The minute I opened my hotel room door, I went right to work-on Documentary magazine-related matters back home. Working through a jet-lagged and sleep-deprived fog, I managed to get things done-and being nine hours ahead of my colleagues helped! I went out into a raw and rainy Amsterdam to catch opening night-and I got lost. Many times. After asking three people for directions, I stumbled upon the theater. But the screening had started 15 minutes earlier, and I was in a somnambulant state of mind, so I made my way back to the hotel, asking three times for directions again, navigating through the labyrinthine nexus of canals, streets and alleys, dodging bicyclists, trolley cars and taxis on the way.

I awoke the next morning to finish up my magazine tasks, then met my fellow jurors and IDFA programmers for brunch. Although not everyone in my quintet was there, our fab five included Nishtha Jain, from Mumbai, India, whose Lakshmi and Me was a nominee in the Silver Wolf category in 2007; Rik Stallaerts, a producer for Brussels, Belgium-based VRT Television; Jeanne Wikler, a New York-based consultant in arts management and cultural policy, who worked in the Dutch public broadcasting system and media arts community for 23 years; and Jess Search, chief executive of the Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundation.

Then we plunged into the screenings, and for obvious reasons, I can't talk about what we saw, but I will share my extra-Jury Duty experiences. Like the IDFA Media Talks, a nightly program from the Escape club, hosted by distinguished Canadian docmaker Peter Wintonick and moderated this evening by Dutch journalists Sophie Hilbrand and Daphne Bunskoek and Women Make Movies executive director Deborah Zimmerman. Chess master-turned-political activist Gary Kasparov, subject of Masha Novikova's In the Holy Fire of Revolution, which tracks Kasparov's campaign for President of Russia. Kasparov engaged in a spirited debate with Derk Sauer, a Dutch publisher of over 35 magazines and newspapers in Russia, about the supposed disconnect between Sauer's readership and who the politician is reaching and Kasparov's constituency. Following that dustup, the inimitable Marina Goldovskaya, IDA's 2008 Preservation and Scholarship Award honoree, who discussed her latest film, Three Songs about Motherland, which looks at the past, present and future of Russia through three stories, set in different cities.

Next guest on Media Talks was Renzo Martens, on hand with his Opening Night film, Episode 3-‘Enjoy Poverty', in which the filmmaker calls to question the good intentions of NGOs, journalists and photojournalists who in promulgating the reality of poverty, arguably exploit it for their own gain. IDFA Festival Director Ally Dirks that she had received so many docs about Africa by Western filmmakers, and this one stood out as a provocation, in the template of a postmodern conceptual art piece cum documentary.

To view the Opening IDFA Talk of the Day in its entirety, click here.

And here's a clip from Renzo Martens' Episode 3--‘Enjoy Poverty':

Following the talk show, we jurors went out for dinner, courtesy of our gracious jury guide, Jannie Langbroeek, also an IDFA programmer.

LOS ANGELES, November 21, 2008 — Winners for the International Documentary Association’s 2008 IDA Documentary Awards competition were announced today in several major categories, including Limited Series, Continuing Series, Music, and Student, leaving Feature, Short, and Audience Awards for the night of the program, to be held December 5th at the Directors Guild Theater in Los Angeles.

For the second consecutive year, Ira Glass’ THIS AMERICAN LIFE has nabbed the Continuing Series Award. Glass plans to attend IDA’s December 5th honors to accept his award in-person, as he memorably did in 2007. In the Limited Series category, the prize has gone to SIN CITY LAW, Denis Poncet, Jean Xavier De Lestrade, and Remy Burkel’s eight-part episodic chronicling the criminal justice system in Las Vegas.

Now in its second year, the IDA/Alan Ett Music Documentary Award, sponsored by the veteran music industry figure and composer, has honored Stephen Walker’s YOUNG@HEART. HEART also competes against KASSIM THE DREAM, STRANDED: I’VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED IN THE MOUNTAINS, MAN ON WIRE and WALTZ WITH BASHIR for IDA’s top feature prize. Director Walker will make the trek from his native England to receive the Music Award.

The IDA/Pare Lorentz Award, in homage to the pioneering filmmaker’s legacy, was given to David Novack’s BURNING THE FUTURE: COAL IN AMERICA, a hard look at the coal industry and its efforts to promote “clean coal technology” in the face of true environmental hazards. Earning an Honorable Mention in the category is GARBAGE WARRIOR from filmmaker Oliver Hodge.

The IDA/ABCNEWS VideoSource Award, for best use of archival news footage, has gone to WAR CHILD, the story of a Sudanese child solider who emerges as an international rap star. C. Karim Chrobog’s film also participated in IDA’s DocuWeek Theatrical Showcase earlier this year.

IDA continues to recognize the next generation of documentary filmmakers with its prestigious David L. Wolper Student Filmmaker Award. This year’s prize has been awarded to AS WE FORGIVE, directed by American University student Laura Waters Hinson. The film documents two Rwandan women coming face-to-face with the men who slaughtered their families during the 1994 genocide.

Voting continues for the inaugural Audience Award, where all IDA members can vote for their favorite doc from a wide-ranging list of the year’s nonfiction features simply by logging on to www.documentary.org.

This year’s IDA Documentary Awards, hosted by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock and honoring the legendary Werner Herzog, are sponsored by HBO Documentary Films, Magic Rock Entertainment, the Directors Guild of America, Kodak, Border Grill and Ciudad Catering, The Standard Hotel, Heineken, Sort this Out Cellars, Aquarius & Langenburg Oxygen Water, and The Hollywood Reporter. Tickets are available for purchase now at www.documentary.org/awards08.

Winning films from the event will be screened at DocuFest, held the day after the awards, on December 6th, from 10:00 AM to Midnight at the Eastman Kodak Screening Room, 6700 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, California. Most filmmakers will be in attendance for Q&A’s following these films. Ticket information can also be found at www.documentary.org/docufest.

The International Documentary Association is a nonprofit, public interest organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the art of documentary film. The IDA Awards selection process began with peer group juries who viewed all submissions to select nominees in each category for final review by blue-ribbon panels.

For more information about IDA, visit www.documentary.org or call 213-534-3600.

Media Contact: Amy Grey/Ashley Mariner
Dish Communications
(818) 508-1000
amyg@dishcommunications.com/ashleym@dishcommunications.com
 

CONTINUING SERIES – WINNER
This American Life
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, 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

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

IDA/ALAN ETT MUSIC DOCUMENTARY AWARD - WINNER
Young@Heart
Stephen Walker, Sally George
Walker George Films, Channel 4 Television Corporation, Fox Searchlight Pictures

IDA/PARE LORENTZ AWARD - WINNER
Burning The Future: Coal In America
David Novack, Alexis Zoullas
FireFly Pix, Sundance Channel

Honorable Mention:
Garbage Warrior
Oliver Hodge, Rachel Wexler, Patrick Wilson
Open Eye Media, Sundance Channel, Documentary Channel, ITVS International

IDA/ABCNEWS VIDEOSOURCE AWARD – WINNER
War Child
C. Karim Chrobog, Afshin Molava
18th Street Films, Independent Producers Alliance, Interfact Media Group, Porchlight Entertainment

IDA/DAVID L. WOLPER STUDENT DOCUMENTARY AWARD
As We Forgive
Laura Waters Hinson
American University

The Awards Season is in full effect! The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the short list for the entries in the Documentary Feature category. These 15 will advance in the voting process for the 81st Academy Awards. A record 94 pictures had originally qualified in the category.

And the lucky 15:

At the Death House Door (Dirs.: Peter Gilbert, Steve James)
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) (Dir.: Ellen Kuras; Co-Dir.: Thavisouk Phtrasavath)
Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh (Dir.: Roberta Grossman; Prod.: Lisa Thomas)
Encounters at the End of the World (Dir.: Werner Herzog; prod.: Henry Kaiser)
Fuel (Dir.: Josh Tickell; Prods.: Greg Reitman, Dale Rosenbloom, Daniel Assael)
The Garden (Dir./Prod.: Scott Hamilton Kennedy)
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts (Dir./Prod.: Scott Hicks; Prod.: Susanne Priessler)
I.O.U.S.A. (Dir.: Patrick Creadon; Prods.: Christine O'Malley, Sarah Gibson)
In a Dream (Dir.: Jeremiah Zagar)
Made in America (Dir.: Stacy Perlata; Prod.: Baron Davis)
Man on Wire (Dir.: James Marsh; Prod.: Simon Chinn)
Pray the Devil Back to Hell (Dir.: Gini Reticker; Prod.: Abigal Disney)
Standard Operating Procedure (Dir./Prod.: Errol Morris; prod.: Julie Bilson Ahlberg)
They Killed Sister Dorothy (Dir.: Daniel Junge; Prods.: Henry Ansbacher, Nigel Noble)
Trouble the Water (Dirs.: Tia Lessin, Carl Deal)

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts, Made in America and Pray the Devil Back to Hell all screened as part of IDA's DocuWeek Theatrical Documentary Showcase this past summer. Furthermore, Fuel (formerly Fields of Fuel) and Trouble the Water were both projects in IDA's Fiscal Sponsorship Program.

The Documentary Branch Screening Committee viewed all the eligible documentaries for the preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles on the short list.

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, with the Oscars telecast a month later, on February 22.

I spent Friday, November 7th at AFI Fest 2008 kicking around in future space, attending the second day of AFI Digifest. Digifest is part of the AFI Digital Content Lab (DCL), a research and development incubator for new forms of digital entertainment.

Throughout the year, the Lab generates digital media prototypes conceived and built by collaborative teams of professional volunteer mentors. The first day of DigiFest, which I sadly was not able to attend, is dedicated to showing off the prototypes, which this year included project with HBOlab, the online Newshour team, ABC.com, and Earth Echo International, among others. The second day consists of a curated collection of presentations of top digital media projects from around the world. While many focused on scripted storytelling and gaming, non-fiction was well represented.

The day kicked off with Jesse Alexander, Co-Executive Producer, Heroes, talking about the "Heroes 360 Experience," the digital extension of the series. While it’s hard to compare the process of putting together a big genre television hit with that of a low-budget documentary, Alexander specifically made the point that no matter what kind of content you’re dealing with, taking advantage of new media tools like Twitter and Flickr can extend the reach of your project.

A perfect example of this is Gone Gitmo, from producer/director Nonny de la Peña and USC Interactive Media adjunct professor Peggy Weil. The two created the project, a virtual Guantánamo Bay Prison in Second Life, to extend the reach of de la Pena’s documentary Unconstitutional. The film details the way that the civil liberties of American citizens and immigrants alike have been infringed upon, curtailed and rolled back since 9/11 and the USA Patriot Act.

Four years after making her film, de la Peña was dismayed that Guantánamo was not being covered in the media to her satisfaction. She and Weil identified Gitmo’s physical inaccessibility to reporters as an obstacle in obtaining press coverage. Second Life offered a unique opportunity to make the detention center available, albeit virtually. Initially, the project was incubated during a ten day residency at the MacArthur Foundation funded New Media Producers Institute at the Bay Area Video Coalition, where they provided a Second LIfe builder for 5 days. The Second Life "land" for the project was donated, but all work since the initial residency has been done gratis or in-kind.

The virtual Guantánamo Bay center allows visitors, via their avatars, to immerse themselves in the experience of military detention, including lying shackled on the floor of a plane, being hooded and getting locked up in a cell. There’s also a Habeas Corpus game, which gives participants a sense of what it’s like to lose one’s habeas corpus rights. Rather than engage in virtual torture, de la Peña and Weil built a contemplation chamber that includes newsfeeds, statements from public figures and poetry by detainees. There are also transcripts of actual interrogation sessions read by actors.

Says Weil, “The recordings are available all over the web, but we felt that aggregating them in a context would amplify the results. There have been studies that people closely associate with their avatar, so therefore they experience this in a different way.”

To enhance the experience for participants, the creators peppered Gone Gitmo with sounds based on descriptions from real detainees. They also experimented with integrating cinema into virtual reality, incorporating footage from Unconstitutional into the virtual prison.

A chronicle of the development of the project can be found here.

Later in the day, writer/actor/producer L.M. Kit Carson showed several Moz Diaries, mini-docs shot in Mozambique on the Nokia N93 cell phone and edited on Mac iMovie. They are part of the Sundance Channel’s Africa Diary docu-series, a survey of current African nations and societies, which is currently expected to air in 2009. Tim Johnson edited the pieces and Cynthia Hargrave produced.

In 2006, Carson went to Africa to help work on a documentary, and a friend of his at Current TV requested that he shoot some video diaries while he was there. YouTube had recently launched, and Carson was intrigued with the intimacy and immediacy the site brought to video. He wanted to bring this same spirit to the video diaries, and thought a cell phone camera might just do the trick. The tri-band Nokia N93 has a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, which give it superior picture quality (the N95, the latest version, has a 5 megapixel camera). But the most important thing to Carson was that the phone's small size meant that it would not intimidate the his subjects the way a larger video camera might.

Says Carson, “I started shooting with this because everyone thinks it’s a joke, so there’s no filter.”

One of the diaries Carson showed at DigiFest explores the contrast between the Mozambique “green” agricultural economy and the influx of money from places like Saudi Arabia. Shots of hand-picked cashews contrast with footage of the new five star hotel just built by a Saudi Arabian sheik.

The footage is grainy and raw. The images are powerful. Carson solves the problem of the limited screen real estate of the cell phone by panning across wide images like newspaper headlines. He does this throughout the diary, creating a visual motif for the piece, and in the process, inventing a new mobile cinema aesthetic. One can’t help but be drawn into the intimacy of the storytelling.

Would I perhaps feel differently if I didn’t know it was shot on a cell phone? It’s hard to tell. I was too busy enjoying this rare glimpse into life halfway around the world.

There were many other fascinating presentations throughout the day, ranging from all encompassing Web 2.0 experiences such as 42 Entertainment’s Year Zero, a project to promote Nine Inch Nails’ album of the same name; to Christopher Sandberg’s Truth About Marika, a “participation drama” that blends the boundaries between traditional television drama and alternate reality games; to Scott Snibbe’s whimsical interactive museum installations. And of course, the latest from the Guitar Hero World Tour had the entire audience envisioning themselves as rock stars. For more on the AFI Digital Content Lab and all of the presentations, click here.

In her closing remarks, Suzanne Stefanac, Director, AFI Digital Content Lab, mentioned that she had recently seen a statistic from CISCO that said that video in all its formats will constitute 90% of all IP traffic by 2012. Said Stefanac, “There are many modes of distribution and ways to exchange data. The projects we saw today had many other homes, such as television, the big screen or the gaming console, but almost all of them had some type of home on the Internet.”

As the traditional theatrical landscape continues to evolve, her statement perhaps offers a clue as to how to think about the future of distribution. Yet instead of letting the unknown be a source of panic, maybe instead it can be a source of inspiration, as evidenced by the new forms of compelling storytelling demonstrated in the projects at Digifest 2008.

Spending your hard-earned dough to round our your Kurosawa DVD collection might not be the best idea as the U.S. heads into a possible recession. But the Criterion Collection people have made a good case for a spending spree by slashing the prices in their online store. Why? We'll let them explain:

Dear Criterion viewers,

We’ve got some big news. We’re launching a new website on November 25, and we’re moving warehouses in the process. To clear the way for the new site, we’re selling everything on our current site at 40% off the retail price. That includes clothing, posters, mugs, totebags, and of course every Criterion DVD in stock! You’ll still get free shipping on orders over $50, and your purchases will still count toward our loyalty program if you create an account on our new site. We won’t be taking new preorders or back orders--this sale is strictly “while supplies last,” so shop early and often. Come on down, browse around, and stock up on holiday gifts at unbeatable prices, while you also help us move to our new digs! Sale ends Monday, November 24, at midnight.

Happy Shopping!

Get the economy back on track at http://www.criterion.com.

BritDoc, the three-year-old, Oxford-based documentary festival, announced that it would close up shop and join forces with the more established Sheffield Doc/Fest. The Channel 4 BritDoc Foundation, the fest's parent company, announced that it would be taking the BritDoc brand "online and on the road to deliver our services to British filmmakers wherever they are." As part of this re-purposing, BritDoc is hosting a "Saturday Service" about making docs that make a difference--November 8 at Sheffield Doc/Fest.

As Sheffield Doc/Fest continues throughout the weekend, veteran docmaker Nick Broomfield, in town to teach a masterclass November, shared his "Five Documentaries That Broke the Mold" in the UK-based Independent. Also in The Independent is an assessment of the state of the doc in the UK.

Esha Momeni, an Iranian-American citizen, was arrested October 15 by Iranian officials for an alleged traffic violation while driving on a Tehran highway. Momeni, a graduate student at California State University Northridge, had been in Iran since July, staying with her family and conducting video research for her master's thesis project on the women's rights movement in Iran, and had interviewed members of the organization Change for Equality. She is being held in Tehran's Erin Prison, in a section designated for dissidents and political prisoners. Iranian authorities confiscated her documentary footage and her computer, and two weeks into her detainment, have not lodged formal charges. For more information, here's an article in the Los Angeles Times, as well as a blog that has been set up for Momeni.

Buy Tickets:
IDA Awards Non-Member Ticket - BUY NOW!
IDA Awards Member Ticket - BUY NOW!

"Innovative storytelling, digital editing and sophisticated audiences have opened up the playing field of what a documentary can be. So, in choosing a master of ceremonies for this year's event, no one better exemplifies that renegade creative spirit than Morgan Spurlock," said IDA's Interim Executive Director Eddie Schmidt. Spurlock, known for SUPERSIZE ME, 30 DAYS, and WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?, will take a brief sojourn from postproduction on the upcoming FREAKONOMICS to handle hosting duties.

The five nominated films for Distinguished Documentary Achievement in IDA's feature category are: KASSIM THE DREAM, the powerful story of Ugandan-born World Champion boxer Kassim "The Dream" Ouima, who must confront his difficult past as a child soldier while training for his next world title; MAN ON WIRE, an evocative chronicle of tightrope walker Philippe Petit's high-wire (and highly illegal) routine between New York's former Twin Towers, circa 1974; STRANDED: I HAVE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS, the harrowing tale of the famous 1972 Andes plane crash, as told by its survivors today; WALTZ WITH BASHIR, an unprecedented animated documentary examining the consequences of war by unraveling the memories of Ari Folman and other Israeli soldiers who fought in the 1982 Lebanon conflict; and, finally, YOUNG@HEART, a warm and human look at a Massachusetts chorus of senior citizens who perform rock songs with camaraderie and gusto.

The five nominated short films are: KICK LIKE A GIRL, LA CORONA, REDEMPTION STONE, SMILE PINKI, TONGZHI IN LOVE. LA CORONA was nominated for last year's Best Documentary Short Academy Award®, while SMILE PINKI and TONGZHI IN LOVE currently reside on this year's Oscar shortlist. KICK LIKE A GIRL played in this year's IDA Docuweek program.

In the Limited Series category, the four nominees are: CNN PRESENTS: GOD'S WARRIORS, THE JEWISH AMERICANS, THE WAR, and SIN CITY LAW. Continuing Series nominees are NOVA, AMERICAN MASTERS, THIS AMERICAN LIFE and WIDE ANGLE.

Other IDA competition categories include the Alan Ett Music Award (now in its second year), the David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award, the ABC News Video Source Award, for best use of television news footage as an integral component, as well as the Pare Lorentz Award, presented to the filmmaker whose documentary best represents the activist spirit and lyrical vision of the acclaimed Pare Lorentz. For a complete list of nominees and finalists (in some categories), please see the attached.

In addition to competitive awards for the year's current crop of outstanding documentaries, IDA also acknowledges exemplary creative contributions to the genre at large. This year's IDA Career Achievement honoree, to be celebrated during December's event, was previously announced as ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD and GRIZZLY MAN director Werner Herzog.

Other career awards to be handed out at the ceremony include: the Pioneer Award, to groundbreaking filmmaker Rob Epstein (THE CELLULOID CLOSET; THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK), the Preservation & Scholarship Award, to beloved UCLA professor, author, and filmmaker Marina Goldovskaya (THE PRINCE IS BACK), and the inaugural Avid Excellence in Editing Award, sponsored by Avid Technology the digital editing giant, to master editor and filmmaker Sam Pollard (WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS; 4 LITTLE GIRLS).

The Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award will go to helmer Stefan Forbes, whose prescient and provocative BOOGIE MAN: THE LEE ATWATER STORY, is currently in theatrical release.

Finally, 2008 heralds a brand new Audience Award, where all IDA members can vote for their favorite doc from a wide-ranging list of the year's nonfiction features simply by logging on to www.documentary.org where there is also a write-in option for additional titles. The Audience Award winner will be tabulated by votes accumulated on the site beginning today and lasting over the next several weeks. The winner will be announced the night of the show.

This year's program, featuring a catered reception by Border Grill/Ciudad, is sponsored by HBO Documentary Films, Magic Rock Entertainment, the Directors Guild of America, Heineken, Sort this Out Cellars, and Aquarius Oxygen Water. Tickets are available for purchase now at www.documentary.org/awards08.

IDA will be going "green" for December's event by using 100% recycled stock postcards printed with soy-based biodegradable ink. The organization is also selling tickets online to avoid the printing of several thousand RSVP cards. Border Grill/Ciudad is a well-established "green" caterer, and plans are also in the works to utilize a biodiesel car service.

The International Documentary Association is a nonprofit, public interest organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the art of documentary film. The IDA Awards selection process began with peer group juries who viewed all submissions to select nominees in each category for final review by blue-ribbon panels.

For more information about IDA, visit www.documentary.org or call 213-534-3600.

Media Contact: Amy Grey, Dish Communications
(818) 508-1000
amyg@dishcommunications.com

A complete list of nominees and awardees follows.

Host

Morgan Spurlock

Honors

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Werner Herzog

PIONEER AWARD
Rob Epstein

PRESERVATION & SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
Marina Goldovskaya

AVID EXCELLENCE IN EDITING AWARD
Sam Pollard

JACQUELINE DONNET EMERGING FILMMAKER AWARD
Stefan Forbes

Feature Documentary Nominees

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

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

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 

Waltz with Bashir
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

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

Short Documentary Nominees

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 

Redemption Stone
Director/Producer: Tom Dziedzic 

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

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

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

Continuing Series Award-Nominees

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.

This American Life
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

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--Nominees

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

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

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

ABCNews VideoSource Award--Finalists

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

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

IDA/Alan Ett Music Documentary Award - Nominees

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 

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

Pare Lorentz Award-Finalists

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

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

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

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

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--Nominees

As We Forgive
Laura Waters Hinson
American University 

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

Here's a glimpse of what you were lucky to catch (or unfortunate to miss) at last night's IDA "Fear and Loathing on the Online Campaign Trail" panel at Digital Hollywood. More reportage to follow, including tales of Sarah Palin's Israeli flag, Reese Witherspoon and Hillary Clinton's cosmic mash-up, Chinese hackers targeting the White House, and the ghost of Lee Atwater.

Until then, check out these pictures of host Eddie Schmidt, Executive Director IDA, Academy Award nominated producer of "Twist of Faith" and "This Film is Not Yet Rated"; and speakers Jeffrey Tuchman, Peabody and Emmy-Award winning documentary producer / Clinton campaign advisor; David Gale, Executive VP New Media at MTV Networks, co-founder MTV Films, producer "Election"; Stefan Forbes, director "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story"; Michele Ohayon, director, "Your Government Failed You" (Richard A.Clarke) and Academy Award nominated director "Colors Straight Up", Elan Frank, producer "Women of the World - A Breed Apart" featuring rare and exclusive footage of Sarah Palin. All pictures by Debby Zeitman.