By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

International Documentary Association Announces Nominees for 2010 IDA Awards

IDA Members to Select Winners in Feature and Short Categories

LOS ANGELES, October 27, 2010 – The International Documentary Association, one of the leading organizations in the world of documentary film and filmmaking, announced the nominees for the 2010 edition of it’s prestigious IDA Documentary Awards today, with many of the year’s most buzzed about titles and festival favorites making the list. Winners will be feted on December 3rd at the Directors Guild Theater in Los Angeles in a ceremony hosted by award-winning documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.

“This has been another banner year for documentary films,” said IDA Executive Director Michael Lumpkin, “and that is reflected in our list of nominees. Entries to the Awards increased by nearly 20% this year, and the quality of the films vying for recognition is unprecedented.”

Lumpkin also announced that for the first time two of the awards – for Distinguished Feature and Short Documentary – will be selected by IDA’s members through an innovative process in which members who wish to participate will view all of the nominated films in these categories through a secure, password-protected online system. After viewing all of the films in their entirety, these IDA member judges will cast their votes to determine the winners.

The five films nominated in IDA’s Distinguished Feature category are: EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, the debut film from the renowned and elusive graffiti artist Banksy; THE OATH, Laura Poitras’ riveting story about two men whose fateful encounter set them on a journey that would lead to Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo, and the U.S. Supreme Court; Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotakainen’s STEAM OF LIFE, a poetic and emotional tour of Finland’s saunas in which men of all walks of life share their touching stories about love, death, birth and friendship; SWEETGRASS, Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s cinematic and observational tour-de-force that captures a family and their animals in their final season herding sheep in Montana’s spectacular Absaroka-Beartooth mountain range; and Lucy Walker’s WASTE LAND, which follows artist Vik Muniz on a transformative journey from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho.

The five nominated films in the Distinguished Short category are: THE FENCE, Rory Kennedy’s revealing and often surprising look at the story behind the controversial Southern U.S. Border Barrier; KEEP DANCING, Greg Vander Veer’s endearing portrait of legendary dancers Marge Champion and Donald Saddler; THE LAST CAMPAIGN OF GOVERNOR BOOTH GARDNER, Daniel Junge’s look at Washington’s former governor Booth Gardner as he leads a campaign to legalize assisted suicide in the state while dealing with the devastating effects of Parkinson’s disease; Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s THE LAST TRUCK: THE CLOSING OF A GM PLANT, which views the final months of the plant through the workers’ eyes as they reflect on their work and consider their next steps; and WOMAN REBEL, Kiran Deol’s story of “Silu,” a female soldier with Nepal’s People’s Liberation Army, who eventually becomes a democratically elected government official.

In the Continuing Series category, the five nominees are: 30 FOR 30, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, ART IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, BRICK CITY, and WIDE ANGLE. Limited Series nominees are: AFFLICTION SERIES: CULTURE AND MENTAL ILLNESS IN INDONESIA, HAVE YOU HEARD FROM JOHANNESBURG, LATIN MUSIC USA, MASTERCLASS, and THIS EMOTIONAL LIFE.

Nominees for the David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award are: LITTLE MOM, directed by Maria Fortiz-Morse; PERRY COUNTY, directed by N’Jeri Eaton and Matt Durning; THE STINKING SHIP, directed by Bagassi Koura; and WHALES OF GOLD, directed by Lucia Duncan. Nominees for the IDA Music Award are:  FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, directed by Jim Bigham and Mark Moormann; GENIUS WITHIN: THE INNER LIFE OF GLENN GOULD, directed by Peter Raymont and Michele Hozer; THUNDER SOUL, directed by Mark Landsman; THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS, directed by Leanne Pooley; and WHEN I RISE, directed by Mat Hames.

Other IDA competition categories include the IDA/HUMANITAS Award, the IDA/ABCNEWS VideoSource Award, for best use of television news footage as an integral component, as well as the IDA/Pare Lorentz Award, presented to the filmmaker whose documentary best represents the activist spirit and lyrical vision of the acclaimed Pare Lorentz.  Winner of these awards, as well as of the IDA Music Award and the David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award, will be announced in late November.

In addition to competitive awards for the year’s current crop of outstanding documentaries, IDA also acknowledges exemplary creative contributions to the field at large. Jeff Malmberg, director of the one of the year’s most celebrated films, MARWENCOL, will receive the 2010 IDA/Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award.

As previously announced, this year’s IDA Career Achievement honoree, to be celebrated during December’s event, is legendary and innovative filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Susan Raymond and Alan Raymond, creators of the landmark PBS series AN AMERICAN FAMILY, will receive IDA’s Pioneer Award, and award-winning filmmaker and film professor Mark J. Harris will receive IDA’s Preservation and Scholarship Award.

Eligibility requirements for the Awards were simplified this year and are now based on time of completion of the film or program. The change resulted in an eligibility window of January 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 for this year’s Awards. The 2011 Awards eligibility window will be July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011.

ABOUT IDA

The IDA is a nonprofit, membership organization based in Los Angeles. The organization was founded in 1982 to promote and celebrate nonfiction filmmakers and is dedicated to increasing public awareness and appreciation of the documentary genre. For more information about IDA visit www.documentary.org

2010 IDA Documentary Awards

DISTINGUISHED FEATURE DOCUMENTARY NOMINEES

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

Director: Banksy

Producer: Jaimie D’Cruz

Executive Producers: Holly Cushing, James Gay-Rees

Paranoid Pictures, Cinetic Media, A-Film Distribution, Alamode Film, Avalon Distribución Audiovisual, Mongrel Media, Producers Distribution Agency, Revolver Entertainment, Madman Entertainment

THE OATH

Director: Laura Poitras

Producers: Laura Poitras

Co-Producer: Nasser Arrabyee, Aliza Kaplan, Jonathan Oppenheim

Associate Producer: Robert Hatch-Miller, Katy Scoggin, Pandora Zolotor

ITVS, POV/American Documentary, Praxis Films, Zeitgeist Films

STEAM OF LIFE

Directors: Joonas Berghäll, Mika Hotakainen

Producer: Joonas Berghäll

Associate Producers: Adel Kjellström, Petri Rossi

Oktober, Nordisk Film Theatrical Distribution

SWEETGRASS

Directors: Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor

Producers: Ilisa Barbash

Harvard Sensory Ethnography Lab, Cinema Guild

WASTE LAND

Director/Writer: Lucy Walker

Producers: Angus Aynsley, Hank Levine

Executive Producers: Jackie De Botton, Miel De Botton, Fernando Meirelles, Emillia Mello

Almega Projects, O2 Filmes, E1 Films Canada, Arthouse Films

DISTINGUISHED SHORT DOCUMENTARY NOMINEES

KEEP DANCING

Director: Greg Vanderveer

Executive Producer: Douglas Blair Turnbaugh

Turnbaugh/Vander Veer Productions

THE LAST CAMPAIGN OF GOVERNOR BOOTH GARDNER

Director: Daniel Junge

Producer: Henry Ansbacher, Davis Coombe, Andy Schocken

Home Box Office (HBO)

WOMAN REBEL

Director/Producer: Kiran Deol

Executive Producer: Robert Richter

Women Rebel Films, HBO Documentary Films

THE FENCE

Director/Producer: Rory Kennedy

Producers: Liz Garbus, Keven McAlester, Nancy Abraham

Associate Producer: Lauren Barker

Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins

Moxie Firecracker Films, Home Box Office (HBO)

THE LAST TRUCK

Directors/Writers/Producers: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert

Producer: Lisa Heller

Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins

Home Box Office (HBO)

CONTINUING SERIES AWARD NOMINEES

30 FOR 30

Executive Producers: Keith Clinkscales, John Dahl, Joan Lynch, Connor Schell, Bill Simmons, John Skipper, John Walsh

ESPN

Episodes Submitted:

The Band That Wouldn’t Die (Dir./Exec Prod.: Barry Levinson; Prods.: Lee Bonner, Stan Flint, Jason Sosnoff)

Muhammad and Larry (Dirs.: Albert Maysles, Bradley Kaplan; Prods.: Laura Coxson, Bradley Kaplan, Mark Durand)

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks (Dir./Writer/Prod.: Steve James; Prods.:Emily Hart, Adam Singer)

Run Ricky Run (Dirs.: Sean Pamphilon & Royce Toni; Co-Prod.: Royce Toni, Louise Story, Derek Hastings)

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Executive Producer: Mark Samels

Senior Producer: Sharon Grimberg

Coordinating Producer: Susan Mottau

Series Manager: James E. Dunford

Series Producer: Susan Bellows

WGBH; PBS

Episodes Submitted:

Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World (Dir./Writer: Ric Burns; Prods.:  Bonnie Lafave, Mary Recine, Robin Espinola, Ric Burns)

My Lai (Dir./Prod./Writer: Barak Goodman)

Roads to Memphis (Dir.: Stephen Ives; Writer: Michelle Ferrari, Prod.: Amanda Pollak)

ART IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Executive Producer: Susan Sollins

Series Producer: Eve-Laure Moros Ortega

PBS

Episodes Submitted:

Compassion (Consulting Director: Catherine Tatge)

Fantasy (Consulting Director: Catherine Tatge)

Transformation (Consulting Director: Charles Atlas)

Systems (Consulting Director: Charles Atlas)

BRICK CITY

Executive Producer: Evan Shapiro, Forest Whitaker, Lynne Kirby, Mala Chapple, Marc Levin, Mark Benjamin, Sarah Barnett

Sundance Channel

Episodes Submitted:

Summer Is Ours (Dirs.: Marc Levin, Mark Benjamin)

Struggle (Dirs.: Marc Levin, Mark Benjamin)

Central (Dirs.: Marc Levin, Mark Benjamin)

Circus (Dirs.: Marc Levin, Mark Benjamin)

Red October (Dirs.: Marc Levin, Mark Benjamin)

WIDE ANGLE

Executive Producer: Tom Casciato

Senior Producer: Nina Chaudry

PBS

Episodes Submitted:

Contestant No.2 (Dir.: Ibtisam Salah Mara’ana; Prods.: Timna Goldstein Hattav,

Barak Heymann)

Heart of Jenin (Dirs./Writers: Leon Geller, Marcus Vetter; Prods.: Ernst Ludwig Ganzert, Ulli Pfau)

Crossing Heaven’s Border (Director for Chosun Ilbo: Jung In Taek; Producer for Chosun Ilbo: Lee Hark Joon )

Once Upon a Coup (Dir.: Christopher Olgiati; Executive Producer: Roy Ackerman)

LIMITED SERIES AWARD NOMINEES

AFFLICTION SERIES: CULTURE AND MENTAL ILLNESS IN INDONESIA

Director, Producer: Robert Lemelson

Elemental Productions

HAVE YOU HEARD FROM JOHANNESBURG

Directors/Producers: Connie E Field

KQED, Clarity Films

LATIN MUSIC USA

Executive Producer: Mark Cooper, Elizabeth Deane

Series Producer: Jeremy Marre

Director/Producers: Adriana Bosch, John Valadez

Director/Writer/Producer: Daniel McCabe

Producer: Pamela Aguilar

Writers: Adriana Bosch, David Espar

WGBH Educational Foundation and the BBC

MASTERCLASS

Executive Producer: Lin Arison

Director/Producer: Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon

Simon and Goodman Picture Co

THIS EMOTIONAL LIFE

Executive Producer: Meredith Blake

Executives-in-Charge: Jody Allen Patton, Paul G. Allen

Senior Executive Producer:  Richard Hutton

Writer: Cynthia Scheiderer

Kunhardt McGee Productions, Vulcan Productions, WGBH

IDA/DAVID L. WOLPER STUDENT DOCUMENTARY AWARD NOMINEES

LITTLE MOM

Director/Producer: Maria Fortiz-Morse

Stanford University, MFA Documentary Film and Video

PERRY COUNTY

Directors/Producers: Matt Durning, N’Jeri Eaton

University of California Berkeley

THE STINKING SHIP

Director/Producer: Bagassi Koura

University of California Berkeley

WAITING FOR A TRAIN: THE TOSHIO HIRANO STORY

Director/Producer: Oscar Buchar

OB3 Studios, San Francisco State University

WHALES OF GOLD

Director/Producer: Lucia Duncan

University of Texas at Austin

IDA MUSIC DOCUMENTARY AWARD NOMINEES

FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE

Directors: Mark Moormann, Jim Bigham

Producer: Jim Bigham

Executive Producer: Lourdes Little

OPS Inc

GENIUS WITHIN: THE INNER LIFE OF GLENN GOULD

Directors/Producers: Michele Hozer, Peter Raymont

White Pine Pictures, Lorber Films, Union Pictures

THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS

Director: Leanne Pooley

Producer: Arani Cuthbert

Spacific Films, Diva Productions

THUNDER SOUL

Director/Producer: Mark Landsman

Producer: Keith Calder, Jessica Wu

Ocuupant Films

WHEN I RISE

Director: Mat Hames

Producers: James Moll, Michael Rosen,

Executive Producer: Don Carleton

Allentown Productions, Alpheus Media, Dolph Briscoe Center for American

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3 Responses to “International Documentary Association Announces Nominees for 2010 IDA Awards”

  1. Kate Coe says:

    Boring seems to be the message of the day. The Fence over Pat Tillman?

  2. Penni Georgl says:

    Great, thank you for an interesting and informative post.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon