The 2021 International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards have announced the shortlists for the Best Feature and Best Short categories and three films made with the support of our Production Assistance Program are among them! The IDA Awards are one of several awards organizations that help create momentum for documentary Oscar contenders.
The shortlisted WMM-sponsored films are:
- FAYA DAYI (dir. Jessica Beshir), a journey into the rituals of khat, a leaf that Sufi Muslims have chewed for centuries for religious purposes and Ethiopia’s most lucrative cash crop.
- JACINTA (dir. Jessica Earnshaw, prod. Jessica Earnshaw, Holly Meehl, Nimisha Mukerji), which follows a woman hoping to break a cycle of drug addiction and reconnect with her young daughter.
- TAKEOVER (dir. Emma Francis-Snyder), a short documentary that chronicles the twelve hours in 1970 when 50 members of the Young Lords Party stormed the Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx, making their cries for health justice known to the world. The film was recently selected by Sister and Market Road Films to be adapted into a narrative feature.
Among the recognized features and shorts, we are thrilled to see seven of our Program alums on the shortlists — Beth Levison (STORM LAKE), Diane Quon (WUHAN WUHAN), Lauren DeFilippo (AILEY), Nira Burstein (CHARM CIRCLE), Betsy Laikin (CHARM CIRCLE), Liz Garbus (CONVERGENCE: COURAGE IN A CRISIS), and Laura McNaught (CONVERGENCE: COURAGE IN A CRISIS).
Congratulations to all our wonderful filmmakers! The full shortlists can be found here.
