Last night, Hot Docs presented their awards for the 2009 festival. Congratulations to all the winnners:
Best Canadian Feature Documentary
INVISIBLE CITY
Director: Hubert Davis
Producers: Mehernaz Lentin, Gerry Flahive
Executive Producer: Silva Basmajian (NFB)
Sponsored by the Documentary Organization of Canada and the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation
$15,000 prize courtesy of the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation
Special Jury Prize — Canadian Feature
WATERLIFE
Director: Kevin McMahon
Producers: Michael McMahon, Kristina McLaughlin, Gerry Flahive
Executive Producers: Mark Achbar, Betsy Carson, Michael McMahon, Silva Basmajian (NFB)
Sponsored by the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation
$10,000 prize courtesy of the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation
Best International Feature Documentary
THE ONE MAN VILLAGE
Director/Producer: Simon El Habre
Producers: Jad Abi-Khalil, Irit Neidhardt
Sponsored by A&E
$10,000 prize courtesy of Hot Docs
Special Jury Prize — International Feature
COOKING HISTORY
Director/Producer: Peter Kerekes
Producers: Georg Misch, Pavel Strnad
Executive Producer: Ralph Wieser
Sponsored by the OMDC
Best Mid-Length Documentary
RABBIT À LA BERLIN
Director: Bartek Konopka
Producer: Anna Wydra
Sponsored by Canada Council for the Arts
Best Short Documentary
THE DELIAN MODE
Director/Producer: Kara Blake
Producer: Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre
Sponsored by Playback
documentary’s Don Haig Award
Brett Gaylor
Tracey Deer
Awarded by the Don Haig Award Committee — $20,000 cash prize generously sponsored by documentary
The Lindalee Tracey Award
Laura Bari
Will Inrig
$6,000 cash prize and film stock donated by Kodak Canada and valued at $3,000
HBO Documentary Films Emerging Artist Award
Chung-ryoul Lee
OLD PARTNER
Sponsored by HBO Documentary Films
Hot Docs Outstanding Achievement Award
Presented to Alanis Obomsawin by the Hot Docs Board of Directors
Tagged as:
#hotdocs09
Tonight was the second annual Cinema Eye Honors ceremony, held in New York City. The Cinema Eye Honors were created last year by AJ Schnack with the support of Thom Powers and Indiepix as a response to what they felt was an unfair eligibility policy for documentary films to be considered for the Academy Awards. It seems a bit strange, then, that three of the four films honoured tonight were contenders for Oscars this year (although Waltz with Bashir (review) was nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category). That being said, I’m so glad that Yung Chang’s Up the Yangtze (review) got some deserved attention after being overlooked by the Academy.
Here is the full list of winners from tonight’s ceremony:
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking
Man on Wire (review) produced by James Marsh and Simon Chinn
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Ari Folman, Waltz with Bashir
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Peter Zeitlinger, Encounters at the End of the World
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Jinx Godfrey, Man on Wire
Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation
Yoni Goodman, Waltz with Bashir
Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition
Max Richter, Waltz with Bashir
Outstanding Achievement in International Feature
Waltz with Bashir, directed by Ari Folman and produced by Ari Folman, Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahlieli and Roman Paul
Outstanding Achievement in Debut Feature
Yung Chang, Up the Yangtze
Audience Choice Prize
Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang
Tagged as:
cinemaeyehonors
This morning’s Academy Award nominations really drove home to me why I write this blog. I am not embarrassed to tell you that I have yet to see any of the films nominated for Best Picture. That’s not to say that I won’t see them at some point. But I’ve come to understand that I just don’t care about keeping up with the flood of new releases or rushing to see every nominated film before the awards are announced.
I will discover the great films the way I’ve always discovered them, and in the same way that I find great music, or literature. Not (necessarily) from awards or year-end lists, but in my own time and in my own way. Maybe it will be through a friend’s recommendation, or an interesting review, or a connection with another film or actor or director.
But I don’t want this blog to try to “cover” the big news the way that so many other blogs do. They do it quicker, and bigger, and better most of the time.
The title “Toronto Screen Shots” may make this site sound like a generic (if local) film blog, but the truth is that it’s a personal site, with my idiosyncratic tastes on full display.
Instead of posting the nominations and carping about them, like hundreds of other sites will be doing today, I’m simply going to let it pass. If something shiny appears in the corner of my eye, I’ll let you know about it, as always, but it’s become clear to me that I’m just not qualified to talk about the Oscars right now when I’ve seen so few of the nominated films.
The media generally like to whip up the hype to make everyone think that this year’s nominees are among the greatest works of art ever committed to film. When you take the long view back into history, and the broad view around the world, you realize how ridiculous that really is.
AJ Schnack announced the nominees for the second annual Cinema Eye Honors yesterday at Sundance. The awards ceremony will be held in New York City on Sunday March 29, 2009.
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking
- Man on Wire, directed by James Marsh and produced by Simon Chinn (review)
- My Winnipeg, directed by Guy Maddin and produced by Jody Shapiro and Phyllis Laing
- The Order of Myths, directed by Margaret Brown and produced by Margaret Brown and Sara Alize Cross
- Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, directed by Marina Zenovich and produced by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Lila Yacoub and Marina Zenovich
- Waltz with Bashir, directed by Ari Folman and produced by Ari Folman, Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahlieli and Roman Paul (review)
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Outstanding Achievement in Production
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation
Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition
Outstanding Achievement in International Feature
Outstanding Achievement in Debut Feature
Audience Choice Prize
UPDATE: AJ has posted video of the nominations announcement.
Tagged as:
cinemaeyehonors
The Cinema Eye Honors, documentary awards organized by AJ Schnack and Indiepix for the first time last year, are returning this March and the shortlist has just been announced. Here are the lucky films:
I was actually strangely excited by the fact that I’d only seen five of the nominated films. It just shows how much great work is being produced each year. I’m looking forward to seeing a few more of these soon, hopefully before the awards are announced in New York City on March 29th.
Tagged as:
cinemaeyehonors
