The International Documentary Association has announced the nominees for the 41st IDA Documentary Awards, and four of the five nominees for Best Feature Documentary were made with the support of WMM’s Production Assistance Program, including: LIFE AFTER (dir. Reid Davenport; prod. Colleen Cassingham), APOCALYPSE IN THE TROPICS (dir. Petra Costa; prods. Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa), SEEDS (dir. Brittany Shyne; prods. Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Brittany Shyne), and SONGS OF SLOW BURNING EARTH (dir. Olha Zhurba; prod. Darya Bassel). The directors of all four of these films are also four of the five nominees for Best Director.
Brittany Shyne will also receive this year’s Emerging Filmmaker Award, recognizing her powerful directorial debut.
The complete list of nominations for Production Assistance Program films follows:
- APOCALYPSE IN THE TROPICS
- Best Feature Documentary
- Best Director – Petra Costa
- Best Production – Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa
- Best Writing – Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker
- LIFE AFTER
- Best Feature Documentary
- Best Director – Reid Davenport
- Best Production – Colleen Cassingham
- RIVER OF GRASS
- Best Writing – Sasha Wortzel
- SEEDS
- Best Feature Documentary
- Best Director – Brittany Shyne
- Best Production – Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Brittany Shyne
- SONGS OF THE SLOW BURNING EARTH
- Best Feature Documentary
- Best Director – Olha Zhurba
- WRITING HAWA
- Best Sound Design – Afshin Azizi
In addition, WMM alum Dawn Porter was nominated for Best Episodic Series for THE SING SING CHRONICLES and COVER-UP, co-directed by alum Laura Poitras, earned a Special Mention in Best Feature Documentary. See the full nomination list here.
The IDA Documentary Awards will take place on December 6, 2025. Congratulations to all the nominated filmmakers!
