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Nominees, Honorary Award Recipients Announced for 29th Annual IDA Documentary Awards

By IDA Editorial Staff


We are pleased to finally announce all of the nominees for our 29th annual IDA Documentary Awards ceremony, which will be held Friday, December 6, 2013 at the Director's Guild in Los Angeles. "With over 400 submissions from around the world, this year’s Awards represent a thriving global documentary community," said IDA Executive Director Michael Lumpkin. "Collectively these incredible stories expand our understanding of our shared human experience and foster an informed, compassionate and connected world."

The five films nominated in IDA's Best Feature category include The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer), Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite), Let the Fire Burn (Jason Osder), The Square (Jehane Noujaim), and Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley).

The five nominated films in the Best Short category are The Education of Mohammad Hussein (Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady), The Flogsta Roar, Nine to Ninety (Alicia Dwyer), Slomo (Josh Izenberg), and Vultures of Tibet (Russell O. Bush).

Winners in the Best Feature and Best Short categories are selected by IDA's membership. Screening committees of industry professionals based in New York City, Washington, DC, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles determine other award categories.

The IDA Creative Recognition Awards honor excellence in cinematography, composing, editing, and writing in documentary feature films. The recipients of these awards represent the highest achievements in their respective crafts, and highlight the importance of their work in compelling documentary storytelling. Pablo's Winter (cinematography by Julian Schwanitz) will be recognized with the award for Best Cinematography; Let the Fire Burn (edited by Nels Bangerter) will receive the Best Editing award; Narco Cultura (original music by Jeremy Turner) will be presented with the Best Music award; and How To Make Money Selling Drugs (written by Matthew Cooke) will receive the Best Writing award.

To see the nominees in the Best Continuing Series, Best Limited Series, the HUMANITAS Documentary Award, the David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award, and the ABCNEWS VIDEOSOURCE Award, please visit the Awards page.

In addition to recognizing the year’s best in documentary filmmaking and nonfiction programming, the 2013 IDA Documentary Awards will be honoring director, producer and writer Alex Gibney with the organization’s Career Achievement Award. Producer Geralyn Dreyfous will receive the Amicus Award, which acknowledges friends of the documentary genre who have contributed significantly to our industry, and Laura Poitras will receive IDA's Courage Under Fire Award in recognition of "conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth."

Each year IDA also recognizes the achievements of a filmmaker who has made a significant impact at the beginning of his or her career in documentary film. This year IDA will honor Zachary Heinzerling, the producer, director and cinematographer of one of the year’s most-acclaimed films Cutie and the Boxer, with the 2013 Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award. The Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award includes a $5,000 cash award from the Estate of Jacqueline Donnet. As of 2013, the recipient also receives a donation of post-production services valued at $50,000, made possible by Modern Video Film and Red Fire Films.

The 29th Annual IDA Documentary Awards will take place on Friday, December 6th at the DGA Theater, 7920 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, starting at 8pm. The Awards presentation will be followed by the IDA Documentary Awards After-Party, the year’s most exciting documentary celebration, in the DGA Grand Lobby.

For more information, tickets and sponsorship opportunities for the 2013 IDA Documentary Awards, please visit www.documentary.org/awards.