The International Documentary Association has unveiled the winners for its 39th awards during a streaming ceremony on Tuesday evening (12/12).
Topping the marqueee category of Best Feature Documentary was Bobi Wine: The People’s President directed by Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp. The film follows music star, activist, and opposition leader Bobi Wine, together with his wife Barbie, during Uganda’s 2021 presidential election as he rallies his people in a dangerous fight for freedom from President Museveni’s oppressive 35-year regime.
Winning the IDA’s Best Director honor was Asmae El Moudir for Asmae El Moudir, he Mother of All Lies.
Among winners on the TV side were Mariupol: The People’s Story which took the Best TV Feature or Miniseries category while Our Planet III was named Best Episodic Series.
Here’s a full rundown of 39th IDA Documentary Award winners:
Best Feature Documentary
Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Uganda | National Geographic Documentary Films | Directors: Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp | Producers: Christopher Sharp, John Battsek)
Best Short Documentary
Incident (United States | Hypnotic Pictures | Director: Bill Morrison | Producers: Bill Morrison, Jamie Kalven)
Best Director
Asmae El Moudir, The Mother of All Lies (Arizona Distribution | Morocco)
Best Cinematography
Ants Tammik, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Greenwich Entertainment | Estonia, France, Iceland)
Best Editing
Carolina Siraqyan, The Eternal Memory (MTV Documentary Films | Chile, USA)
Best Original Music Score
Leonard Küssner, Anselm (Sideshow Pictures | Germany)
Best Writing
Kaouther Ben Hania, Four Daughters (Kino Lorber | France, Tunisia, Germany)
Best TV Feature or Miniseries
Mariupol: The People’s Story (BBC | UK | Director: Robin Barnwell | EP: Darren Kemp, Tom Stone | Producer: Hilary Andersson)
Best Curated Series
POV (PBS | USA, Denmark, Brazil | EP: Erika Dilday; Chris White)
Best Episodic Series
Our Planet II (Netflix | USA, UK | Producers: Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey)
Best Music Documentary
Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes (PBS, American Masters | USA | Directors/Producers: Ben Shapiro, Sam Pollard)
Best Multi-Part Documentary
Dear Mama (FX | USA | Director: Allen Hughes | EP: Lasse Järvi, Quincy “QD3” Jones III, Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles King, Peter Nelson, Adel “Future” Nur, Jamal Soseph, Ted Skillman, Allen Hughes, Steve Berman, Marc Cimino, Jody Gerson, John Nanick, Nicholas Ferrall, Nigel Sinclair)
Best Short-Form Series
POV Shorts (American Documentary | USA | Producers: Erika Dilday, Chris White)
Best Standalone Audio Documentary
This Coal Life (South Africa | Host: Lesedi Mogoatlhe | Reporter: Siyabonga Mokoena | Producer: Dhashen Moodley)
Best Multi-Part Audio Documentary or Series
You Didn’t See Nothin (USA | The Invisible Institute, USG Audio | Host: Yohance Lacour | Producers: Bill Healy, Erisa Apantaku, Dana Brozost-Kelleher, Sarah Geis)
David L. Wolper Student Documentary
Lettre à Elie (Letter to Elie) (National Film and Television School | UK | Director/Producer: Alexis Grigorieff)
Pare Lorentz Award
In The Rearview | Poland | Director/Producer: Maciek Hamela | Producer: Piotr Grawender
ABC News Videosource Award
Storming Caesars Palace | USA | Director: Hazel Gurland
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More