"Summer of Soul" tops 3 categories, including Best Director for Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Director Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee took the marquee Best Feature honor at the 37th annual International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards held Friday (3/4) during an online ceremony.
Best Director distinction was earned by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which also took home awards for Best Music Documentary and Best Editing.
A Broken House, directed and produced by Jimmy Goldblum and produced by Matt Weaver, former Representative Richard Gephardt and Harrison Nalevansky, was named Best Short.
Hulu and Searchlight ended the night with three wins for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). HBO Max was the distributor for two winners, Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground and Exterminate All the Brutes, and POV distributed winners North By Current and A Broken House as well as Seahorse, distributed by POV Shorts.
Richard Ray (“Rick”) Pérez, IDA’s executive director, commented, “This year’s IDA Documentary Awards celebrate thematic depth and creativity of the best documentary storytelling of the last year. As the documentary community and the world still grapple with the effects of a global epidemic, IDA is honored to recognize the outstanding nominees in all categories, and we congratulate the winners for their incredible contributions to helping us understand the world around us.”
The online IDA Awards ceremony was hosted by filmmakers Kate Amend, Jerry Henry, Pedro Kos, and Renee Tajima-Peña. The digital ceremony featured a musical performance by Mehandis Geleto, featured in Faya Dayi.
Here’s a rundown of IDA Award winners:
2021 IDA Documentary Awards Winners
Best Feature
Flee (Denmark, France, Norway / NEON, Participant. Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen. Producers: Monica Hellstrom, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie)
Best Director
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (USA / Hulu, Searchlight Pictures)
Best Short
A Broken House (USA, Lebanon / Condé Nast Entertainment, The New Yorker, POV. Director/Producer: Jimmy Goldblum. Producer: Matt Weaver, former Representative Richard Gephardt and Harrison Nalevansky)
Best Curated Series
Independent Lens (USA / Independent Lens, PBS. Executive Producers: Lois Vossen, Sally Jo Fifer)
Best Episodic Series
My Love: Six Stories of True Love (USA / Netflix. Executive Producer: Mo-young Jin, Andrew Fried, Dane Lillegard and Jordan Wynn)
Best Multi-Part Documentary
Exterminate All the Brutes (USA, France / HBO, HBO Max. Director/Executive Producer: Raoul Peck. Producers: Daniel Delume. Executive Producers: Rémi Grellety, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Jamie Morris, Jack Oliver and Poppy Dixon)
Best Short-Form Series
Viral Dreams (Germany, Israel / ZDF Arte. Producer: Georg Tschurtschenthaler. Executive Producers: Christian Beetz)
Best Stand-Alone Audio Documentary
VICE News Reports: Monaea, A 2020 Diary (USA / VICE News, iHeartRadio. Reporters: Monaea Upton and Jen Kinney. Producers: Jen Kinne, Ashley Cleek, Adizah Eghan and Adreanna Rodriguez. Executive Producer: Kate Osborn)
Best Multi-Part Audio Documentary or Series
“Suave” from Futuro Studios and PRX (USA / Futuro Studios, PRX. Reporters: Maggie Freleng and Julieta Martinelli. Producers: Maria Hinojosa, Maggie Freleng, Julieta Martinelli, Marlon Bishop, Audrey Quinn and Stephanie Lubow. Executive Producer: Maria Hinojosa)
Best Music Documentary
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (USA / Hulu, Searchlight Pictures. Director: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Producers: Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, David Dinerstein)
David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award
Seahorse (Germany / Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. Director/Producer: Nele Dehnenkamp. Producer: Christine Duttlinger)
Best Cinematography
Faya Dayi (Ethiopia, USA, Qatar / Janus Films. Cinematographer: Jessica Beshir)
Best Editing
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (USA / Hulu, Searchlight Pictures. Editor: Joshua L. Pearson)
Best Music Score
Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground (USA / HBO Max. Composer: Roman GianArthur)
Best Writing
North By Current (USA / POV, PBS. Writer: Angelo Madsen Minax)
ABC News VideoSource Award
Whirlybird (USA / Greenwich Entertainment, A&E IndieFilms. Director: Matt Yoka. Producer: Matt Yoka, Diane Becker)
Pare Lorentz Award
The First Wave (USA / National Geographic. Director/Producer: Matthew Heineman. Producers: Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville)
HONORABLE MENTION: Tigre Gente (USA. Director/Producer: Elizabeth Unger. Producer: Joanna Natasegara)
Career Achievement Award
Roger Ross Williams
Pioneer Award
Jean Tsien
Truth to Power Award
Ronan Farrow
Courage Under Fire Award
Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh
Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award
Cecilia Aldarondo
Review: Director-Writer Megan Park’s “My Old Ass”
They say tripping on psychedelic mushrooms triggers hallucinations, anxiety, paranoia and nervousness. In the case of Elliott, an 18-year-old restless Canadian, they prompt a visitor.
"Dude, I'm you," says the guest, as she nonchalantly burns a 'smores on a campfire next to a very high and stunned Elliott. "Well, I'm a 39-year-old you. What's up?"
What's up, indeed: Director-writer Megan Park has crafted a wistful coming-of-age tale using this comedic device for "My Old Ass" and the results are uneven even though she nails the landing.
After the older Elliott proves who she is — they share a particular scar, childhood memories and a smaller left boob — the time-travel advice begins: Be nice to your brothers and mom, and stay away from a guy named Chad.
"Can we hug?" asks the older Elliott. They do. "This is so weird," says the younger Elliott, who then makes things even weirder when she asks for a kiss — to know what it's like kissing yourself. The older Elliott soon puts her number into the younger's phone under the name "My Old Ass." Then they keep in touch, long after the effects of the 'shrooms have gone.
Part of the movie's problem that can't be ignored is that the two Elliotts look nothing alike. Maisy Stella plays the coltish young version and a wry Aubrey Plaza the older. Both turn in fine performances but the visuals are slowly grating.
The arrival of the older Elliott coincides with her younger self counting down the days until she can flee from her small town of 300 in the Muskoka Lakes region to college in Toronto, where "my life is about to start." She's sick of life on a cranberry farm.
Park's scenes and dialogue are unrushed and honest as Elliott takes her older self's advice and tries to repair... Read More