National Geographic’s The Tale of Silyan won Best Feature Documentary at the 41st Annual IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles today, significantly boosting its already promising bid for Oscar recognition.
The film directed by Oscar nominee Tamara Kotevska (Honeyland) bested fellow nominees Apocalypse in the Tropics, Life After, Seeds, and Songs of Slow Burning Earth. Last year, No Other Land won Best Feature Documentary at the IDA Awards, en route to its win at the Academy Awards.
Jean Dakar, who shot The Tale of Silyan and also produced the film along with Kotevska and Anna Hashmi, earned the IDA Award for Best Cinematography. The film unspools in Kotevska’s native North Macedonia, telling the story of a farmer named Nikola who nurses an injured white stork back to health. Dakar captured stunning images of the magnificent birds in flight, tending their enormous nests atop buildings and chimneys, as well as the titular bird, Silyan, as the bird was cared for by Nikola.
‘Apocalypse in the Tropics’
Netflix
Petra Costa’s Apocalypse in the Tropics, the Netflix documentary that examines the rise of Christian nationalism in Brazil, claimed two big prizes at the IDA Awards today: Best Production as well as Best Writing. Costa shared the latter prize with Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker, and Tina Baz.
Scroll for the full list of winners.
Prize winners for Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary were determined by a vote of IDA members. Winners in other categories were determined by committees of documentary professionals from around the world.
‘Seeds’
Walking Productions
The IDA Awards spread the love, awarding Brittany Shyne the Best Director prize for her film Seeds, the story of Black farmers in the American South who have tilled their land for generations. Shyne also won the previously announced Emerging Filmmaker Award.
In addition to the Emerging Filmmaker Award, the IDA presented two other honorary awards: the Career Achievement Award to two-tine Oscar-nominated producer Julie Goldman (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail; Life, Animated), and the Pioneer Award to Impact Partners, a major backer of documentary films.
Looking for a Donkey, directed by Juan Vicente Manrique, won the IDA Award for Best Short Documentary. It prevailed over Correct Me If I’m Wrong, If a Walnut Falls, Mama Micra, and Their Eyes.
Ian Bell’s documentary WTO/99, which examines the protests in Seattle in 1999 over the World Trade Organization meeting, won Best Editing for Bell and Alex Megaro who cut the film.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono in New York in the early ’70s
Magnolia Pictures
Best Music Documentary went to One to One: John & Yoko, directed by Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald. His film looks at the two-year stretch John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent living in New York’s Greenwich Village after they left the UK. It faced stiff competition from El Canto de las Manos, Move Ya Body: The Birth of House, Selena y Los Dinos, and Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius).
The IDA Awards presentation came just before the start of Oscar shortlist voting, which begins on Monday and extends until Friday. The shortlists in 10 categories for the Academy Awards will be revealed on December 16. In the feature documentary category, a record 201 films have qualified for consideration.
These are the winners of the 41st Annual IDA Documentary Awards:
Best Feature Documentary Nominees
Winner: The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom | National Geographic | Director: Tamara Kotevska | Producers: Tamara Kotevska, Jean Dakar, Anna Hashmi, Jordanco Petkovski)
Nominees:
Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States | Netflix | Director: Petra Costa | Producers: Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa)
Life After (United States | Multitude Films | Director: Reid Davenport | Producer: Colleen Cassingham)
Seeds (United States | Director: Brittany Shyne | Producers: Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Brittany Shyne)
Songs of Slow Burning Earth (Ukraine, Sweden, Denmark | EPF Media | Director: Olha Zhurba | Producer: Darya Bassel)
The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom | National Geographic | Director: Tamara Kotevska | Producers: Tamara Kotevska, Jean Dakar, Anna Hashmi, Jordanco Petkovski)
Best Short Documentary Nominees
Winner: Looking for a Donkey (Mexico, Venezuela | Director: Juan Vicente Manrique | Producers: Juan Vicente Manrique, María Benítez)
Nominees:
Correct Me If I’m Wrong (Germany, United States | Director: Hao Zhou | Producer: Tyler Hill)
If a Walnut Falls (China, Hong Kong | Director: Bohao Liu | Producer: Bohao Liu)
Looking for a Donkey (Mexico, Venezuela | Director: Juan Vicente Manrique | Producers: Juan Vicente Manrique, María Benítez)
Mama Micra (Germany | interfilm Berlin | Director: Rebecca Blöcher | Co-director: Frédéric Schuld | Producer: Fabian Driehorst)
Their Eyes (France, United States | The New York Times Op-Docs | Director: Nicolas Gourault | Producers: Yannick Beauquis and Quentin Brayer)
Best Director
Winner: Brittany Shyne, Seeds (United States)
Nominees:
Petra Costa, Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States | Netflix)
Reid Davenport, Life After (United States | Multitude Films)
Brittany Shyne, Seeds (United States)
Olha Zhurba, Songs of Slow Burning Earth (Ukraine, Sweden, Denmark | EPF Media)
Tamara Kotevska, The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom | National Geographic)
Best Cinematography
Winner: Jean Dakar, The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom | National Geographic)
Nominees:
Ben Sturgulewski, Champions of the Golden Valley (United States)
Subhadeep Dey, Mrinmoy Mondal, Rupesh Chaturbedi, Redlight to Limelight (India, Finland, Latvia | BBC Storyville)
Jean Dakar, The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom | National Geographic)
Natalia Pietsch, Grzegorz Piekarski, The Town That Drove Away (Poland | Polish National TV)
Richard Ladkani, YANUNI (Austria, Brazil, United States)
Best Editing
Winner: Alex Megaro, Ian Bell | WTO/99 (United States)
Nominees:
Julia Loktev, My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow (United States | Argot)
Pablo Proenza, Natchez (United States | ITVS)
Jason Reid, Robinson Devor, Adam Sekuler, Matt Levinthal, Suburban Fury (United States)
Daniel Claridge, Pedro Kos, Sara Newens, The White House Effect (United States | Netflix)
Alex Megaro, Ian Bell, WTO/99 (United States)
Best Original Music Score
Winner: Frédéric Filiatre, The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson
Nominees:
Sam Slater, Divia (Ukraine, Poland, Netherlands)
Mato Wayuhi, Free Leonard Peltier (United States)
Matthew Dougherty, Shuffle (United States)
Fréderic Filiartre, The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson (Panama)
Afshin Azizi, Writing Hawa (France, Netherlands, Qatar | First Hand FIlms, Icarus Films)
Best Production
Winner: Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa, Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States | Netflix)
Nominees:
Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa, Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States | Netflix)
Yoni Golijov, Olivia Streisand, Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, Cover-Up (United States | Netflix)
Colleen Cassingham, Life After (United States | Multitude Films)
Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Brittany Shyne, Seeds (United States)
Andrew Jarecki, Charlotte Kaufman, The Alabama Solution (United States | HBO Max)
Best Sound Design
Winner: Thomas Perez-Pape, Only on Earth (Denmark, Spain | DR, HBO, SVT)
Nominees:
Yannick Dauby, Always (United States, France, Taiwan)
Alexander Dudarev, Architecton (Germany, France, United States | A24)
Thomas Perez-Pape, Only on Earth (Denmark, Spain | DR, HBO, SVT)
Rico Andriolo, Manu Gerber, Song of Breath (Switzerland, Italy)
Rubí J. Pérez, The Silence of My Hands (Mexico | AD Maiora)
Best Writing
Winner: Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker, Tina Baz, Apocalypse in the Tropics
Nominees:
Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker,Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States | Netflix)
Bipuljit Basu, Redlight to Limelight (India, Finland, Latvia | BBC Storyville)
Sasha Wortzel, River of Grass (United States)
Cristina Costantini, Tom Maroney, Sally (United States | National Geographic)
Robinson Devor, Jason Reid, Bob Fink, Charles Mudede, Suburban Fury (United States)
Best Curated Series
Winner: 99 (France | EP: Jérôme Plan)
Nominees:
99 (France | EP: Jérôme Plan)
Independent Lens (United States | PBS | EPs: Lois Vossen, Carrie Lozano, Royd Chung)
POV Season 38 (United States | PBS | EPs: Erika Dilday, Chris White)
POV Shorts Season 8 (United States | PBS | EPs: Opal H. Bennett, Erika Dilday, Chris White)
The New York Times Op-Docs (United States | The New York Times Op-Docs | EPs: Kathleen Kingsbury, Adam B. Ellick, Alexandra Garcia)
Best Episodic Series
Winner: Citizen Nation (United States | PBS | Directors: Bret Sigler, Singeli Agnew | Producers: Veronika Adaskova, Emily Orr, Wesley Harris, Cole Cahill, Victor Couto, Tom Brown)
Nominees:
Citizen Nation (United States | PBS | Directors: Bret Sigler, Singeli Agnew | Producers: Veronika Adaskova, Emily Orr, Wesley Harris, Cole Cahill, Victor Couto, Tom Brown)
Earnhardt (United States | Prime Video | Director: Joshua Altman | Producers: Riel Roch-Decter, Tally Hair, Rebecca Russell)
Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015 (United States | HBO Max | Directors: Geeta Gandbhir, Samantha Knowles, Muta’Ali, Rudy Valdez, Smriti Mundhra, Asako Gladsjo | Producers: Asako Gladsjo, Nimco Sheikhaden, Jevon Frank, Leah Smith, Clare Smith Marash, Niema Jordan)
The Sing Sing Chronicles (United States | PNBC News Studios in association with Trilogy Films, MSNBC Films | Director: Dawn Porter | Producers: Lauren Capps, Sadie Bass, Nick McElroy)
Turning Point: The Vietnam War (United States | Netflix | Director: Brian Knappenberger | Producers: Doan Hoang Curtis, Bo Kovitz, Keven McAlester, Tommy Nguyen)
Best Music Documentary
Winner: One to One: John & Yoko (United Kingdom | Magnolia Pictures, HBO Documentary Films | Director: Kevin Macdonald | Co-director: Sam Rice-Edwards | Producers: Peter Worsley, Kevin Macdonald, Alice Webb)
Nominees:
El Canto de las Manos (Spain, United States | Feel Sales | Director: María Valverde | Producers: María Valverde, Martí Font Isern, Cristina Oliva, Gustavo Dudamel)
Move Ya Body: The Birth of House (United States | Director: Elegance Bratton | Producer: Chester Algernal Gordon)
One to One: John & Yoko (United Kingdom | Magnolia Pictures, HBO Documentary Films | Director: Kevin Macdonald | Co-director: Sam Rice-Edwards | Producers: Peter Worsley, Kevin Macdonald, Alice Webb)
Selena y Los Dinos (United States | Netflix | Director: Isabel Castro | Producers: Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, J. Daniel Torres, Simran Singh, David Blackman)
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) (United States | Hulu | Director: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson | Producers: Joseph Patel and Derik Murray)
David L. Wolper Student Documentary
Winner: What a day, what a life (United Kingdom | National Film and Television School, UK | Director: Maylana Colchete | Producers: Luiza Amelio de Carvalho, Maylana Colchete)
Nominees:
Beyond Eden (United Kingdom | National Film and Television School, UK | Director: Al Johnstone | Producer: Al Johnstone)
Dancing in Tomorrowland (United States | UCLA | Director: Jakob Roston | Producers: Grace Vincent, Nazanin Nemetollahi)
Two Days on the Interstate (United Kingdom | National Film and Television School, UK | Director: Tatiana Stark | Producer: Tatiana Stark)
Two Travelling Aunties (United Kingdom | National Film and Television School, UK | Director: Christine Seow | Producer: Christine Seow)
What a day, what a life (United Kingdom | National Film and Television School, UK | Director: Maylana Colchete | Producers: Luiza Amelio de Carvalho, Maylana Colchete)
ABC News VideoSource Award
Winner: Deaf President Now! (United States | Apple | Directors: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim | Producers: Amanda Rohlke, Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Nyle DiMarco, Michael Harte, Wayne Betts Jr.)
Pare Lorentz Award
Winner: River of Grass (United States | Director: Sasha Wortzel | Producers: Danielle Varga, Sasha Wortzel)