"Summer of Soul" tops 3 categories, including Best Director for Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Director Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee took the marquee Best Feature honor at the 37th annual International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards held Friday (3/4) during an online ceremony.
Best Director distinction was earned by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which also took home awards for Best Music Documentary and Best Editing.
A Broken House, directed and produced by Jimmy Goldblum and produced by Matt Weaver, former Representative Richard Gephardt and Harrison Nalevansky, was named Best Short.
Hulu and Searchlight ended the night with three wins for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). HBO Max was the distributor for two winners, Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground and Exterminate All the Brutes, and POV distributed winners North By Current and A Broken House as well as Seahorse, distributed by POV Shorts.
Richard Ray (“Rick”) Pérez, IDA’s executive director, commented, “This year’s IDA Documentary Awards celebrate thematic depth and creativity of the best documentary storytelling of the last year. As the documentary community and the world still grapple with the effects of a global epidemic, IDA is honored to recognize the outstanding nominees in all categories, and we congratulate the winners for their incredible contributions to helping us understand the world around us.”
The online IDA Awards ceremony was hosted by filmmakers Kate Amend, Jerry Henry, Pedro Kos, and Renee Tajima-Peña. The digital ceremony featured a musical performance by Mehandis Geleto, featured in Faya Dayi.
Here’s a rundown of IDA Award winners:
2021 IDA Documentary Awards Winners
Best Feature
Flee (Denmark, France, Norway / NEON, Participant. Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen. Producers: Monica Hellstrom, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie)
Best Director
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (USA / Hulu, Searchlight Pictures)
Best Short
A Broken House (USA, Lebanon / Condé Nast Entertainment, The New Yorker, POV. Director/Producer: Jimmy Goldblum. Producer: Matt Weaver, former Representative Richard Gephardt and Harrison Nalevansky)
Best Curated Series
Independent Lens (USA / Independent Lens, PBS. Executive Producers: Lois Vossen, Sally Jo Fifer)
Best Episodic Series
My Love: Six Stories of True Love (USA / Netflix. Executive Producer: Mo-young Jin, Andrew Fried, Dane Lillegard and Jordan Wynn)
Best Multi-Part Documentary
Exterminate All the Brutes (USA, France / HBO, HBO Max. Director/Executive Producer: Raoul Peck. Producers: Daniel Delume. Executive Producers: Rémi Grellety, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Jamie Morris, Jack Oliver and Poppy Dixon)
Best Short-Form Series
Viral Dreams (Germany, Israel / ZDF Arte. Producer: Georg Tschurtschenthaler. Executive Producers: Christian Beetz)
Best Stand-Alone Audio Documentary
VICE News Reports: Monaea, A 2020 Diary (USA / VICE News, iHeartRadio. Reporters: Monaea Upton and Jen Kinney. Producers: Jen Kinne, Ashley Cleek, Adizah Eghan and Adreanna Rodriguez. Executive Producer: Kate Osborn)
Best Multi-Part Audio Documentary or Series
“Suave” from Futuro Studios and PRX (USA / Futuro Studios, PRX. Reporters: Maggie Freleng and Julieta Martinelli. Producers: Maria Hinojosa, Maggie Freleng, Julieta Martinelli, Marlon Bishop, Audrey Quinn and Stephanie Lubow. Executive Producer: Maria Hinojosa)
Best Music Documentary
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (USA / Hulu, Searchlight Pictures. Director: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Producers: Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, David Dinerstein)
David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award
Seahorse (Germany / Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. Director/Producer: Nele Dehnenkamp. Producer: Christine Duttlinger)
Best Cinematography
Faya Dayi (Ethiopia, USA, Qatar / Janus Films. Cinematographer: Jessica Beshir)
Best Editing
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (USA / Hulu, Searchlight Pictures. Editor: Joshua L. Pearson)
Best Music Score
Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground (USA / HBO Max. Composer: Roman GianArthur)
Best Writing
North By Current (USA / POV, PBS. Writer: Angelo Madsen Minax)
ABC News VideoSource Award
Whirlybird (USA / Greenwich Entertainment, A&E IndieFilms. Director: Matt Yoka. Producer: Matt Yoka, Diane Becker)
Pare Lorentz Award
The First Wave (USA / National Geographic. Director/Producer: Matthew Heineman. Producers: Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville)
HONORABLE MENTION: Tigre Gente (USA. Director/Producer: Elizabeth Unger. Producer: Joanna Natasegara)
Career Achievement Award
Roger Ross Williams
Pioneer Award
Jean Tsien
Truth to Power Award
Ronan Farrow
Courage Under Fire Award
Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh
Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award
Cecilia Aldarondo
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More