The documentaries “Landfall” and “Five Years North” have won the top jury prizes at the 2020 DOC NYC film festival, the largest festival in the United States devoted to nonfiction filmmaking.
“Landfall,” director Cecilia Aldarondo’s portrait of a Puerto Rican community in the wake of Hurricane Maria, won the Grand Jury Prize in the Viewfinders Competition, with a special jury prize going to “Through the Night.” In the Metropolis Competition, made up of films about New York City, the top winner was “Five Years North,” Zach Ingrasci and Chris Temple’s film about a Cuban-American ICE agent and a teenage Guatemalan immigrant. “Wojnarowicz” received a special award for its use of archival material.
Jury prizes in the Short List: Features section, which was made up of 15 films deemed by DOC NYC programmers to be likely awards contenders, were awarded to “Time” for directing, “Welcome to Chechnya” for producing, “Boys State” for editing and “76 Days” for cinematography, as well as a special jury award to “Collective.”
Short-film prizes went to “Sing Me a Lullaby” and “The Seeker” in the Shorts Competition, and to “A Love Song for Latasha” and “Do Not Split” in the Short List: Shorts program.
The festival also announced a 10-day extension, “DOC NYC Encore,” that will make more than 70 films from the festival available online through Sunday, Nov. 29. A list of the Encore films and additional live events is available at www.docnyc.net.
Jurors included filmmakers Heidi Ewing, Carol Dysinger and Chieme Karasawa, festival programmers Rachel Rosen and Liliana Rodriguez and International Documentary Association executive director Simon Kilmurry.
The winners:
Viewfinders Competition
Grand Jury Prize: “Landfall,” directed/produced by Cecilia Aldarondo and produced by Ines Hofmann Kanna
Special Jury Recognition for Ethics of Care: “Through the Night,” directed/produced by Loira Limbal and produced by Jameka Autry
Metropolis Competition
Grand Jury Prize: “Five Years North,” directed by Zach Ingrasci and Chris Temple and produced by Jenna Kelly
Special Jury Recognition for Best Use of Archival Material: “Wojnarowicz,” directed and produced by Chris McKim and produced by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato
Shorts Competition
Shorts Grand Jury Prize: “Sing Me a Lullaby,” directed/produced by Tiffany Hsiung
Special Jury Recognition for Cinematography: “The Seeker,” directed by Lance Edmands and produced by Kyle Martin and Sarah Tihany
Short List: Features
Directing Award: “Time,” directed by Garrett Bradley
Producing Award: “Welcome to Chechnya,” produced by Alice Henty, Joy A. Tomchin, Askold Kurov, and David France
Editing Award: “Boys State,” edited by Jeff Gilbert
Cinematography Award: “76 Days,” cinematography by Weixi Chen and Anonymous
Special Jury Recognition for Truth to Power: “Collective,” directed by Alexander Nanau
Short List: Shorts
Directing Award: “A Love Song for Latasha,” directed by Sophia Nahli Allison
Special Jury Recognition for Courage under Fire: “Do Not Split,” directed/produced by Andres Hammer and produced by Charlotte Cook
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