It was a lovely night on the south bank of the Thames in London as the Grierson Trust handed out its annual British Documentary Awards. The big winners were Havana Marking, who received the Best International Documentary on a Contemporary Subject for AFGHAN STAR, and Anders Østergaard, who won Best Cinema Documentary for BURMA VJ.
Marking missed the ceremonies as she was in Kabul making an AFGHAN STAR follow-up piece for HBO. STAR is the UK's foreign language film entry for this year's Oscars.
In an evening that was marked by pessimistic perceptions of the current state of documentary in the United Kindgom - "the art form is thriving but budgets are smaller" and "we're at a turning point, full commissions have disappeared" and "doc strands are not being made anymore" - there was still a positive vibe at the BFI Southbank as this year's British Documentary Awards were handed out.
BURMA VJ's win was one of the first times that Oscar winner MAN ON WIRE - another of the nominees for Best Cinema Documentary - saw a loss. John Dower, who won earlier in the night for Best Historical Documentary for THRILLER IN MANILLA admitted as much when he noted that "we've been the bridesmaid so many times that it's nice to be the bride." THRILLER had come in second to MAN ON WIRE last year at BritDoc.
John Dower with his Grierson Award for THRILLER IN MANILLA.
Noted documentary series producer Norma Percy received the Grierson's Trustees' Award for her longform pieces examining historical events through the eyes of the presidents, prime ministers and secondary players who lived them. In an acceptance, Percy noted that her original works had been funded by ITV and Granada, which were destabilized by the Thatcher government. After praising the BBC, Percy asked current and future governments, "Please don't do anything that will allow some future Mrs. Thatcher to destroy the BBC."
Other winners included THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD for Most Entertaining Documentary, BBC's Storyville entry I'M NOT DEAD YET for Best Newcomer (director Elizabeth Stopford), Norma Percy's IRAN AND THE WEST for Best Documentary Series, CHARLES DARWIN AND THE TREE OF LIFE for Best Science Documentary, THE MONA LISA CURSE for Best Arts Documentary and HOUSE OF SADDAM for Best Drama Documentary.
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Posted by: Frozen | January 24, 2010 at 08:08 PM