2008 Awards for Excellence in Nonfiction Filmmaking Announced

The folks at IndiePix sent me the following news today:

A new nonfiction filmmaking award, recognizing the wide breadth of the genre and also specific crafts such as cinematography and editing is being created from within the documentary community. The inaugural event, honoring films from 2007, will be held on March 18, 2008 at the IFC Center in New York City. The awards are to be co-chaired by filmmaker AJ Schnack (director of “Kurt Cobain About a Son”) and Thom Powers, Documentary Programmer of the Toronto International Film Festival.

IndiePix, the internet based distributor of independent film, has joined Mr. Schnack and Mr. Powers in this effort and will be the presenting partner and sponsor for the inaugural awards, it was announced today by Bob Alexander, President of IndiePix.

Nominees in 8 categories will be announced on January 20, 2008 at an event for press and the documentary community in Park City, UT (coinciding with the Sundance Film Festival). On that date further details will be revealed about the award, including its official name.

Awards will be presented in the following categories:

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking
Outstanding Achievement in an International Feature
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Outstanding Achievement in Production
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Outstanding Achievement in Graphics and Animation

Members of the Nominating Committee:

Thom Powers (Chair), Documentary Programmer, Toronto International Film Festival
Phoebe Brush, Director of Programming, Full Frame Film Festival
Matt Dentler, Producer, South by Southwest Film Festival
Sean Farnel, Director of Programming, Hot Docs
Tom Hall, Director of Programming, Sarasota Film Festival
David Kwok, Director of Programming, Tribeca Film Festival
Cara Mertes, Director of Sundance Documentary Film Program, Sundance Film Festival
David Nugent, Director of Programming, Hamptons International Film Festival
Rachel Rosen, Director of Programming, Los Angeles Film Festival
Sky Sitney, Director of Programming, SilverDocs
David Wilson, Director, True/False Film Festival
Brit Withey, Artistic Director of Festivals, Starz Denver Film Festival

Also today, it was announced that 15 films have been shortlisted in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking by a blue-ribbon nominating committee of 12 programmers from North America’s top film festivals who are esteemed for their specialization in documentary (see list below). Those films are:

"Billy the Kid"
"Deep Water"
"The Devil Came on Horseback"
"Ghosts of Cite Soleil"
"In the Shadow of the Moon"
"Into Great Silence"
"Lake of Fire"
"Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)"
"Manufactured Landscapes"
"The Monastery - Mr. Vig and the Nun"
"No End in Sight"
"Sicko"
"Taxi to the Dark Side"
"The Unforeseen"
"Zoo"

You can also read about this news in an article on indieWIRE.