Tamara Kotevska’s “The Tale of Silyan” has been named the best nonfiction film of 2025 at the International Documentary Association’s 41st annual IDA Documentary Awards, which took place on Saturday in Los Angeles.
The film that mixes an old North Macedonian folk tale with a story of contemporary financial woes won in a very international category whose other nominees were “Apocalypse in the Tropics,” about political upheavals in Brazil; “Life After,” about the right-to-die movement; “Seeds,” a contemplative tribute to the rural South; and “Songs of Slow Burning Earth,” set in Ukraine during the first two years of the Russian invasion.
“The Tale of Silyan” is North Macedonia’s entry in the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category, and is also eligible in the Oscars Best Documentary Feature category. Kotevska’s 2019 movie “Honeyland” was the first film ever to be nominated in both of those categories.
The ceremony took place over brunch in the ballroom of the Los Angeles Athletic Club at the end of three days of private receptions, panels, press sessions and networking opportunities.
Brittany Shyne was named best director for “Seeds,” while “Apocalypse in the Tropics” won for writing and production, “The Tale of Silyan” for cinematography, “WTO/99” for editing and “The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson” for music score.
“One to One: John & Yoko” won in the Best Music Documentary category.
The Best Curated Series award went to the French series “99,” while Best Episodic Series was won by “Citizen Nation.”
Honorary awards went to producer Julie Goldman (Career Achievement Award), director Shyne (Emerging Filmmaker Award) and socially-conscious documentary production company Impact Partners (Pioneer Award).
The IDA winner went on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature three times in a five-year stretch between 2012 and 2016, but rarely before or after that, with last year’s IDA and Oscar wins for “No Other Land” being an exception.
The full list of winners:
Best Feature Documentary: “The Tale of Silyan”
Best Short Documentary: “Looking for a Donkey”
Best Director: Brittany Shyne, “Seeds”
Best Cinematography: “The Tale of Silyan,” Jean Dakar
Best Editing: “WTO/99,” Alex Megaro and Ian Bell
Best Production: “Apocalypse in the Tropics,” Alessandra Orofino and Petra Costa
Best Original Music Score: “The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson,” Frédéric Filiatre
Best Sound Design: “Only on Earth,” Thomas Perez-Pape
Best Writing: “Apocalypse in the Tropics,” Petra Costa, Tina Baz, Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter and David Barker
Best Music Documentary: “One to One: John & Yoko”
Best Curated Series: “99”
Best Episodic Series: “Citizen Nation”
David L. Wolper Student Documentary: “What a day, what a life”
Pare Lorentz Award: “River of Grass”
ABC News VideoSource Award: “Deaf President Now!”
Career Achievement Award: Julie Goldman
Emerging Filmmaker Award: Brittany Shyne
Pioneer Award: Impact Partners