Nuisance Bear (The New Yorker, 2021), Gabriela Oslo Vanden and Jack Weisman’s unconventional, visually arresting, and surprisingly moving study of polar bears migration in the age of the image, won the Critics’ Choice Documentary Award for Best Short, and the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival award for best environmental film. The film has also nominated for an IDA award in the category of Best Documentary Short.
Other SDFF alumni nominated for IDA awards include Nathalie Giraud and Timothée Corteggiani’s The Silent Shore for Best Short; School Life (SDFF 2018) co-directors Neasa Ní Chianáin and David Rane’s Young Plato (co-dir. Declan McGrath), which was nominated in the category of Best Documentary Feature; and Brit Hensel’s ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught), which is produced by Adam Mazo (Dawnland, SDFF 2019). See the details on each of these films below.
The International Documentary Awards (IDA) is the most prestigious worldwide event dedicated to documentary. IDA nominations were 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 NOMINATED FOR IDA 2023 AWARDS
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.
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.