IDA Announces 36th Annual IDA Documentary Awards Shortlists for Feature and Short Documentaries

Los Angeles, CA (October 28, 2020) – The International Documentary Association (IDA) has announced the 36th Annual IDA Documentary Awards shortlists for the Best Feature and Best Short categories. The 2020 Awards will be presented at a virtual ceremony in January 2021. 

The full features and shorts shortlists, announced today, are below. Up to ten nominees in each of the feature and short documentary categories will be selected from the shortlist. Following the nominees announcement, IDA members will have access to nominated films to vote for Best Feature and Best Short starting December 7, 2020. For more on how to become an IDA member visit: documentary.org/membership.

Awards will be presented in the following categories: Best Feature, Best Short, Best Curated Series, Best Episodic Series, Best Multi-Part Documentary, Best Short Form Series, Best Audio Documentary, David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award, Best Music Documentary, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Writing, Best Music Score, ABC News VideoSource Award, and the Pare Lorentz Award.

“It is exciting to see the IDA Documentary Awards Shortlist include so many films from around the globe,” said Simon Kilmurry, executive director of IDA. “The range of stories and of makers is as diverse as we have ever had. It reflects the broad range of approaches to documentary filmmaking and some of the most urgent issues of the day.”

This year, IDA received 1,056 submissions across all categories, including 365 documentary features from 67 countries, and 153 documentary shorts from 21 countries. 

The feature documentary shortlist includes 30 films from 21 countries. 38% of directors and 55% of producers are women, 30% of directors and 28% identify as BIPOC. Additionally, 8% of directors and 7% of producers are LGBTQ. 5% of directors and 3% of producers are disabled.

The Short Documentary shortlist includes 15 films from 6 countries. 58% of directors and 58% of producers are women, 37% of directors and 31% of producers identify as BIPOC. Additionally, 5% of directors and 5% of producers are LGBTQ. 

Judging committee names and demographic information will be revealed along with the nominee announcement on November 24.

IDA Documentary Awards 2020 Features Shortlist

76 Days (USA, China / MTV Documentary Films. Directors: Anonymous, Weixi Chen. Director/Producer: Hao Wu. Producer: Jean Tsien)

Acasă, My Home (Romania, Germany, Finland / Manifest Film, HBO Europe. Director: Radu Ciorniciuc. Producer: Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan)

Boys State (USA / Apple, A24. Directors/Producers: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss)

City Hall (USA / Zipporah Films, Inc. Director/Producer: Frederick Wiseman. Producer: Karen Konicek)

Collective  (Romania / Magnolia Pictures, Participant. Director/Producer: Alexander Nanau. Producer: Bianca Oana)

Crip Camp (USA / Netflix. Directors/Producers: Jim LeBrecht, Nicole Newnham. Producer: Sara Bolder)

Disclosure (USA / Netflix. Director/Producer: Sam Feder. Producer: Amy Scholder)

The Earth is Blue as an Orange (Ukraine, Lithuania / TVP. Director: Iryna Tsilyk. Producers: Anna Kapustina, Giedrė Žickytė)

The Forbidden Reel (Canada / National Film Board of Canada. Director: Ariel Nasr. Producers: Kat Baulu, Sergeo Kirby)

Gunda (Norway, USA / NEON. Director: Victor Kossakovsky. Producer: Anita Rehoff Larsen)

I Walk on Water (USA / Grasshopper Film. Director: Khalik Allah. Producers: Sofian Khan, Vikki Tobak)

Me and the Cult Leader (Japan. Director/Producer: Atsushi Sakahara. Producers: Pearl Chan, Matsuo Etsuko)

A Metamorfose dos Pássaros (Portugal / Portugal Film - Portuguese Film Agency. Director: Catarina Vasconcelos. Producers: Pedro Fernandes Duarte, Joana Gusmão)

MLK/FBI (USA / IFC Films. Director: Sam Pollard. Producer: Benjamin Hedin)

The Mole Agent (Chile, Germany, USA / POV, Hulu, Gravitas Ventures. Director: Maite Alberdi. Producer: Marcela Santibañez)

Notturno (Italy, France, Germany. Director/Producer: Gianfranco Rosi. Producers: Camille Laemlé, Serge Lalou, Orwa Nyrabia, Donatella Palermo, Eva-Maria Weerts)

Once Upon a Time in Venezuela (Venezuela, UK, Brazil / Cargo Film Releasing. Director: Anabel Rodríguez Ríos. Producer: Sepp Brudermann) 

The Reason I Jump (USA, UK / Kino Lorber. Director: Jerry Rothwell. Producers: Jeremy Dear, Stevie Lee, Al Morrow)

Reunited (Denmark. Director: Mira Jargil. Producer: Kirstine Barfod)

Self Portrait (Norway. Directors: Katja Høgset, Margreth Olin, Espen Wallin. Director/Producer: Margreth Olin)

Softie (Kenya / POV. Director/Producer: Sam Soko. Producer: Toni Kamau)

Stray (USA / Magnolia Pictures. Director/Producer: Elizabeth Lo. Producers: Shane Boris, Ceylan Carhoglu, Ina Fichman)

‘Til Kingdom Come (Israel, UK, Norway / IPBC Kan, NDR. Director/Producer: Maya Zinshtein. Producers: John Battsek, Abraham (Abie) Troen)

Time (USA / Amazon Studios, Concordia Studio, The New York Times. Director/Producer: Garrett Bradley. Producers: Lauren Domino, Kellen Quinn) 

To See You Again (Mexico. Director: Carolina Corral Paredes. Producer: Magali Rocha Donnadieu)

The Truffle Hunters (USA / Sony Pictures Classics. Directors/Producers: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw)

Unapologetic (USA. Director/Producer: Ashley O’Shay. Producer: Morgan Elise Johnson)

The Viewing Booth (Israel, USA / ro*co films, Temple University, Channel 8 (Israel). Director/Producer: Ra'anan Alexandrowicz. Producer: Liran Atzmor)

Welcome to Chechnya (USA / HBO. Director/Producer: David France. Producers: Alice Henty and Askold Kurov)

Wintopia (Canada / National Film Board of Canada. Director: Mira Burt-Wintonick. Producers: Annette Clarke, Bob Moore)

IDA Documentary Awards 2020 Shorts Shortlist

Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa (USA / Woman Make Movies. Directors/Producers: Barbara Attie, Mike Attie, Janet Goldwater)

All That Perishes at the Edge of Land (Pakistan. Director/Producer: Hira Nabi. Producer: Till Passow)

Tutwiler (USA / Frontline, PBS, The Marshall Project, American Documentary, WORLD Channel. Director: Elaine McMillion Sheldon. Producer: Alysia Santo)

Call Center Blues (USA, Mexico / TOPIC. Director: Geeta Gandbhir. Producer: Jessica Devaney)

Eddy’s World (USA. Director/Producer: Lyn Goldfarb. Producers: Jannat Gargi, Daniel Zimbaldi)

Huntsville Station (USA / NY Times Op-Docs. Directors/Producers: Chris Filippone, Jamie Meltzer)

Hysterical Girl (USA / NY Times Op-Docs. Director: Kate Novack. Producer: Andrew Rossi)

John Was Trying to Contact Aliens (USA / Netflix. Director/Producer: Matthew Killip)

The Lost Astronaut (USA / NY Times Op-Docs. Director: Ben Proudfoot. Producers: Abby Lynn Kang Davis, Gabriel Berk Godoi)

Mizuko (USA, Japan. Directors/Producers: Kira Dane, Katelyn Rebelo)

Racially Charged: America's Misdemeanor Problem (USA. Director/Producer: Robert Greenwald. Producers: Casey Cooper Johnson, Jim Miller)

sống ở đây (USA / University of California, Santa Cruz. Director/Producer: Melanie Ho)

To Calm the Pig Inside (Ang Pagpakalma sa Unos) (Philippines. Director/Producer: Joanna Vasquez Arong) 

Unforgivable (El Salvador. Director/Producer: Marlén Viñayo. Producer: Carlos Martínez)

Virtually Free (USA. Director: André Robert Lee. Producers: Alexandra Blaney, Susan MacLaury)