The International Documentary Association has announced the nominees for its IDA Documentary Awards, unveiling a lineup that includes Banksy’s “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” Lucy Walker’s “Waste Land,” Laura Poitras’ “The Oath” and the Finnish film “Steam of Life,” but leaves out many of the most high-profile docs expected to be competing at the Oscars.
But “Inside Job,” “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” and “Tabloid” were likely not snubbed – an adjustment in the eligibility window means that this year’s awards will go to films that were completed between January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010. (In subsequent years, the window will run from July 1 through June 30.)
Other films that are expected to contend for the Oscars but were not nominated by the IDA include Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger’s “Restrepo,” Amir Bar-Lev’s “The Tillman Story” and Yael Hersonski’s “A Film Unfinished,” all of which screened within the IDA's eligibility window. The organization would not confirm that those films were in fact eligible, saying that it is their policy "not to comment on any films that did not receive nominations."
From the IDA press release, here are the five films competing in the Distinguished Feature category:
“Exit Through the Gift Shop” (right), the debut film from the renowned and elusive graffiti artist Banksy.
“The Oath,” Laura Poitras’ riveting story about two men whose fateful encounter set them on a journey that would lead to Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Steam of Life,” Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotakainen’s poetic and emotional tour of Finland’s saunas in which men of all walks of life share their touching stories about love, death, birth and friendship.
“Sweetgrass,” Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s cinematic and observational tour-de-force that captures a family and their animals in their final season herding sheep in Montana’s spectacular Absaroka-Beartooth mountain range.
“Waste Land,” a Lucy Walker film which follows artist Vik Muniz on a transformative journey from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho.
Nominees in the Distinguished Short category – which, like Distinguished Feature, will be voted on by all IDA members who agree to view all the films online – are Rory Kennedy’s “The Fence,” which spotlights the U.S./Mexican border; “Keep Dancing,” Greg Vander Veer’s look at dancers Marge Champion and Donald Saddler; “Woman Rebel,” Kiran Deol’s story of a female soldier in Nepal; and two 2009 Oscar nominees, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s “The Last Truck: The Closing of a GM Plant,” and Daniel Junge’s “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner.”
The IDA awards typically feature a more varied group of nominees than the Oscars, which tend to honor serious, issue-oriented docs almost to the exclusion of everything else. Last year’s IDA winner, “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” did not make the Oscar shortlist.
