IDFA Announces Finalists For Their 2011 Awards

The nominations for the various IDFA competition programs were announced tonight in Amsterdam.

The winners will be announced Friday evening at the closing ceremony for the 24th IDFA, along with the winner of the Publieke Omroep IDFA Audience Award.

Last Saturday, the IDFA PLAY Award for Best Music Documentary was presented to "Last Days Here" (USA) by Don Argott and Demian Fenton.

Full list of finalists below. Check out Indiewire's profiles on finalists "The Ambassador" and "Ballroom Dancing."

 
IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

The nominees for the IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary (films longer than 60 minutes) are:

• The Ambassador (Denmark) by Mads Brügger
• Bad Weather (Germany/UK) by Giovanni Giommi
• Planet of Snail (South Korea), by Seung-Jun Yi.

The jury is made up of: Moussa Sene Absa (Senegal); Sandy Lieberson (USA); Dennis Lim (USA); Laila Pakalnina (Latvia) and Suzanne Raes (the Netherlands). The winner of this competition will receive the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary (€12,500). The jury may also grant a Special Jury Award.
 
IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

The following films are nominated for the IDFA Competition for Best Mid-Length Documentary (films up to 60 minutes):

• Going up the Stairs (Iran) by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami;
• Habana Muda (France) by Eric Brach
• Montenegro (Argentina) by Jorge Gaggero.

The jury consists of: David Fisher (Israel); Boris Gerrets (the Netherlands); Maria Ramos (the Netherlands); Miranda Siegel (USA) and Ben Tsiang (China). The NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary consists of €10,000.
 
IDFA Competition for First Appearance

The following films are nominated for the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance, the award for the best debut or second film:

• Ballroom Dancer (Denmark) by Andreas Koefoed and Christian Bonke
• I Was Born in Delhi... (India) by Bishnu Dev Halder
• The Vanishing Spring Light (China/Canada) by Xun Yu

The jury was made up of: Liang Bibo (China); Ollie Huddleston (UK); Monster Jimenez (the Philippines); Margje de Koning (the Netherlands) and Basil Tsiokos (USA). The IDFA Award for Best First Appearance is worth €5,000.
 
IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

The nominees for the IDFA Competition for Student Documentary, the competition for international student films are:

• The Betrayal (UK/Norway) by Karen Winther
• If It Weren't for You (the Netherlands) by Anne-Marieke Graafmans
• Tilman in Paradise (Germany) by Julian Vogel.

The jury was made up of: Stella Bruzzi (Italy); Eva Küpper (Belgium) and Willem-Jan Otten (the Netherlands). The IDFA Award for Student Competition consists of an amount of € 2,500.

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Fourteen Dutch documentaries competed for the Dioraphte IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary. The nominees are:

• 900 Days by Jessica Gorter
• Jerome Jerome by Petra Lataster-Czisch and Peter Lataster
• Stories from Lakka Beach by Daan Veldhuizen.

The jury consisted of: Luciano Barisone (Italy); Hans Robert Eisenhauer (Germany); Aliona van der Horst (the Netherlands); Anne Marie Kürstein (Denmark) and Orwa Nyrabia (Syria). The prize is worth € 5,000.
 
IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

This year, for the second time, documentaries about man and his environment are eligible for the IDFA Award for Best Green Screen Documentary. The nominees are:

• Bitter Seeds (USA/India) by Micha X. Peled
• Raising Resistance (Germany/Switzerland) by Betina Borgfeld and David Bernet
• Semper Fi: Always Faithful (USA) by Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon.

The jury consists of: Joe Berlinger (USA); Cath Le Couteur (Australia); Michael Madsen (Denmark); Juan Carlos Rulfo (Mexico) and Maartje Somers (the Netherlands). The prize is worth € 2,500.

 
BlackBerry IDFA DOC U Award

On Friday, the DOC U jury, made up of young people aged 15 to 18 years, will present the BlackBerry IDFA DOC U Award. The Nominations are:

• Koran by Heart (USA/England) by Greg Barker
• The Last Days of Winter (Iran) by Mehrdad Oskouei
• To Be Heard (USA) by Edwin Martinez, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Deborah Shaffer and Amy Sultan.

The jury consisted of: Sebastiaan Ahmadian Yazdi, Ida Blom, Bobby Fay Brandsen, Anne Lisette van der Heijden and Jody Homeijer. The prize is worth €1,500.
 
IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling

For the second year running, there is also an award for a project in the DocLab programme.  The nominees are:

• Barcode.tv (Canada/France) by Philippe Archontakis and Pascal Brouard
• Beyond 9/11 (USA) by Kira Pollack
• Insitu (France) by Antoine Viviani

The jury was made up of Ingrid Kopp (UK); Martijn de Waal (the Netherlands) and Rob McLaughlin (Canada). The prize is € 2,500 and a sculpture.