IDA just released its shortlist for 2023 awards, and two SDFF 2022 films, Nathalie Giraud and Timothée Corteggiani’s The Silent Shore and Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman’s Nuisance Bear, are on it, along with docs from SDFF alumni filmmakers Ben Proudfoot (MINK!), Jamie Meltzer (Not Even for a Moment Do Things Stand Still), Adam Mazo (ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught) and Bounty), Ben Pender-Cudlip (Bounty), Neasa Ní Chianáin (Young Plato), and David Rane (Young Plato).
The International Documentary Awards (IDA) is the most prestigious worldwide event dedicated to documentary. IDA nominations will be announced on Nov. 11, and are selected from the shortlist by independent committees of 310 documentary makers, curators, critics, and industry experts from 52 countries. The winners will be announced at the 38th IDA awards ceremony on Dec. 10.
SDFF FILMS + FILMMAKERS ON IDA 2023 SHORTLIST
The Silent Shore (Nathalie Giraud and Timothée Corteggiani, France, 2021)
Fantasy author Pierre Dubois and his wife, Aline, talk about the power of writing, imagination and the deep connection with life that has brought them through the suicide of their teenaged daughter Melanie, who took her life following a heartbreak. The film is available to stream through The New Yorker website and youtube channel.
Nuisance Bear (Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman, Canada, 2021)
An unconventional and visually arresting study of polar bears who draw tourists to Churchill, Manitoba for the specific purpose of taking wildlife photos. The doc shifts perspective as it follows a polar bear on its chaotic migration, revealing an obstacle course of tourist paparazzi and wildlife officers the bears must navigate during their annual migration. The film is available to stream through The New Yorker website and youtube channel.
MINK! (Ben Proudfoot, United States, 2021)
The story of Patsy Takemoto Mink, a Hawaiian Democrat who became the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Mink was an author and avid defender of Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. The film is available to stream through The New York Times Op-docs.
Not Even for a Moment Do Things Stand Still (Jamie Meltzer, United States, 2021)
Mourners from across the country who gathered this past September among hundreds of thousands of white flags to honor those lost to Covid. The film is available to stream through The New York Times Op-docs.
Bounty (Ben Pender-Cudlip, Adam Mazo, Dawn Neptune Adams, Maulian Dana, United States, 2022)
Part of the Dawnland film series, Bounty documents citizens of the Penobscot Nation who bring their families to Boston to read their ancestors’ death warrants, issued by the colonial government, urging Bostonians to kill and scalp members of the tribe. The film is available to stream for free on its own website.
ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught) (dir. Brit Hensel, prod. Adam Mazo, Taylor Hensel, Kavita Pillay, Tracy Rector, United States, 2021)
The doc, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year, was filmed on the Qualla Boundary and Cherokee Nation and explores expressions of reciprocity in the Cherokee world. ᎤᏕᏲᏅ proceeds through a story told by an elder and first language speaker, which circles the intersection of tradition, language, land and a commitment to balance. The film is available to stream through the L.A. Times.
Young Plato (dir. Neasa Ní Chianáin, Declan McGrath, Prod. David Rane, Hanne Phlypo, Céline Nusse, Jackie Doyle, Ireland, 2021)
Filmed in the Belfast neighborhood of Ardoyne at Holy Cross Catholic boy’s school, Young Plato is an uplifting film about the school’s headmaster, a quirky Elvis lover who uses philosophy to counter powerful mythologies of violence among students from rough circumstances. The film is available to stream in Europe via Vimeo. It is not yet available to stream in the U.S.