Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching for Sugar Man took the best feature award at the International Documentary Association’s 2012 IDA Documentary Awards on Friday night at the DGA in Los Angeles.
Released by Sony Pictures Classics, Sugar Man tells the story of Sixto Rodriguez, a ‘70s singer-songwriter whose music took South Africa by storm while he continued to live in anonymity in Detroit. The film, among the 15 features that have been shortlisted for the documentary Oscar, also received the IDA’s Creative Recognition Award for Best Music.
At the ceremony, hosted by magician-author Penn Jillette, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Saving Face, an HBO film that highlights the work of plastic surgeon Mohammad Jawad to help two Pakistani women who were victims of an acid attack, received the best short film award.
The continuing series award went to the PBS series American Masters, which profiles contemporary artists from various fields, and the limited series award was given to Investigation Discovery’s On Death Row, written and directed by 2008 IDA Career Achievement Award honoree Werner Herzog.
IDA’s Career Achievement Award was presented to producer Arnold Shapiro by his longtime friend Bob Eubanks. Accepting the award, the prolific Shapiro, who received an Oscar in 1979 for his feature documentary Scared Straight, said, “I literally have made myself — scared successful!”
David France, who directed the award-winning How to Survive a Plague, another title on the Oscar shortlist, was honored with the Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award.
IDA’s Pioneer Award, recognizing “extraordinary contributions to advancing the nonfiction form and providing exceptional vision and leadership to the documentary community,” was presented to the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund by 2008 IDA Pioneer Award honoree Rob Epstein. Cara Mertes, director of the program, accepted the award on behalf of Sundance.
A complete list of the 2012 IDA Documentary Awards winners follows:
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
ARNOLD SHAPIRO
JACQUELINE DONNET EMERGING DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER AWARD
DAVID FRANCE
PIONEER AWARD
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROGRAM AND FUND
BEST FEATURE AWARD
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN
Director/Producer/Writer: Malik Bendjelloul
Producer: Simon Chinn
Executive Producer: John Battsek
Red Box Films, Sony Pictures Classics
BEST SHORT AWARD
SAVING FACE
Director: Daniel Junge, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Producers: David Coombe, Daniel Junge, Alison Greenberg, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Sabiha Sumar
Co-Producers: Aaron Kopp, Fazeelat Aslam
Senior Producer: Lisa Heller (HBO)
Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins (HBO)
HBO Documentary Films, Milkhaus, LLC, and JungeFilm, LLC
BEST LIMITED SERIES AWARD
ON DEATH ROW
Director/Writer: Werner Herzog
Producer: Erik Nelson
Coordinating Producer: Robert Erickson
Executive Producers: Dave Harding, Amy Briamonte; Andre Singer and Lucki Stipetic (Spring Films and Werner Herzog Film); Nick Raslan (Skellig Rock); Henry Schleiff and Sara Kozak (Investigation Discovery)
Creative Differences, Investigation Discovery
BEST CONTINUING SERIES AWARD
AMERICAN MASTERS
Executive Producer: Susan Lacy
Series Producer: Prudence Glass
Supervising Producer: Julie Sacks
Coordinating Producer: Junko Tsunashima
THIRTEEN in association with PBS
DAVID L. WOLPER STUDENT DOCUMENTARY AWARD
LA CAMIONETA
Director/Producer/Writer: Mark Kendall
Producer: Rafael González
Writer: Shannon Kennedy
Executive Producer: Esther Robinson
School of Visual Arts
ABCNEWS VIDEOSOURCE AWARD
HARVEST OF EMPIRE
Directors: Peter Getzels, Eduardo López
Producers: Wendy Thompson-Marquez, Eduardo López
Onyx Films, EVS Communications, Loquito Productions
HUMANITAS DOCUMENTARY AWARD
BITTER SEEDS
Director/Producer: Micha X. Peled
Teddy Bear Films
PARE LORENTZ AWARD
THE ISLAND PRESIDENT
Director: Jon Shenk
Producers: Bonni Cohen, Richard Berge
Executive Producers: Jon Else, Sally Jo Fifer, Dan Cogan
Actual Films, Inc., Samuel Goldwyn/Independent Lens
CREATIVE RECOGNITION AWARDS
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
WOMEN WITH COWS
Cinematography by: Peter Gerdehag
BEST EDITING
ROOM 237
Editing by: Rodney Ascher
BEST MUSIC
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN
Original Songs by: Sixto Rodriguez
Additional Score by: Malik Bendjelloul
BEST WRITING
ANN RICHARDS’ TEXAS
Screenplay by: Keith Patterson
