Top Photo: Left to right--IDA Board President Eddie Schmidt, Host Morgan Spurlock and IDA Executive Director Michael Lumpkin. Credit: A. Rodriquez/Getty Images.
Photos by Rene Lego
More Awards Photos by Meg Madison
In a week that began with IFP's Gothams in New York and continued with the Film Independent's Sprit nominations in Los Angeles, the 26th edition of the IDA Documentary Awards brought things to a rousing crescendo at the jam-packed Directors Guild of America Theater.
Filmmaker and docu-funnyman Morgan Spurlock performed a second tour of duty as Awards Host, following his 2008 gig, with IDA Board President Eddie Schmidt joining Spurlock on stage for a few reconstituted scenes from some of the Feature nominees. In what is probably the first instance of partial nudity in IDA Awards history, Spurlock and Schmidt sported towels for their Steam of Life routine, breaking into rollicking song 'n' dance about the travails of docmaking-and the towels, miraculously, stayed on. Then there was this Pinteresque interplay between two sheepherding cowboys from Sweetgrass: (long pause) "I guess we can make a documentary." (long pause) "It don't look all that hard." (long pause)
But the real theme of the evening was The Documentary Community, and with some of the best minds of the generation packed into the room Friday night, there was plenty to testify about. Joe Berlinger, discussing his very costly legal battle with Chevron and the IDA-led response to it, said, "...this experience has taught me that I am proud to be a part of this community and that the IDA can play a pivotal role in pushing our collective agenda forward...While we can debate whether or not it is easier or harder to be a documentarian today, I would argue that being a documentarian today has never been more important. ...We documentarians are one of the last bastions of independent journalism. Whether those films show a bias or not, some of the most courageous and important reporting on real problems affecting all of us are being done by this community. So, it's more important than ever to stick together and help each other and be thankful that we have the IDA to help further our very important mission. Because of the tremendous good will that was shown to me, I intend to do my part to help however I can, and I hope you will too."
Photo: A. Rodriguez/Getty Images.
And that seemed to set the tone for the rest of the evening. Walker, on collecting her second honor of the evening-Best Feature Documentary for Waste Land--remarked, "It's great to sit in a room with people who remind you of why you're doing this in the first place." Laura Poitras, who earned the Humanitas Award for her film The Oath, noted, "We're thinking about this community as a movement." "It's a chance to meet all your heroes," said Donnet Award winner Jeff Malmberg. And Barbara Kopple, the Career Achievement Award honoree, exclaimed, "It's so vital and important to have a community such as this one."
Photo: A. Rodriquez/Getty Images
Mark Jonathan Harris, the Preservation & Scholarship Award winner, talked about his love for teaching: "Teaching in the classroom reaffirms my faith in documentary. The experience is always rewarding... It's an adventure in engaging with new people and grappling with new ideas."
Photo: A. Rodriguez/Getty Images
In addition to the Best Feature Award, Walker took home the previously announced Pare Lorentz Award for Waste Land, adding to the trove (landfill?) of honors that film has picked up this year since winning the Audience Award at Sundance. Among the other prizes, Kiran Deol's Woman Rebel took the Short Documentary Award, ESPN's 30 for 30 won the Continuing Series Award and Connie Field's Have You Heard from Johannesburg captured the Limited Series prize. For a complete run-down of the Awards, click here.
And now a word from our sponsor...The Economist has been around for over a century-and-a-half, covering business and politics with sophistication and depth. And now, the venerated publication--still thriving in print, as well as online--is testing out the documentary waters for the first time. The Economist stepped in at the eleventh hour as lead sponsor of the IDA Documentary Awards, and announced their new initiative, The Economist Film Project, at the awards pre-gala celebration. Launching in 2011 in partnership with PBS NewsHour, the project will showcase independent documentary films from around the world that offer new ideas, perspectives, and insights that not only help make sense of the world, but also take a stand and provoke debate.Here's a run-down of coverage of the IDA Awards:
Variety
Hollywood Reporter
IndieWire
The Wrap
Los Angeles Times
New York Times
UPI
About.com
AJ Schnack