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    “The Look of Silence” Wins Best Feature Honor At IDA Documentary Awards

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments4024 Views
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    Joshua Oppenheimer, director of "The Look of Silence" (photo by Heinrich Boll-Stiftung)

    "Best of Enemies," "Listen To Me Marlon," "The Jinx" also honored; "Last Day of Freedom" receives Best Short Award

    LOS ANGELES --

    Winners in the International Documentary Association’s 2015 IDA Documentary Awards were announced on Saturday evening (12/5) at the Paramount Theatre, giving Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence top honors with the Best Feature Award. This critically acclaimed, powerful companion piece to the Oscar-nominated The Act of Killing, follows a family of survivors of the Indonesian genocide who discover how their son was murdered and the identities of the killers.

    Also announced in the ceremony was the Best Short Award, which honored Last Day of Freedom, directed by Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman. The film is an animated account of Bill Babbitt’s decision to support and help his brother in the face of war, crime and capital execution.

    Grammy-nominated comedian Tig Notaro hosted the ceremony, which gathered the documentary community to honor the best nonfiction films and programming of 2015.

    IDA’s Career Achievement Award was presented to Gordon Quinn, founder and artistic director of Kartemquin Films. He has produced, directed and/or been cinematographer on over 55 films across five decades. A longtime activist for public and community media, Quinn was integral to the creation of ITVS, public access television in Chicago; in developing the Documentary Filmmakers Statement of Best Practice in Fair Use; and in forming the Indie Caucus to support diverse independent voices on Public Television. Over 50 years at Kartemquin, Quinn has inspired and guided an immeasurable number of media makers whose films have left a lasting impact on millions of viewers. Chaz Ebert, whose husband Roger Ebert was the subject of Quinn’s film Life Itself, and Haskell Wexler, influential cinematographer, producer and director, presented Quinn with the award.

    Actor and comedian Bob Odenkirk awarded the organization’s Pioneer Award to Ted Sarandos, the chief content officer at Netflix, in recognition of the company’s game-changing and unwavering support of creating and showcasing nonfiction programming. The Pioneer Award is presented by the IDA to acknowledge extraordinary contributions to advancing the nonfiction form and providing exceptional vision and leadership to the documentary community.

    Actor, director and political activist Danny Glover presented Tony Tabatznik and the Bertha Foundation with the IDA’s Amicus Award in recognition of their work supporting the essential needs of the non-fiction media landscape. The Bertha Foundation’s Media Program specifically aims to nurture global talent, expose relevant stories and connect them to audiences for powerful, positive social impact. Since its inception the foundation has supported over 200 films, including the Oscar-winning film Citizenfour (2014) and the Oscar-nominated films Virunga (2014), Dirty Wars (2013) and The Square (2013).

    Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow awarded Matthew Heineman the IDA’s Courage Under Fire Award, in recognition of conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth. This award is presented to documentary filmmakers by their peers for putting freedom of speech – represented in the crafts of documentary filmmaking and journalism – above all else, even their own personal safety. Heineman’s gripping film, Cartel Land, documents two modern-day vigilante movements–Dr. Joe Mireles’s citizen-led uprising against a violent drug cartel wreaking havoc in Mexico and the Arizona Border Recon led by Tim “Nailer” Foley, which is working to prevent Mexico’s drug wars from crossing into the United States.

    The Pare Lorentz Award recognizes films that demonstrate exemplary filmmaking while focusing on environmental and social issues. Actress and environmental activist Kristin Davis presented this year’s Pare Lorentz Award to the film How To Change The World, directed by Jerry Rothwell, the story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green movement.

    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. At the IDA Documentary Awards ceremony, The Russian Woodpecker (cinematography by Artem Ryzhykov) was recognized with the award for Best Cinematography; Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (edited by Joe Beshenkovsky and Brett Morgen) received the Best Editing award; Best of Enemies (original score by Jonathan Kirkscey) was presented with the Best Music award, and Listen To Me Marlon (written by Stevan Riley, co-writer Peter Ettedgui) received the Best Writing award.

    Best Of Enemies picked up the ABC News VideoSource Award; HBO’s The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst received the Best Limited Series Award;  and Netflix’s Chef’s Table took home the Best Episodic Series Award.

    A complete list of winners follows.

    Career Achievement Award
    Gordon Quinn

    Pioneer Award
    Ted Sarandos

    Amicus Award
    Tony Tabatznik and the Bertha Foundation

    Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award sponsored by the Archibald Family Foundation
    Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe

    Courage Under Fire Award
    Matthew Heineman

    Best Feature Award
    The Look of Silence
    Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
    Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen
    Drafthouse Films and Participant Media

    Best Short Award
    Last Day of Freedom
    Directors: Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

    Pare Lorentz Award
    How to Change the World
    Director: Jerry Rothwell

    Creative Recognition Award Winners

    Best Cinematography
    The Russian Woodpecker
    Cinematography by: Artem Ryzhykov

    Best Editing
    Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
    Edited by: Joe Beshenkovsky and Brett Morgen

    Best Writing
    Listen to Me Marlon
    Written by: Stevan Riley
    Co-Writer: Peter Ettedgui

    Best Music
    Best of Enemies
    Original Score by: Jonathan Kirkscey

    ABC News VideoSource Award
    Best of Enemies
    Directors: Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville
    Magnolia Pictures

    Best Curated Series Award
    Independent Lens
    Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer and Lois Vossen
    ITVS, PBS

    POV
    Executive Producers: Simon Kilmurry and Chris White
    POV, PBS

    Best Limited Series Award
    The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst
    Executive Producer: Jason Blum
    Co-Executive Producer: Zac Stuart-Pontier
    Produced by: Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling
    HBO

    Best Episodic Series Award
    Chef’s Table
    Executive Producers: David Gelb and Andrew Fried
    Netflix

    Best Short Form Series Award
    Do Not Track
    Executive Producer: Hugues Sweeney
    National Film Board of Canada, Upian, Arte, and BR

    David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award
    The Archipelago
    Director: Benjamin Huguet
    The National Film and Television School

    Category:News
    Tags:Best of EnemiesCartel LandIDA AwardsInternational Documentary AssociationThe Look of Silence



    Growth Brings Growing Pains–and Bots–To Bluesky

    Sunday, December 22, 2024

    Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk's X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner's support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta's Threads and its algorithms.

    The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter's core mechanic. That's unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky's growth trajectory — with a user base that has more than doubled since October — could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms.

    But with growth comes growing pains. It's not just human users who've been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites.

    The skyrocketing user base — now surpassing 25 million — is the biggest test yet for a relatively young platform that has branded itself as a social media alternative free of the problems plaguing its competitors. According to research firm Similarweb, Bluesky added 7.6 million monthly active app users on iOS and Android in November, an increase of 295.4% since October. It also saw 56.2 million desktop and mobile web visits, in the same period, up 189% from October.

    Besides the U.S. elections, Bluesky also got a boost when X was briefly banned in Brazil.

    "They got this spike in attention, they've crossed the threshold where it is now worth it for people to flood the platform with spam," said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University and a member of Issue One's... Read More

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