As we brace for a avalanche of festivals this month-Frameline, Newfest, Los Angeles Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival are just a few of the 16 showcases around the world this month-the realscreen Factual Entertainment Awards and the Philips British Academy Television Awards, better known as the TV BAFTAs, just concluded their ceremonies in Los Angeles and London, respectively. WWII in HD and The Biggest Loser each took two Factuals, while Channel 4 led the BAFTA honorees with four prizes.

 

 

1)      Awards

 

Factual Entertainment Awards (realscreen)
Best One-off or Special: JFK: 3 Shots that Changed America (Prod.: New Animal Productions; History)
Non-fiction/With Recreations: Locked Up Abroad (Prod.: RAW TV; National Geographic Channel)
Non-fiction/Without recreations: WWII in HD (Prods.: History, Lou Reda Productions; History)
Reality/Docuformat: Gerry's Big Decision (Prod.: Gogglebox Entertainment; Channel 4)
Reality/Docureality: Brick City (Prod.: Brick City TV LLC; Sundance Channel)
Reality/Docusoap: Gene Simmons Family Jewels (Prods.: The Gene Simmons Company, The Greif Company; A&E)
Competition/Game: Keys to the VIP (Prod.: Buck Productions; Comedy Network)
Competition/Lifestyle: The Biggest Loser (Prod.: Reveille, 25/7 Productions, 3Ball Productions; NBC)
Competition/Talent, Studio-based: RuPaul's Drag Race (Prod.: World of Wonder;  Logo)
Lifestyle/Design: The Day Before (Prods.: Deralf, Story Box Press; Sundance Channel)
Lifestyle/Food: River Cottage: Summer's Here (Prod.: KEO Films; Channel 4)
Lifestyle/Home: Disaster House (Prod.: High Noon Entertainment; DIY Network)
Hall of Fame: Mark Burnett, Mark Burnett Productions
Awards of Excellence: WWII in HD (Prods.: History, Lou Reda Productions; History);
The Biggest Loser (Prod.: Reveille, 25/7 Productions, 3Ball Productions; NBC)
Craft Awards:
Most Original Concept:  Ice Road Truckers (Prod.: Original Productions; History)
Best Casting/Talent/Subjects:  La Ley del Corrido (Prod.: Discovery en Espanol)
Best Cinematography: Daredevils (Prod.: Firecracker Films; Channel 4/UK)
Best Directing: The People Speak (Prods.: History, First Tuesday Media)
Best Editing: Catching Cancer (Prod.: December Films; Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Best Host:  Chuck Hughes - Chuck's Day Off (Prod.: Whalley-Abbey Media; Food Network Canada)
Best Music:  La Ley del Corrido (Prod.: Discovery en Espanol)

GLAAD Media Awards (San Francisco)
Outstanding Documentary: Ask Not (Dir.: Johnny Symons)
Outstanding Digital Journalism--Multimedia:  The Stonewall Riots: 40 Years Later (AARP.org; Prod.: David Singleton)

 

Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund--Grantees

 

>African Deep (Dir./Prod.: Rachel Boynton; USA) African Deep is a riveting adventure about the heated quest for oil in the deep waters off West Africa's coast. Shot over the course of four years, at a time of rising demand for energy and increasing competition for resources worldwide, the film takes you inside the gargantuan efforts and ambitions surrounding our planet's most important resource.

 

 Donor 150,(Dir.: Jerry Rothwell; Prods.: Hilary Durman, Al Morrow; UK) Donor 150 is a 21st century tale of identity and genetic inheritance and perhaps the family of the future. For the first time in history a generation of children born through artificial insemination are old enough to search for their biological fathers. Donor 150 follows two young people as they first decide and then travel to meet  their father for the first time, and as they navigate the increasingly complex maze of new and constantly evolving family relationships.

 The Mosou Sisters (Dirs./Prods.: Marlo Poras, Yu Ying Wu Chou; USA) The Mosou Sisters follows two spirited daughters from China's last remaining matriarchal society who are thrust into the worldwide economic downturn when they lose the only jobs they've ever known.

Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba Story (Dir.: Tom Reilly; Prod.: Ben W. Nabors; USA) Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba Story dates to 2001 when William Kamkwamba dropped out of school due to a devastating famine. Through self-education, he saw a picture of a windmill in a textbook. Using found materials, William built a windmill that powered his village and changed his life, using imagination and ingenuity to inspire a family, a village, and a nation.

The Redemption of General Butt Naked (Dirs./Prods.: Daniele Anastasion, Eric Strauss; USA) The Redemption of General Butt Naked tells the incredible true story of Joshua Milton Blahyi, a brutal African warlord turned Christian evangelist. The film follows Blahyi's crusade to redeem his past as he attempts to rebuild the shattered lives of those he commanded and brutalized during the civil war in Liberia.

The Warlord's Wife (Dir.: Victoria Stevenson; Prod.: Nicole Stott; UK) The Warlord's Wife depicts the story of Emma McCune, who traveled to Africa as an aid worker, fueled by humanitarian ideals, yet at the time of her death she was married to a Sudanese warlord, stood accused of trading oil for arms, was a suspected spy, and a marked woman. The film charts the process by which a naïve British convent girl became complicit in the complex politics and violent heart of Africa's longest civil war.

Welcome to Shelbyville (Dir./Prod.:  Kim Snyder; Co-Prod.: Gywn Welles; USA) Welcome to Shelbyville is a glimpse of America at a crossroads. Set in America's rural south on the eve of the 2008 Presidential election, a town deals with issues of immigrant integration and reckons with its segregated past.

 

International Communications Association
Communication Research as an Agent of Change Award: Pat Aufderheide, Center for Social Media, American University

 

Metropolitan Black Bar Association--Lawyer of the Year
Lisa E. Davis/Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz-Among her many accomplishments, she  has served as counsel on a number of well-known documentary films such as The Black List, Jonestown, Beyond Beats and Rhymes and 9/11.

 

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism (Harvard University)--Nieman Fellows
The Nieman Foundation has selected 25 journalists from the United States and abroad to join the 73rd class of Nieman Fellows. The group includes journalists who work in print, radio, television, photography, filmmaking and online.
The one documentary filmmaker in the group: Florence Martin-Kessler (France) will study the dynamics of change from a public policy perspective, especially how, in the realm of peace-building and anti-poverty efforts, good intentions collide with hard realities. She is the Robert Waldo Ruhl Nieman Fellow. A 1903 Harvard graduate, Ruhl was editor and publisher of the Medford Mail-Tribune in Oregon from 1910-1967.

 

Philips British Academy Television Awards (TV BATFAs)
Single Documentary: Wounded (Sara Hardy, Jane Aldous, Gwyn Jones, Roger Courtiour; BBC One/BBC Productions)
Feature: Masterchef: The Professionals  (Karen Ross, Carla-Maria Lawson, Antonia Lloyd, David Ambler;  BBC Two/Shine Television)

Factual Series: One Born Every Minute (Channel 4/ Dragonfly Productions)
Specialist Factual: Inside Nature's Giants  (David Dugan, Julian Thomas, Alex Tate, Yvonne Bainton; Channel 4/Windfall Films)
Current Affairs: Terror in Mumbai (Dispatches) (Dan Reed, Eamonn Matthews;  Channel 4/Quicksilver Media)
New Media: Virtual Revolution (Dan Gluckman, Julian Philips, Dominic Crossley-Holland, Dan Biddle;  BBC Two/BBC Productions)

 

 

2)      Festivals

 

CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival
Jackson-Triggs Award for Best Emerging Canadian Filmmaker: JB Sugar (Wood If)
Best Documentary Short: The Poodle Trainer (Dir.: Vance Malone)

 

DocAviv
Best Israeli Documentary: Wandering Eyes (Dir.: Ofer Trainin)
Second Place: Blood Relation (Dir.: Noa Ben Hagai)
Mayor of Tel Aviv's Prize for a First Film: Loving Sophia (Dir.: Ohad Itach)
Best Cinematography: My Name is Ahlam (Cinematographer: Yair Sagi)
Best Editing: Teacher Irena (Editor: Arik Lahav Leibovitch)
Best Research: The Electric Mind (Nadav Harel)
International Competition-First Prize: Steam of Life (Dirs.: Joonas Berghäll, Mika Hotakainen; Finland)
International Competition-Honorable Mention: The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Dirs.: Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith; USA)
Student Competition-First Place: Document of Identity (Dir.: Maytal Ben Hamo; Kibbutz Seminar Film Department)
Student Competition-Second Place: The Breakfast Parliament (Dir.: Golan Rise; Maaleh Film School)
Student Competition-Editing Award: Simplicity (Editor: Rachel Ben Zaken; Camera Obscura)

 

DocMiami International Film Festival
Best Feature Documentary: The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact and Legacy of JAWS (Prods.: Jake Gove, Erik Hollander, James Gelet, Michael Roddy)
Best Documentary Short: She Wore Silver Wings (Dirs./Prods.: Devin Scott, Jeanne Scott)
Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue:  P.A.T.H. (Dir.: Dan Perez) 
Most Entertaining Documentary: MOMz HOT ROCKs  (Dir.: Kate Perotti)
Audience Award: My Run (Dir.: Tim Vandesteeg)
Best Historical Documentary: Through the Tunnel (Dirs./Prods.: Judge Durand Adams, Charles Clapsaddle)

 

Hamburg International Short Film Festival
No Budget Jury Award: Helmut's House (Dir.: Jessica Dickenson, Great Britain/ Australia)
German Competition Jury Award: Holding Still (Dir.: Florian Riegel; Germany)
Special Mention: Mein Mallorca (My Mallorca) (Dir.: Bernadette Knoller; Germany)
Natural American Spirit ® Audience Award: Ein Tag und eine Ewigkeit (A Day and an Eternity) (Dir.: Anna Hepp; Germany)