“Our School” and “Family Instinct” Lead Silverdocs Award Winners

Mona Nicoara & Miruna Coco-Cozma’s “Our School,” which follows the integration over four years of rural Roma students into the Romanian public school system, took home the Best US Feature prize at this year’s Silverdocs. The winner in the Sterling World Feature Competition was Andris Gauja’s “Family Instinct,” which takes an intimate look into the lives of a Latvian family whose patriarch and matriarch are also brother and sister. Margaret Brown’s in-production “The Great Invisible” (about the oil industry and the gulf crisis) and Ian Cheney’s “Bluespace” about urban waterways each received $25,000 from the inaugural Whole Foods Market and Silverdocs Grant for works in progress.

The complete list of winners is below

Sterling Award for Best US Feature ($5,000)
“Our School,” Mona Nicoara & Miruna Coco-Cozma

Special Jury Mention
“The Bully Project,” Lee Hirsch
“When the Drum is Beating,” Whitney Dow

Sterling Award for Best World Feature ($5,000)
“Family Instinct,” Andris Gauja

Special Jury Mention
“Position Among the Stars,” Leonard Retel Helmrich

Sterling Award for Best Short Film ($2,500)
“Guanape Sur,” János Richter

Honorable Mention
“Still Here,” Alex Camilleri

Cinematic Vision Award
“Life in a Day,” Kevin MacDonald

WGA Documentary Screenplay Award
“The Loving Story,” Nancy Buirski & Susie Ruth Powell (screenwriters)

Whole Foods Market and Silverdocs Grant for Works in Progress
“The Great Invisible,” Margaret Brown
“Bluespace,” Ian Cheney

Tribeca Film Institute and Silverdocs Transmedia Lab Pitch Award
“The Tillman Story Interactive Edition,” Amir Bar-lev