30th Annual IDA Documentary Awards Nominees & Winners

Best Feature Award

Citizenfour (WINNER)LEARN MORE
Director: Laura Poitras
RADiUS-TWC, Participant Media, and
HBO Documentary Films

Finding Vivian MaierLEARN MORE
Directors: John Maloof, Charlie Siskel
Sundance Selects

Point and ShootLEARN MORE
Director: Marshall Curry
The Orchard

The Salt of the EarthLEARN MORE
Directors: Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
Sony Pictures Classics

Tales of the Grim SleeperLEARN MORE
Director: Nick Broomfield
HBO Documentary Films and SKY ATLANTIC

Best Short Award

Tashi and the Monk (WINNER)LEARN MORE
Directors: Andrew Hinton, Johnny Burke
HBO Documentary Films

Ghost TrainLEARN MORE
Directors: Kelly Hucker & James Fleming
Premium Films (France)

Our CurseLEARN MORE
Director: Tomasz Śliwiński
Warsaw Film School

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack HallLEARN MORE
Director: Edgar Barens
HBO Documentary Films

The QueenLEARN MORE
Director: Manuel Abramovich

Best Curated Series Award

Independent Lens (WINNER)LEARN MORE
Executive Producer: Sally Jo Fifer
Deputy Executive Producer: Lois Vossen
Independent Television Service (ITVS) in association with PBS

American ExperienceLEARN MORE
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
Senior Producer: Sharon Grimberg
PBS

American MastersLEARN MORE
Executive Producer: Susan Lacy
PBS

POVLEARN MORE
Executive Producer: Simon Kilmurry
Series Producer: Chris White
POV / PBS

Real Sports with Bryant GumbelLEARN MORE
Executive Producer: Rick Bernstein
HBO Sports

Best Limited Series Award

Time of Death (WINNER)LEARN MORE
Executive Producers: Cynthia Childs, Dan Cutforth, Casey Kriley, Jane Lipsitz, Alexandra Lipsitz
Co-Executive Producer: Miggi Hood, Sandy Shapiro
Showtime

ChicagolandLEARN MORE
Executive Producers: Mark Benjamin, Marc Levin, Laura Michalchyshyn, Robert Redford
CNN/ BCTV and Sundance Productions

COSMOS: A SpaceTime OdysseyLEARN MORE
Executive Producers: Brannon Braga, Mitchell Cannold, Ann Druyan, Seth MacFarlane
FOX / National Geographic Channel

The SixtiesLEARN MORE
Executive Producers: Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Mark Herzog
CNN / Playtone and Herzog & Co

Years of Living DangerouslyLEARN MORE
Executive Producers: Daniel Abbasi, Joel Bach, James Cameron, David Gelber, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Weintraub
Showtime

Best Episodic Series Award

Our America with Lisa Ling (WINNER)LEARN MORE
Executive Producers: Amy Bucher, Gregory Henry, Lisa Ling, David Shadrack Smith
OWN

Anthony Bourdain Parts UnknownLEARN MORE
Executive Producer and Host: Anthony Bourdain
Executive Producers: Chris Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandra Zweig
Zero Point Zero Production/CNN

Morgan Spurlock Inside ManLEARN MORE
Executive Producer and Host: Morgan Spurlock
Executive Producers Jeremy Chilnick, Mathew Galkin
Warrior Poets/CNN

Oprah’s Master ClassLEARN MORE
Executive Producers: Jon Kamen, Jonathan Sinclair, Justin Wilkes, Oprah Winfrey
OWN/ Harpo Studios

VICELEARN MORE
Executive Producers: BJ Levin, Bill Maher, Eddy Moretti, Shane Smith
HBO

Best Short Form Series Award

Planet Money Makes a T-shirt (WINNER)LEARN MORE
Executive Producer: Alex Blumberg
NPR

A Short History of the HighriseLEARN MORE
Executive Producers: Jason Spingarn-Koff, Silva Basmajian
National Film Board of Canada and The New York Times

Last Chance HighLEARN MORE
Executive Producer: Jason Mojica
VICE News

Op-DocsLEARN MORE
Executive Producer: Jason Spingarn-Koff
The New York Times

Russian RouletteLEARN MORE
Executive Producers: Jason Mojica, Kevin Sutcliffe
VICE News

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award

This award recognizes exceptional achievement in non-fiction film and video production at the university level and brings greater public and industry awareness to the work of students in the documentary field.

My Dad's a Rocker (WINNER)LEARN MORE
Director: Zuxin Hou
University of Southern California

Cast in IndiaLEARN MORE
Director: Natasha Raheja
New York University

Evaporating BordersLEARN MORE
Director: Iva Radivojevic
CUNY - Hunter College

Hotel 22LEARN MORE
Director: Elizabeth Lo
Stanford University

Solitary PlainsLEARN MORE
Director: J. Christian Jensen
Stanford University

Humanitas Award

This award is given to a film that explores the hopes and fears of human beings who are very different in culture, race, lifestyle, political loyalties and religious beliefs in order to break down the walls of ignorance which separate us.

Limited Partnership (WINNER)LEARN MORE
Director: Thomas G. Miller
PBS / Independent Lens

How I Got OverLEARN MORE
Director: Nicole Boxer

Keep On Keepin’ OnLEARN MORE
Director: Alan Hicks
RADiUS-TWC

Pare Lorentz Award

The Pare Lorentz Award recognizes films that demonstrate exemplary filmmaking while focusing on the appropriate use of the natural environment, justice for all and the illumination of pressing social problems.

Tashi and the Monk (WINNER)LEARN MORE
Directors: Andrew Hinton, Johnny Burke
HBO Documentary Films

ABCNews VideoSource Award

This award is given each year for the best use of news footage as an integral component in a documentary.

1971 (WINNER)LEARN MORE
Director: Johanna Hamilton
Independent Lens/ PBS

The Assassination of President KennedyLEARN MORE
Executive Producers: Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Mark Herzog
CNN / Playtone and Herzog & Co

Captivated The Trials of Pamela SmartLEARN MORE
Director: Jeremiah Zagar
HBO Documentary Films

Concerning ViolenceLEARN MORE
Director: Göran Hugo Olsson
Kino Lorber

The Joe ShowLEARN MORE
Director: Randy Murray
Investigation Discovery / Film Buff

Creative Recognition Award Winners

The Creative Recognition category recognizes special achievement in cinematography, editing, music and writing in films entered in the Feature Category.

Best Cinematography presented by Canon

ElevatorLEARN MORE
Cinematography By: Hatuey Viveros Lavielle

Best Editing

Last Days in VietnamLEARN MORE
Editing By: Don Kleszy

Best Music

Alfred and JakobineLEARN MORE
Music By: Nick Urata

Best Writing

Finding Vivian MaierLEARN MORE
Written By: John Maloof & Charlie Siskel

30th Annual IDA Awards Honorees

Career Achievement Award

Robert Redford
The IDA presents its prestigious Career Achievement Award to Robert Redford, the acclaimed filmmaker and actor, ardent conservationist and environmentalist, and founder of the world-renowned Sundance Institute, dedicated to the support and development of independent film and theatre artists, and its Documentary Film Program, a leading creative and financial resource for contemporary-issue nonfiction filmmakers worldwide.

Pioneer Award

Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato
The Pioneer Award is presented to acknowledge extraordinary contributions to advancing the nonfiction form and providing exceptional vision and leadership to the documentary community. This year, the Pioneer Award will be presented to Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, founders of World of Wonder Productions.

Preservation and Scholarship Award

Rithy Panh
Rithy Panh receives IDA’s Preservation and Scholarship award, which recognizes individuals or organizations that have made notable contributions to preserving significant motion picture archives and educating the public and industry about the role nonfiction filmmaking plays in society.

Emerging Documentary Award sponsored by Red Fire Films and Modern VideoFilm

Darius Clark Monroe
Houston native, Darius Clark Monroe is an award-winning filmmaker and MFA graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.