“Dahomey,” “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” and “Sugarcane” are among the 20 nonfiction films that have made the shortlist for the International Documentary Association’s 2024 IDA Documentary Awards, the IDA announced on Thursday morning.
The shortlisted features come from 21 different countries and include works by Mati Diop (“Dahomey”), Raoul Peck (“Ernest Cole: Lost and Found”). The IDA’s feature shortlist is typically idiosyncratic in that it doesn’t include several of the most acclaimed and highest-profile nonfiction films of the year, including “Will & Harper,” “Daughters,” “Piece by Piece,” “Mountain Queen” and “Union.”
Of the 20 films on the IDA shortlist, eight also appeared on the DOC NYC list of likely awards titles: “Black Box Diaries,” “Dahomey,” “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” “No Other Land,” Queendom,” “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” and “Sugarcane.”
The IDA’s shortlist for short docs is also international, with 14 different countries represented. The New York Times Op-Docs has four of shortlisted shorts: “A Move,” “Instruments of a Beating Heart,” “Modern Goose” and “The Sparkle.” The New Yorker has three: “Squid Fleet,” “The Medallion” and “The Passing.”
The shortlisted films were chosen by IDA committees, with IDA members able to view the shortlisted films on their viewing platform beginning Nov. 4. The two shortlists will be narrowed down to 10 nominees each, with nominations announced on Nov. 19. The IDA Documentary Awards will take place on Dec. 5 at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
The shortlists:
Best Feature Documentary
“Agent of Happiness,” Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó
“Black Box Diaries,” Shiori Ito
“Brisa,” Nick Nanton
“Dahomey,” Mati Diop
“Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” Raoul Peck
“Hollywoodgate,” Ibrahim Nash’at
“Igualada,” Juan Mejía Botero
“Kamay,” Ilyas Yourish
“The Last Journey,” Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson
“Mediha,” Hasan Oswald
“Motherboard,” Victoria Mapplebeck
“My Sweet Land,” Sareen Hairabedian
“No Other Land,” Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor & Yuval Abraham
“Queendom,” Agniia Galdanova
“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” Benjamin Ree
“Seeking Mavis Beacon,” Jazmin Renée Jones
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” Johan Grimonprez
“Sugarcane,” Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie
“Tell Them You Love Me,” Nick August-Perna
“Water For Life” / “Agua Es Vida,” Will Parrinello
Best Short Documentary
“A Move,” Elahe Esmaili
“A Movement Against the Transparency of the Stars of the Seas,” Esy Casey
“Amma ki Katha,” Nehal Vyas
“Bad Hostage,” Mimi Wilcox
“ENCHUNKUNOTO (The Return),” Laissa Malih
“Gaza Diaries,” Namak Khoshnaw
“Here We Are,” Chanasorn Chaikitiporn
“In Flanders Fields,” Sachin, Victor Candelas
“Instruments of a Beating Heart,” Ema Ryan Yamazaki
“The Medallion,” Ruth Hunduma
“Modern Goose,” Karsten Wall
“Nine Easy Dances,” Nora Rosenthal
“Old Lesbians,” Meghan McDonough
“OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage,” Clare Major
“The Passing,” Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan
“The Poem We Sang,” Annie Sakkab
“The Sparkle,” Isabelle Grignon-Francke
“Squid Fleet,” Ed Ou and Will N. Miller
“Ted & Noel,” Julia Alcamo
“Until He’s Back,” Jacqueline Baylon
