October Country & Mugabe and the White African top Silverdocs

Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher‘s October Country and Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson‘s Mugabe and the White African are the big winners at the 7th edition of the SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival (one of the two major strictly documentary showcase film festivals for North America – other being Toronto’s Hotdocs). Both films receive a cash prize of 10 thousand big ones. The jury which included Margaret Brown (one of our favorite doc filmmakers) awarded October Country with the Sterling Award for a US Feature, while the jury that included Geoffrey Smith (The English Surgeon) awarded Mugabe… with the Sterling Award for a World Feature. Last year’s winner were The Garden, and Smith’s English Surgeon. Here is the issued press release featuring all the award winners, with the public favorite being announced tomorrow.  

Sterling Award for a US Feature goes to OCTOBER COUNTRY directed by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher, which documents the multi-generational story of a working-class family coping with poverty, teen pregnancy, foster care and the ineffable horrors of child molestation and war. The directors will receive $10,000 cash.

This year’s SILVERDOCS Sterling Award for a World Feature goes to MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN directed by Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson, which explores, through the lens of a 74-year-old white farmer, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s deeply controversial land seizure program, which intended to re-distribute white-owned farmland.

The SILVERDOCS Sterling Award for a Short Film was given to 12 NOTES DOWN directed by Andreas Koefoed, which documents 14-year old star choir performer, Jorgis, after his voice starts changing as he decides when and how to make an unexpected yet graceful exit from choir.

Special Jury mention went to SALT directed by Michael Angus and Murray Fredericks, which chronicles photographer Murray Frederick’s journey into the remote salt flats in South Australia.

The SILVERDOCS Music Documentary Award presented by Gibson Guitars went to RISEUP directed by Luciano Blotta. The film chronicles three Jamaican musicians as they fight for a place in the overcrowded reggae field. 

The SILVERDOCS Cinematic Vision Award went to OLD PARTNER directed by Lee Chung-ryoul. The film captures the peculiar yet touching relationship between an old farmer, living in a remote South Korean village, and his 40-year old ox.

The SILVERDOCS WITNESS Award in honor of Joey R. B. Lozano was given to GOOD FORTUNE by Landon Van Soest, which examines two multi-million dollar international aid projects in Africa that may actually be undermining the very communities they seek to help. The award is given to the strongest documentary about human rights violations or social justice issues.

The Award Winner for the Animal Content in Entertainment (ACE) Grant went to CINEMA CHIMP by David Grabias. The feature-length documentary profiles Cheeta, “star” of film and TV, as it explores the ethical debate over using non-human primate “actors” in the entertainment industry. The director will receive a $25,000 grant.

The Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of America, East have named writer-director Nicole Opper as the winner of the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award for her film OFF AND RUNNING, a story of race, identity, and family focusing on Avery, an accomplished African-American teenager adopted by Jewish lesbians.