IDA Documentary Awards Shortlist 28 Films Before Voting

By Tom Whitfield

Sixteen feature documentaries and 12 short documentaries form the headline shortlists for the 42nd annual IDA Documentary Awards. The International Documentary Association received 650 entries across all categories from a record 95 countries.

IDA identifies You Can See Everything, Nuisance Bear, and Rehearsals for a Revolution as top Oscar contenders in the Best Feature Documentary field.

How will members pick the winners?

The voting process follows a fixed calendar:

• Nov. 3 — Members can begin watching the shortlisted films through IDA Virtual Cinema.
• Nov. 17 — IDA will announce five nominees in each of Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary and open voting to members.
• Nov. 27 — Member voting closes.
• Dec. 4 — The winners will be revealed at The Ebell in Los Angeles.

Members will narrow 28 shortlisted films to 10 nominees before choosing two category winners by Nov. 27.

Which feature documentaries reached the shortlist?

The 16 Best Feature Documentary finalists are:

• A Fox Under a Pink Moon — Mehrdad Oskouei and co-director Soraya Akhlaghi; Kino Lorber.
• A Life Illuminated — Tasha Van Zandt; Fourth Act Film.
• Birds of War — Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak; Dogwoof.
• Concrete Land — Asmahan Bkerat.
• Do You Love Me — Lana Daher; ICARUS/Rapid Eye Movies.
• Filthy — Bàrbara Mestanza and Marc Pujolar.
• My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile — Julia Loktev; MUBI.
• Nuestra Tierra (Our Land) — Lucrecia Martel; Strand Releasing.
• Nuisance Bear — Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden; MUBI.
• One in a Million — Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes; PBS Distribution.
• Rehearsals for a Revolution — Pegah Ahangarani; Sony Pictures Classics.
• Silver — Natalia Koniarz.
• The Eyes of Ghana — Ben Proudfoot.
• The Fabulous Time Machine — Eliza Capai; Split Screen.
• To Hold a Mountain — Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić; Submarine.
• You Can See Everything — Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim; A24.

These 16 films will compete for five nominations and one winner.

Which short documentaries reached the shortlist?

The 12 Best Short Documentary finalists are:

• A Wolf in the Suburbs — Amélie Hardy; The New York Times Op-Docs.
• Free Joan Little — Yoruba Richen; PBS.
• Fruits of Despair — Nima Nassaj; Raina Film Festival Distribution.
• How to Catch a Butterfly — Kiriko Mechanicus.
• Lost Songs of Sundari — Sudarshan Sawant.
• Maybe Tomorrow — Waad Al-Kateab and Wafa Mustafa; Channel 4.
• Sanyi Kakas (Sanyi the Rooster) — Lotte Salomons; The New York Times Op-Docs/Amsterdam University of the Arts.
• Sawyer Avenue, Sunday Afternoon — Bill Morrison; The New Yorker.
• Son — Leona Cauklija; The New York Times Op-Docs.
• Stalin Boys — Bianca Giaever and Ora DeKornfeld; The New York Times Op-Docs.
• The Hotline — Ricki Stern and Jesse Sweet; HBO Max.
• They’re Here — Laura Poitras and Rachel Lauren Mueller.

These 12 films will compete for five nominations and one winner.

Who will decide the other awards?

A jury of more than 200 documentary professionals from more than 60 countries will select winners in more than a dozen additional categories. The list includes Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Writing, and Best Music Documentary. Member voting therefore decides the two headline categories, while an international jury handles the wider awards slate.

The rule split gives members the two headline races and gives a jury control over the remaining categories.

What does the Oscar record show?

Eight of the last 10 IDA champions went on to earn Oscar nominations. Two of those champions, O.J.: Made in America (2016) and No Other Land (2024), also won the Academy Award.

For the 28 shortlisted films, the next decisive dates are Nov. 17, Nov. 27 and Dec. 4.