Honoring the most distinguished achievements in nonfiction filmmaking for 2008 and in the genre at large, the 2008 IDA Documentary Awards took place on December 5, 2008 at the Directors Guild of America. Check out the Annoucements and Updates sections for links to recaps, pictures and more.

Complete List of Winners and Nominees:

Feature Documentary

Man on Wire - WINNER (tie)
Director: James Marsh
Producer: Simon Chinn
Red Box Films, Wall to Wall, Discovery Films, BBC, UK Film Council, Magnolia Pictures

On August 7, 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken in for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. Man on Wire brings Petit's extraordinary adventure to life through the testimony of Philippe himself, and some of the co-conspirators who helped him create the unique and magnificent spectacle that became known as "the artistic crime of the century." website * trailer * article *

Waltz with Bashir - WINNER (tie)
Director/Producer: Ari Folman
Producers: Yael Nahlieli, Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul
Bridgit Folman Film Gang, Les Films d'Ici, Razor Film, ARTE France, ITVS International, Sony Pictures Classics

One night in a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early 1980s. Ari is surprised that he can't remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As he delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images. website * article *

Kassim The Dream
Director/Producer: Kief Davidson
Producer: Liz Silver
Executive Producers: Forest Whitaker, Keisha Whitaker, Joshua Green
Believe Media, Urban Landscapes, Monaco Film Hamburg, ARTE/ZDF Enterprises

This is the story of world champion boxer Kassim "The Dream" Ouma--born in Uganda, kidnapped by the rebel army and trained to be a child soldier at the age of 6. When the rebels took over the government, Kassim became an army soldier who was forced to commit many horrific atrocities, making him both a victim and perpetrator. He soon discovered the army's boxing team and realized the sport was his ticket to freedom. After 12 years of warfare, Kassim defected from Africa and arrived in the United States. Homeless and culture-shocked, he quickly rose through the boxing ranks and became Junior Middleweight Champion of the World. website * trailer * filmmaker Q&A *

Stranded: I've come from a plane that crashed in the mountains
Director: Gonzalo Arijón
Producer: Mark Silvera
Ethan Productions, La Realidad, ARTE France, ITVS International, Zeitgeist Films

In October 1972, a rugby team from Uruguay boarded a plane for a game that they would never play. Their plane crashed in the Andes. Miraculously, 16 of the original 45 passengers managed to defy nature and stay alive for 72 days on a frozen glacier, despite brutal conditions. How they did it became a story that shocked the world. Director Gonzalo Arijón goes beyond the lurid tale of cannibalism to discover the essence of this extraordinary human drama. Through re-enactments, testimonials from the survivors, footage and recovered photos, Stranded is a profound parable of the human condition. website * trailer *

Young @ Heart
Director: Stephen Walker
Producer: Sally George
Walker George Films, Channel 4 Television Corporation, Fox Searchlight Pictures

In Northampton, Massachusetts, the Young @ Heart Chorus has six weeks of rehearsal before the opening of their new show, Alive and Well. They have a few numbers to learn, including Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia." Also, the average age of the singers is 80. British filmmaker Stephen Walker catches up with these unique senior citizens, whose chorus has been defying expectations with its unforgettable rock song covers since 1982. Members literally live for the group, stimulated by the challenges of learning unfamiliar songs and fortified by camaraderie through sickness and health. website *

Short Documentary

La Corona - WINNER
Directors/Producers: Amanda Micheli, Isabel Vega
Runaway Films, Vega Films, HBO Documentary Films

The contestants are murderers, guerillas and thieves. The runner-up will cry when she doesn't get the tiara, wiping her tears with a tattooed hand. The winner will be crowned Queen, but she won't be invited on a press tour as a role model for young girls. Instead, she will be escorted back to her cell. This is a beauty pageant like no other, and it happens every year in the Women's Penitentiary in Bogotá, Colombia. La Corona is a character-driven documentary that follows four inmates competing for the crown in the annual beauty pageant of the Bogotá women's prison. website * filmmaker Q&A *

Kick Like A Girl
Director/Producer: Jenny Mackenzie
Producers: Geralyn White Dreyfous, Jennifer Jordan
Jenny Mackenzie Films, Impact Partners, Chicken & Egg Films, HBO Documentary Films

Kick Like a Girl is the story of what happens when the Mighty Cheetahs, an undefeated third grade girls soccer team, compete in the boys division. As the girls get a taste of real competition, the adults slowly recognize their complicity in planting the seeds of sexism. Refreshing and triumphant, Kick Like a Girl reminds us all of the lessons learned in competitive athletics and how sports has been one of the most effective instruments of social change in our lifetime. website * trailer * filmmaker Q&A *

Redemption Stone
Director/Producer: Tom Dziedzic

Redemption Stone introduces Tom Lewis, a storyteller of quiet power who brings an extraordinary spirit to his life and work. Tom's compelling memoir recounts the after-effects of poverty, social upheaval and rebirth that shape his unique American journey. Life-altering experiences force Tom to confront the challenging issues he faces and to turn hardship into hope for the children in his community. website * trailer * filmmaker Q&A *

Tongzhi in Love
Director: Ruby Yang
Producer: Thomas Lennon
Thomas Lennon Films in association with Chang Ai Media Project.

"Frog" Cui and his gay friends are torn between the lures of city life and the stern demands of Chinese tradition. They live in cosmopolitan Beijing, reveling in the freedom that it affords them. But traditionally, a Chinese son's solemn duty is to produce a child and carry forward the family line. That China's laws limit most families to a single child only compounds the pressures on gay men. Many resort to sham marriages. Frog's good friend, Xiang Feng, has asserted that he will come out to his parents on his next visit home. But when he and Frog travel the thousand miles into the Chinese countryside to the family village, events do not unfold as planned. website *

Smile Pinki
Director/Producer: Megan Mylan
Principe Productions Inc.

Pinki is a five-year-old girl in rural India born desperately poor, and with a cleft lip. The simple surgery that can cure her is a distant dream until she meets Pankaj, a social worker traveling village to village gathering patients for a hospital that provides free surgery to thousands each year. Told in a vibrant, vérité style, rich with nuance and complexity, this real-world fairy tale follows its wide-eyed protagonist on a journey from isolation to embrace. website * filmmaker Q&A *

Audience Award

Food Fight - WINNER
Director/Producer: Christopher Taylor
Executive Producer: Alan Siegel

Food Fight is a fascinating look at how American agricultural policy and food culture developed in the 20th century, and how the California food movement has created a counter-revolution against big agribusiness. website * trailer *

Continuing Series Award

This American Life - WINNER
Created By Ira Glass/Chicago Public Radio
Chris Wilcha, director, co-executive producer
Jane Feltes, Sarah Koenig, Lisa Pollak, Robyn Semien, Alissa Shipp, Nancy Updike, Kevin Vargas producers
Julie Snyder, Alex Blumberg, Ira Glass, Banks Tarver, Ken Druckerman, Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, Katie Roumel, executive producers
Left/Right, Killer Films, Chicago Public Radio, Showtime Networks

Episodes Submitted:
Escape
Two Wars
Going Down In History
John Smith

In the same spirit of the award-winning public radio show, the televised version of This American Life takes 30-minute looks at compelling, dramatic and funny stories from all over the country, brought to you by host and executive producer Ira Glass and a small team of radio producers and filmmakers. website *

American Masters
Susan Lacy, executive producer
Prudence Glass, series producer
Julie Sacks, series supervising producer
Thirteen/WNET New York, PBS

Episodes Submitted:
Good Ol' Charles Schulz (David Van Taylor, dir.; Ali Pomeroy, prod.; Susan Lacy, Gerald Richman, Calvin Skaggs, exec. prods.)
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (Jim Brown, dir./prod.; Michael Cohl, William Eigen, prods.; Norman Lear, Toshi Seeger, exec. prods.)
David Hockney: The Colors of Music (Maryte Kavaliauskas, Seth Schneidman, dirs.; Chntal Bernheim, prod.)
Les Paul: Chasing Sound (John Paulson, dir.; James Arntz, prod.; Glenn Aveni, Susan Lacy, exec. prods.)

NOVA
Paula S. Apsell, senior executive producer
WGBH Science Unit, PBS

Episodes Submitted:
Car of The Future (Joseph Seamans, dir./prod.; Janet Driscoll Smith, prod.)
Ape Genius (John Rubin, dir./prod.; John Breder, exec. prod.)
Secrets of the Parthenon (Gary Glassman, prod.; Yves Jeanneau, Christine Le Goff, exec. prods.

Wide Angle: Season 6
Pamela Hogan, executive producer
Nina Chaudry, senior producer
Thirteen/WNET New York, PBS

Episodes Submitted:
Dishing Democracy (Bregtje van der Haak, dir.; Femke Wolting,
Bruno Felix, prods.)
Brazil in Black & White (Adam Stepan, dir./prod.)
The People's Court (Bruno Sorrentino, dir.; Maggie Still, prod.)
Victory Is Your Duty (Andrew Lang, dir.; Mandy Chang, prod.)

Limited Series Award

Sin City Law - WINNER
Denis Poncet, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Remy Burkel
Maha Productions, Arte, Sundance Channel

Sin City Law is an original eight-part documentary series that goes inside four recent criminal trials in Las Vegas, Nevada. The series opens a window onto a world that is only steps away from the famous strip, but rarely glimpsed from inside the casinos and mega-hotels populated by tourists: a world of drugs, gangs, depleted gamblers and wayward club owners, where what happens in Vegas stays deep inside the criminal justice system. The series travels with the public defenders' and district attorney's offices to track four separate criminal cases, each of which is covered in two one-hour episodes. website *

CNN Presents: God's Warriors
Christiane Amanpour, Kathy Slobogin, Andy Segal, Michael Mocklar, Ken Shiffman, Cliff Hackel, Dave Timko, Brian Rokus, Jen Christensen, Julie O'Neill, Jody Gottlieb
CNN Productions, CNN

The Jewish Americans
David Grubin, Dalton Delan, Jeff Bieber, Jay Sanderson, Stephen Segaller
JTN Productions, WETA Wahington, DC, David Grubin Productions, Inc., Thirteen/WNET New York

The War
Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, Sarah Botstein
Florentine Films, WETA-TV

ABCNews VideoSource Award

War Child - WINNER
C. Karim Chrobog, Afshin Molava
18th Street Films, Independent Producers Alliance, Interfact Media Group, Porchlight Entertainment

War Child chronicles the tragic but ultimately hopeful life of Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier of Sudan's brutal civil war and emerging international rap star with a message of peace for his country. His story mirrors his homeland: tragedy and terror mingling with hope and restoration. Orphaned, firing a gun that he at age seven could barely hold aloft, trekking through deserts in search of shelter, Jal was adopted by an aid worker. His rise from orphan to soldier to refugee to rap star represents one of the 21st century's most inspiring and hopeful journeys. website * trailer

American Idealist: The Story of Sargent Shriver
Bruce Orenstein
Chicago Video Project, PBS

The Brothers Warner
Cass Warner Sperling
Warner Sisters, American Masters, PBS

Chevolution
Luis Lopez, Trisha Ziff
Netflix/Red Envelope Entertainment

A Day Late In Oakland
Zachary Stauffer
University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Get Collins
Steve Carson
RTE One

The Judge and the General
Elizabeth Farnsworth, Patricio Lanfranco
West Wind Productions, POV, PBC

The King of South Shields
Tina Gharavi, Craig Wilson
Bridge + Tunnel Productions

Les Paul: Chasing Sound
John Paulson, James Arntz
Paulson Productions, Icon Television Music, Thirteen/WNET, American Masters, PBS

The Passionate Eye- The Putin System
Jean-Michel Carré, Jill Emery
Les Films Grain De Sable, CBC Newsworld

Pray The Devil Back to Hell
Gini Reticker, Abigail Disney
Fork Films, Balcony Releasing

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Marina Zenovich, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Lila Yacoub
Antidote Films, HBO, THINKFilm

Trouble The Water
Tia Lessin, Carl Deal
A Zeitgeist Films Release in association with HBO Documentary Films

IDA/Alan Ett Music Documentary Award

Young @ Heart - WINNER
Stephen Walker, Sally George
Walker George Films, Channel 4 Television Corporation, Fox Searchlight Pictures

In Northampton, Massachusetts, the Young @ Heart Chorus has six weeks of rehearsal before the opening of their new show, Alive and Well. They have a few numbers to learn, including Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia." Also, the average age of the singers is 80. British filmmaker Stephen Walker catches up with these unique senior citizens, whose chorus has been defying expectations with its unforgettable rock song covers since 1982. Members literally live for the group, stimulated by the challenges of learning unfamiliar songs and fortified by camaraderie through sickness and health. website *

American Harmony
Aengus James, Colin King Miller
This Is Just A Test Productions

Heavy Load
Jerry Rothwell, Al Morrow, Jonny Persey
APT Films, Met Film, Hi8us, IFC, ITVS International, BBC

La Paloma
Sigrid Faltin, Cédric Bonin
Seppia, White Pepper Filmgesellschaft, First Hand Films, Real Fiction Filmverleih

The Wrecking Crew
Denny Tedesco, Suzie Greene Tedesco, Jon Leonoudakis, Mitchell Linden, Claire Scanlon
Lunch Box Entertainment

Pare Lorentz Award

Burning The Future: Coal In America - WINNER
David Novack, Alexis Zoullas
FireFly Pix, Sundance Channel

Filmmaker David Novack examines the explosive forces that have set in motion a groundswell of conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia. Confronted by an emerging coal-based US energy policy, local activists watch the nation praise coal without regard to the devastation caused by its extraction. Faced with toxic ground water, the obliteration of 1.4 million acres of mountains, and a government that appeases the industry, our heroes demonstrate a strength of purpose and character in their improbable fight to arouse the nation's help in protecting their mountains, saving their families and preserving their way of life. website * trailer *

Garbage Warrior - HONORABLE MENTION
Oliver Hodge, Rachel Wexler, Patrick Wilson
Open Eye Media, Sundance Channel, Documentary Channel, ITVS International

What do beer cans, car tires and water bottles have in common? Not much, unless you're New Mexico-based renegade architect Michael Reynolds, in which case they are tools of choice for producing thermal mass and energy-independent housing. For 30 years, Reynolds and his green disciples have devoted their time to advancing the art of "Earthship Biotecture" by building self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities where design and function converge in eco-harmony. Shot over three years and in four countries, Garbage Warrior is a timely portrait of a determined visionary, a hero of the 21st century.

CNN Presents: God's Warriors
Christiane Amanpour, Kathy Slobogin, Andy Segal, Michael Mocklar, Ken Shiffman, Cliff Hackel, Dave Timko, Brian Rokus, Jen Christensen, Julie O'Neill, Jody Gottlieb
CNN Productions, CNN

Daughters of the Revolution
Aeyliya Hussain

La Vida Loca
Christian Poveda, Carole Solive, Luis Bellaba, Emilio Maillé, Gustavo Angel
La Femme Endormie, Aquelarre, El Caiman

NOVA: Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial
Gary Johnstone, Joseph McMaster, Vanessa Tovell
NOVA, Vulcan Productions, The Big Table Film Company, WGBH, PBS

Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Gini Reticker, Abigail Disney
Fork Films, Balcony Releasing
trailer *

Saving Luna
Michael Parfit, Suzanne Chisholm
Mountainside Films, CBC Newsworld, Telefilm Canada

Standard Operating Procedure
Errol Morris, Julie Bilson Ahlberg
Sony Pictures Classics, Participant Productions

War Child
Karim Chrobog, Afshin Molavi
18th Street Films, Independent Producers Alliance, Interfact Media Group, Porchlight Entertainment

IDA/David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award

As We Forgive - WINNER
Laura Waters Hinson
American University

Could you forgive a person who murdered your family? This is the question faced by the subjects of As We Forgive, a documentary about two Rwandan women coming face-to-face with the men who slaughtered their families during the 1994 genocide. The subjects of As We Forgive speak for a nation still wracked by the grief of a genocide that killed one in eight Rwandans in 1994. Overwhelmed by an enormous backlog of court cases, the government has returned over 50,000 genocide perpetrators back to the very communities they helped to destroy. Without the hope of full justice, Rwanda has turned to a new solution: Reconciliation. website *

A Day Late In Oakland
Zachary Stauffer
University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Jesse's Dad
Boaz Dvir, Rebecca Goldman
University of Florida Documentary Institute

KURM RADIO: The Soapbox of the Air
Kellly Millar, Hayot Tuychiev, Nikki Wise
University of Arkansas

Pizzo
Carola Mamberto
University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Announcements and Updates:

12/8: Variety posts their recap of the night. Plus, check out Eddie Schmidt on guitar!

12/8: Variety gets chatty with Werner Herzog at the IDA Documentary Awards. Plus, check out pictures from the Awards Luncheon on Flickr. Then, check out our DocuFest recap. Then we got together with the fine people at GOOD to host a screening of Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.

12/8: Here's an item about Karim Chrobog, director of the ABCNews VideoSource Award winner, War Child, from the Washington Post. He opted to pick up his honor in LA over attending the opening night screening for his film in Washington, DC. Plus, see more coverage from Living in Cinema, Cinematical, Moving Pictures, GLAAD's blog and Indiepix.

12/6: And the winner is...get our recap of the night, then take a peek into the revelry at the Awards Luncheon and look at links to coverage of the 2008 IDA Documentary Awarda at The Hollywood Reporter, indieWIRE, Variety. AJ Schnack even live-blogged the event. Plus, see tons of pictures from the night at WireImage and Getty Images.

12/5: The LAT's Envelope previews the IDA Awards, chats about docs with Rob Epstein.

12/4: Read Wandering Toward Wonder: The Incendiary Trail of Werner Herzog's Fever Dreams

12/3: Variety covers our winnners, DocuFest and more.

11/23: Announcement Coverage of latest winners in IndieWire and The Hollywood Reporter.

11/21: 6 Categories Announced Prior To Upcoming Ceremony: “This American Life,” “Young@Heart" Among 2008 International Documentary Association (IDA) Award Winners

11/13: See IDA Documentary Award nominee videos in our video gallery.

10/30: Announcement Coverage continues: All These Wonderful Things by AJ Schnack, the Spout blog and Awards Daily.

10/28: Announcement Coverage in The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and IndieWIRE.

10/28: Nominees, Career Awards Announced; Morgan Spurlock To Host 2008 International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards

10/6: IDA Career Achievement Award to be Presented to Werner Herzog at 2008 IDA Documentary Awards

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