Recognition of outstanding achievement in documentary filmmaking inspired the creation of the IDA Awards in 1985. This year's exceptional field of documentaries from around the world reflects the high quality and vitality of documentary-making today. The 13th Annual IDA Awards are again underwritten by founding sponsor Eastman Kodak. In partnership with Eastman. IDA and documentary makers have developed the IDA Awards to a level where this year's Career Achievement Award Recipient, Henry Hampton, commented, "It's an extraordinary recognition. I feel a little uncomfortable being included among
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This award recognizes films that demonstrate exemplary filmmaking while focusing on the appropriate use of the natural environment, justice for all and the illumination of pressing social problems. Mandela: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation Produced by Jonathan Demme, Edward Saxon and Jo Menell Directed by Jo Menell and Angus Gibson Photography by Dewald Aukema and Peter Tischhauser Edited by Andy Keir Original Music by Cedric Gradus Samson, with Hugh Masekela An Island Pictures Release of a Clinica Estetico Production 120 min. This film traces the life of Nelson Mandela from his childhood in
BIG JIM FOLSOM: THE TWO FACES OF POPULISM Produced by Robert Clem and Cindy Kirkpatrick Written and Directed by Robert Clem Photography by Stephen Moe, Ken Resnick, Jeny Kelly and Robert Clem Music by Donald Stark Distributed by Foundation for New Media, Inc. 56 min. This is a film about a Southern road not taken, a reevaluation of Alabama's recent history. Six foot eight inch James E. "Big Jim" Folsom was twice governor of Alabama (1941-51, 1955-59) but lost his bid for a third term when he was defeated by George Wallace in 1962. The years between Folsom's unexpected populist revolt of 1946
When Jonas Mekas arrived in New York City, in 1949, he had worked on resistance newspapers during World War II, in his native Lithuania; in displaced person camps following the War, he had begun to study film. His first documentary, Grand Street, was made in 1953, the same year he launched his first screening program at Gallery East. Two years later, he founded the influential Film Culture, a magazine that set the tone for American experimental film and reconsideration of the documentary. He also reviewed films ("Movie Journal") for The Village Voice (1958-77). In 1960, he helped found the New
Feature Documentaries Nominees CUBA'S RAFTERS [BALSEROS] Televisió de Catalunya; Carlos Bosch DONKA, X-RAY OF AN AFRICAN HOSPITAL [RADIOSKOPIE D'UN HÔPITAL AFRICAIN] Les Films de la Passerelle-C.B.A.; Thierry Michel A HEALTHY BABY GIRL Judith Helfand MANDELA Jonathan Demme, Angus Gibson Edward Saxon and Jo Menell PAUL MONETTE: THE BRINK OF SUMMER'S END Lesli Klainberg and Monte Bramer SCARY MAN [VOGELVRIJ] Albert Elings and Eugenie Jansen SICK: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF BOB FLANAGAN, SUPERMASOCHIST Kirby Dick SOUL IN THE HOLE Lilibet Foster and Danielle Gardner TAKEN FOR A RIDE Jim Klein and
Known widely as the creator and executive producer of Eyes on the Prize, Henry Hampton's credits also include The Great Depression (PBS, 1993). Malcolm X: Make It Plain (The American Experience, 1994), America's War on Poverty (1995) and the recent Breakthrough: The Changing Face of Science in America (1996). Hampton founded Blackside, Inc. in 1968 and has served as its president, chiefly responsible for film and television concept development, marketing and corporate development. He has produced or been responsible for more than 60 major film and media projects, including several multiple
Steven Spielberg is one of the world's most respected and successful filmmakers. He reached a professional peak in 1993-94 with Schindler's List, which won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. It also won every major Best Picture award and an exceptional number of additional honors. Also in 1993, he directed Jurassic Park which became the highest grossing film in the history of motion pictures. His list of successes as director or producer have encompassed eight of the top twenty grossing films of all time. The Color Purple in 1986 earned him his first Directors Guild
Documentary began, of course, before television. Before radio, even. And its adoption by American commercial broadcast television has always had an uneven life, never quite expiring but frequently slipping into a vegetative state. Most recently, it's undergone a revival of sorts, as programs such as 60 Minutes and 48 Hours on CBS, Dateline NBC and ABC's 20/20 have succeeded with a kind of "documentary-for-people-with-short-attention spans," under the aegis of the respective network news departments. The situation for broadcasters is quite separate from the cable networks, where documentary
Forty years ago, a forum to examine Black culture in America would likely have presented films made by White American Producers. In fact, a clip of one such documentary from the 1950s, about Black sharecroppers in the American South, showed up in one of the featured films at the recent Urbanworld Film Festival. A subtitle in this patronizing documentary reads, "The public school term for negroes is only 90 days. Attendance is not obligatory and ignorance is inevitable." Since the '50s, the Black American experience has been chronicled by the media with aid and influence of Black scholars and
In the summer of 1994, the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles announced the formation of Moriah Films "to undertake the production of films on major events and personalities in the 3,500 year Jewish experience." A major goal for the new production unit would be "to reach young people and the unaffiliated who do not belong to synagogues and have not been reached by the Jewish community." Although focusing on the Center's primary area of concern, the Holocaust, officials did not see the unit as being limited in scope to that subject alone; from time to time, Moriah would produce films that