‘Exit Through the Gift Shop,’ ‘The Oath’ Nominated by IDA Doc Awards

International Documentary Association nominations leave off many top Oscar contenders — but a date change means most aren’t eligible

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“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.

The IDA also announced that Jeff Malmberg, the director of “Marwencol,” will receive the 2010 IDA/Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award. In addition, categories whose recipients have yet to be announced include the IDA/Humanitas Award, the IDA/ABC News VideoSource Award and the IDA/Pare Lorentz Award.

The full list of IDA nominees:

DISTINGUISHED FEATURE DOCUMENTARY NOMINEES

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP
Director: Banksy
Producer: Jaimie D'Cruz

THE OATH
Director/producer: Laura Poitras

STEAM OF LIFE
Directors: Joonas Berghäll, Mika Hotakainen
Producer: Joonas Berghäll

SWEETGRASS
Directors: Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Producer: Ilisa Barbash

WASTE LAND
Director/Writer: Lucy Walker
Producers: Angus Aynsley, Hank Levine

DISTINGUISHED SHORT DOCUMENTARY NOMINEES

KEEP DANCING
Director: Greg Vanderveer
Executive Producer: Douglas Blair Turnbaugh

THE LAST CAMPAIGN OF GOVERNOR BOOTH GARDNER
Director: Daniel Junge
Producer: Henry Ansbacher, Davis Coombe, Andy Schocken

WOMAN REBEL
Director/Producer: Kiran Deol
Executive Producer: Robert Richter

THE FENCE
Director/Producer: Rory Kennedy
Producers: Liz Garbus, Keven McAlester, Nancy Abraham

THE LAST TRUCK
Directors/Writers/Producers: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
Producer: Lisa Heller

CONTINUING SERIES AWARD  NOMINEES

30 FOR 30
Executive Producers: Keith Clinkscales, John Dahl, Joan Lynch, Connor Schell, Bill Simmons, John Skipper, John Walsh
ESPN

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
Senior Producer: Sharon Grimberg
WGBH; PBS

ART IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Executive Producer: Susan Sollins
Series Producer: Eve-Laure Moros Ortega
PBS

BRICK CITY
Executive Producer: Evan Shapiro, Forest Whitaker, Lynne Kirby, Mala Chapple, Marc Levin, Mark Benjamin, Sarah Barnett
Sundance Channel

WIDE ANGLE
Executive Producer: Tom Casciato
Senior Producer: Nina Chaudry
PBS

LIMITED SERIES AWARD NOMINEES

AFFLICTION SERIES: CULTURE AND MENTAL ILLNESS IN INDONESIA
Director, Producer: Robert Lemelson

HAVE YOU HEARD FROM JOHANNESBURG
Directors/Producers: Connie E Field

LATIN MUSIC USA
Executive Producer: Mark Cooper, Elizabeth Deane
Series Producer: Jeremy Marre
Director/Producers: Adriana Bosch, John Valadez
Director/Writer/Producer: Daniel McCabe
Producer: Pamela Aguilar

MASTERCLASS
Executive Producer: Lin Arison
Director/Producer: Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon

THIS EMOTIONAL LIFE
Executive Producer: Meredith Blake
Executives-in-Charge: Jody Allen Patton, Paul G. Allen
Senior Executive Producer:  Richard Hutton

IDA/DAVID L. WOLPER STUDENT DOCUMENTARY AWARD NOMINEES

LITTLE MOM
Director/Producer: Maria Fortiz-Morse
Stanford University, MFA Documentary Film and Video

PERRY COUNTY
Directors/Producers: Matt Durning, N’Jeri Eaton
University of California Berkeley

THE STINKING SHIP
Director/Producer: Bagassi Koura
University of California Berkeley

WAITING FOR A TRAIN: THE TOSHIO HIRANO STORY
Director/Producer: Oscar Buchar
OB3 Studios, San Francisco State University

WHALES OF GOLD
Director/Producer: Lucia Duncan
University of Texas at Austin

IDA MUSIC DOCUMENTARY AWARD NOMINEES

FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE
Directors: Mark Moormann, Jim Bigham
Producer: Jim Bigham

GENIUS WITHIN: THE INNER LIFE OF GLENN GOULD
Directors/Producers: Michele Hozer, Peter Raymont

THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS
Director: Leanne Pooley
Producer: Arani Cuthbert

THUNDER SOUL
Director/Producer: Mark Landsman
Producer: Keith Calder, Jessica Wu

WHEN I RISE
Director: Mat Hames
Producers: James Moll, Michael Rosen

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