IDA Announces First Round of Documentary Awards Nominees

Los Angeles, CA – October 16, 2017– The International Documentary Association has announced the initial round of nominees for the 2017 IDA Documentary Awards. The 33rd edition of the annual ceremony will take place Saturday, December 9 at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles. Nominees for Best Feature and Best Short, and awards for creative recognition, will be announced on November 1.

The IDA will honor director Marcel Mettelsiefen’s Watani: My Homeland with the Pare Lorentz Award. Also receiving a special mention in the category is Joe Berlinger’s Intent to Destroy.

In the limited series category, nominees include the Netflix docuseries, Daughters of Destiny: The Story of Shanti Bhavan, Vanessa Roth's spotlight on the Shanti Bhavan school that educates Dalit children, the poorest among India’s families; The Defiant Ones, Allen Hughes’ exploration of the friendship between Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre; The Keepers, Ryan White’s docuseries which tackles the unsolved murder of Cathy Cesnik; The Vietnam War, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s 10-part, 18-hour American television documentary series about the Vietnam War; and Jenner Furst’s documentary television series, TIME: The Kalief Browder Story, which tells the story of an innocent high school student who was imprisoned for three years at Rikers Island without a conviction.

The list of nominees is below.

2017 IDA DOCUMENTARY AWARDS HONOREES & NOMINEES:

Pare Lorentz Award

Watani: My Homeland (Recipient)
Director: Marcel Mettelsiefen

Intent to Destroy (Special Mention)
Director: Joe Berlinger

ABC News VideoSource Award

Blood On The Mountain
Directors: Mari-Lynn Evans and Jordan Freeman
Virgil Films/Netflix

Elián
Directors: Tim Golden and Ross McDonnell
Gravitas Ventures, CNN Films

Icarus
Director: Bryan Fogel
Netflix

LA 92
Directors: Dan Lindsay & TJ Martin
National Geographic

Obit.
Director: Vanessa Gould
Kino Lorber

Best Curated Series Award

American Experience
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
PBS

Dokumania
Executive Producer: Anders Bruus
DR

Independent Lens
Executive Producers: Lois Vossen and Sally Jo Fifer
PBS

POV
Executive Producers: Justine Nagan and Chris White
PBS

REEL SOUTH
Executive Producers: Rachel Raney and Amy Shumaker
UNC-TV, South Carolina ETV, NETA and WORLD

Best Limited Series Award

Daughters of Destiny
Executive Producer: Vanessa Roth
Netflix

The Defiant Ones
Executive Producers: Allen Hughes, Doug Pray, Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Laura Lancaster, Michael Lombardo, Gene Kirkwood, and Jerry Longarzo
HBO

The Keepers
Executive Producers: Ryan White and Jessica Hargrave
Netflix

The Vietnam War
Executive Producer: Ken Burns
PBS/WETA

TIME: The Kalief Browder Story
Executive Producers: Jenner Furst, Nick Sandow, Julia Willoughby Nason, Michael Gasparro, Shawn “JAY Z” Carter, Sharon Levy, Chachi Senior
Spike

Best Episodic Series Award

Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown
Executive Producers: Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia and Sandra Zweig
CNN

Chef’s Table
Executive Producers: David Gelb, Matthew Weaver, Brian McGinn, Andrew Fried, Dane Lillegard and Matthew Hilliard
Netflix

Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath
Executive Producers: Leah Remini, Aaron Saidman, Alex Weresow, Devon-Graham-Hammonds, Elaine Frontain Bryant and Amy Savitsky
A&E

MARS
Executive Producers: Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Michael Rosenberg, Dave O’Connor, Jon Kamen, Tommy Turtle, David Sirulnick, Jonathan Silberberg, Lorenzo Mieli, Everardo Gout, Justin Wilkes, Tim Pastore, Matt Renner, Robert Palumbo, and David Sirulneck
National Geographic

Planet Earth II
Executive Producer: Michael Gunton
BBC AMERICA/BBC Worldwide

Best Short Form Series Award

Field of Vision
Executive Producers: Laura Poitras, AJ Schnack and Charlotte Cook
Field of Vision

Shorts on Time
Executive Producer: Julie Parker Benello
Lifetime

The Guardian documentaries
Executive Producers: Charlie Phillips and Lindsay Poulton
The Guardian

The New York Times Op-Docs
Executive Producer: Kathleen Lingo
The New York Times

The Secret Life of Muslims
Executive Producers: Joshua Seftel and Reza Aslan
Vox

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award

Believers
Director: Ray Whitehouse
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chomo
Director: Maayan Arad
National Film and Television School (United Kingdom)

How To Make A Pearl
Director: Jason Hanasik
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Man on Fire
Director: Joel Fendelman
University of Texas, Austin

Room 140
Director: Priscilla Gonzalez Sainz
Stanford University