It was a light-but-filling week in awards central, with March Madness taking its toll, but  April is looking to be the coolest month, with Full Frame, Hot Docs, Tribeca, Dallas and San Francisco festsjamming the circuit, and Stranger Than Fiction revving up for the Spring Season.

Today's grantees might be tomorrow's awards-winners, as Cinereach, the four-year-old nonprofit funding and production entity, just announced its Winter Grants. Among the recipients: Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work; The Trails of Darryl Hunt); Bill Ross and Turner Ross (45365); and Phil Grabsky (In Search of Beethoven; The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan). And the MIPDoc Co-Production Challenge, a pitching competition taking place at MIPDoc next month in partnership with Realscreen Magazine, announced its finalists, who include the esteemed Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA; Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing) and Shola Lynch (Shirley Chisholm: Unbought and Unbossed).

Also recently announced: the Doc Alliance Selection, an annual series of five innovative documentaries selected by each of the Doc Alliance partner festivals: CPH:DOX Copenhagen, DOK Leipzig, IDFF Jihlava, Planete Doc Review Warsaw and VISION DU REEL Nyon. All five docs will tour each festival throughout the year and contend for the Doc Alliance Award, which will be granted by an international jury during IDFF Jihlava 2010.

1)      Awards

Cinereach Winter 2010 Grants--Nonfiction Films
Burma Soldier (Dirs.: Nic Dunlop, Annie Sundberg, Ricki Stern)
Burma Soldier tells the story of a Burmese soldier who swapped sides to join Aung San Suu Kyi's struggle for a democratic Burma.

Charge (Dir. Michael Plunkett)
Charge uncovers the human stories behind the current energy revolution, and the race to develop what is arguably this century's most important resource: lithium.

Donor 150  (Dir.: Jerry Rothwell)
A generation conceived through artificial insemination is now old enough to search for its biological fathers, and the children of Donor 150 have a dad who is willing and ready to be found.

Dragonslayer (Dir.: Tristan Patterson)
A self-destructive young man spends an endless California summer breaking into foreclosed homes to skate empty swimming pools. A punk rock girl from the suburbs may be his salvation. 

Gardens of Paradise (Dir.: Bernardo Ruiz)
A series of interconnected stories, told over the course of one day, illuminate the challenges facing residents of California's Imperial Valley along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Laura (Dir. Fellipe Barbosa)
 A Brazilian immigrant in New York City lives two contradictory lives. At night she crashes the most glamorous and exclusive parties, while each day she struggles to cheat poverty and eviction. 

Moving (Working Title) (Dir.: Hamid Rahmanian)
Moving explores the human need to jump the fence and see if the grass really is greener on the other side.

Tchoupitoulas  (Dirs.: Bill Ross, Turner Ross)
Three young brothers explore the New Orleans night.

The Boy Mir (Dir.: Phil Grabsky)
The Boy Mir covers ten years in the life of the irrepressible and lovable Mir, as he comes of age in one of the toughest places on earth. His life reflects a vital portrait of modern Afghanistan.

What Tomorrow Brings (Dir.: Beth Murphy)
A year in the life of the students of a new Afghan girls' school provides a rare glimpse into a community torn between two radically different destinies.

The World Before Her (Dir.: Nisha Pahuja)
Two competitors in the Miss India Contest show an India divided along many fault lines--political, religious, economic and cultural.  

Go Short Awards (The Netherlands, for short films)
Best European Short Film: Documentary:  Unearthing the Pen (Dir.: Carol Salter, United Kingdom, 2009)

2)      Festivals

Cleveland International Film Festival
Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition (which honors movies about social justice and activism): Louder Than a Bomb, (Dirs.: Jon Siskel, Greg Jacobs)
Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for Overall Best Film: Louder Than a Bomb, (Dirs.: Jon Siskel, Greg Jacobs)
Nesnadny and Schwartz Documentary Film Competition Jury Prize: Marwencol (Dir.: Jeff Malmberg)

Diagonale Festival of Austrian Film
Grand Diagonale Prize for Best Austrian Documentary Film: Hana, dul, sed  (Dirs.: Brigitte Weich, Karin Macher)
Diagonale Diocese Graz-Seckau Prize for Best Documentary or Short Film: Die Kinder vom Friedrichshof (Dir.: Juliane Grosheim)
Best Editing--Documentary Film: Michael Palm for Jobcenter (Dir.: Angela Summereder)
Best Cinematography--Documentary Film: Peter Schreiner for Totó (Dir.: Peter Schreiner)

Doc Alliance Selection 2010
Into Eternity (Dir.: Michael Madsen; Denmark, Finland); selected by CPH: DOX Copenhagen
The Arrivals (Dirs.: Claudine Bories, Patrice Chagnard; France); selected by DOK Leipzig
Metrobranding (Dirs.: Ana Vlad, Adrian Voicu; Romania); slected by IDFF Jihlava
Steam of Life (Dirs.: Joonas Berghäll; Mika Hotakainen; Finland, Sweden); selected by Planete Doc Review Warsaw
Aisheen (Still Alive in Gaza) (Dir.: Nicolas Wadimoff ; Switzerland, France); selected by VISIONS DU REEL Nyon

International Family Film Festival Awards
Best Documentary: The Brothers Warner (Dir./Prod.: Cass Warner)
Finalist : In Pursuit of a Dream  (Dir.: Bob Noll)
Best Documentary-Foreign: Rwanda: Hope Rises (Dir./Prod.: Trevor Meier; Canada)

MIPDoc Co-Production Challenge--Finalists
Listopad (Dir.: Barbara Kopple; submitted by Jefe Brown at U.F.O. Pictures, Czech Republic
Sudan in Fragments (Dir.: Richard Wolf; submitted by Julian Phelan, Lobodocs/Aegis Trust, UK)
From Texas to Tehran - (Dir.: Till Schauder; submitted by Partner Pictures, NYC)
Free Angela (Dir.: Shola Lynch;  submitted by de films en aiguille, France)
Rat Race (Dir.: Miriam Chandy Menacherry; submitted by Filament Pictures, Mumbai)
Burning Needs (Dir.: Adam Wakeling; submitted by Adam Wakeling, Notion Pictures, UK)