Continuing the most head-scratching year-end awards season in recent memory, the International Documentary Association named Mary Olive Smith's A WALK TO BEAUTIFUL as the Best Feature Documentary of the Year, capping an awards night in Los Angeles marked by no-show winners and surprise guest presenters.
Going into the evening, it was thought to be a contest (and possible Oscar precursor) between Michael Moore's SICKO and Alex Gibney's TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE. Previously both films were nominated for the Gotham Awards, with SICKO taking the prize. However, both Richard Robbin's OPERATION HOMECOMING (which like SICKO and TAXI was Shortlisted by the Academy) and Dan Klores' CRAZY LOVE wouldn't have been huge surprises had they taken the trophy. But it was the fifth film, Smith's look at African women recovering from fistula - a devastating childbirth injury, that shocked the audience at the Directors Guild. Many were asking others in the audience whether they had even heard of the film, much less seen it. The film's producer helpfully mentioned that the film would be in theaters starting next month. (Here's a trailer.)
But at least the winners of the top prize of the night were present. For much of the lengthy evening, honorees and winners were AWOL, including an ailing Michael Moore (who reportedly strained his back at the airport en route to LA), who sent his sisters to pick up his Lifetime Achievement Award and deliver a charming speech encouraging theater owners to screen documentaries; honoree Christiane Amanpour, who sent an impassioned videotaped message from London; Spike Lee (who was to receive the Pare Lorentz Award for WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE), who sent a victim of Hurricane Katrina who gave an halting, emotional speech; music documentary prize winners Paul Taylor and Teddy Liefer (the filmmakers behind WE ARE TOGETHER) - also in London - who sent their publicist David Magdael with an acceptance speech - as Teddy listened in via my cell phone; and the winners of the IDA prize for Best Short Film - A SON'S SACRIFICE, who sent nobody and nothing, as we were informed by guest presenter James McAvoy.
McAvoy, who was directed by acclaimed documentarian Kevin Macdonald in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, was one of three surprise presenters at the IDA Awards. The first was somewhat predicted - Don Cheadle was on hand to present his DARFUR NOW director Ted Braun with the Emerging Filmmaker Prize. But the nicest surprise was when Joni Mitchell arrived to present the new music documentary prize to WE ARE TOGETHER.
Despite the fact that Friday's gala doubled as a celebration of the IDA's 25th anniversary, it couldn't live up to last year's raucous affair with a speechifying Al Gore, a flirtatious Jane Fonda and a deserved win by James Longley's IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS. In fact, although the event had been sold out for some time, there were many seats still open in the theater.
Spirits before the awards were good, however, as a number of filmmakers were on hand enjoying drinks in the DGA lobby, including FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO's Daniel Karslake, MY KID COULD PAINT THAT's Amir Bar-Lev and MADE IN L.A. producer Robert Bahar.
Here are this year's IDA winners:
Best Feature Documentary
A WALK TO BEAUTIFUL
Directed by Mary Olive Smith
Best Short Documentary
A SON'S SACRIFICE
Directed by Yoni Brooks
Alan Ett Music Documentary Award
WE ARE TOGETHER
Directed by Paul Taylor
Pare Lorentz Award
WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS
Directed by Spike Lee
ABCNEWS VideoSource Award
SPUTNNIK MANIA
Directed by David Hoffman
Continuing Series Award
THIS AMERICAN LIFE
Directed by Chris Wilcha
Limited Series Award
THE SUPREME COURT
Directed by Thomas Lennon
David L. Wolper Student Doc Award
LONG HAUL
Directed by Erin Hudson
Career Acheivement Award
Michael Moore
Courage Under Fire Award
Christiane Amanpour
Pioneer Award
Paula S. Apsell (NOVA)
Preservation and Scholarship Award:
Jocelyn Shearer
National Geographic Digital Motion
Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award
Ted Braun
DARFUR NOW
If you'd actually seen A Walk To Beautiful, it wouldn't be such a head-scratcher that it beat Sicko and Taxi to the IDA Award.
It had no sales agent or promotional team behind it.
As an independent filmmaker yourself, you should be celebrating the fact that sometimes, all you need is a really great film.
Posted by: Louise Ford | December 13, 2007 at 04:31 PM