern, she met prominent reporter Noriyuki Yamaguchi for career advice. But the evening took an unthinkable turn, scarring Ito forever. Japanese law and toxic culture discouraged coming forward, yet spurred by #MeToo empowerment, Ito vowed to be silenced no more.

With courage and journalistic skill, Ito reconstructed the long road ahead. Facing legal and social barriers, she gathered allies while battling trauma’s heaviest tides alone. Ito’s candid yet compelling films recorded each victory and shadow, granting unprecedented access to her private torment now shared worldwide.

Kensei Takahashi – found an old VHS-c camera at home when he was ten, and began capturing images. He taught himself video production and dreamt of becoming a film director. In 2014, he entered Josai International University’s Media Studies Department and started full-scale production of shorts and medium-length works. ‘Sea’ is his graduation film, and his feature debut, and his first festival selection.

‘Sea‘ – this gripping drama concerns the power of guilt to shape us, and the ongoing struggle which takes to release ourselves from its grasp. Depicting fragmented moment of a young man’s life as he grows into adulthood but continues to be haunted by his failure to save a junior high-school girl from being raped, it marks the emergence of a new cinematic voice. A student at the time he shot it, as were all the cast and crew, Kensei Takahashi is a name to remember.

The interview...