DOXA Documentary Film Festival announces 2023 award winners
King Coal, We Will Not Fade Away, and Notes on Displacement among the titles honoured
RUNNING THROUGH TO May 14, the 2023 DOXA Documentary Film Festival has announced the winners of this year’s competitions.
Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s King Coal is the 2023 winner of the Nigel Moore Award for Youth Programming. “The king in question is the coal industry of Central Appalachia, and its ghost is the industry’s decline, haunting the region through a nostalgia coiled tightly around the land and its people,” the tagline goes. Jurors Olivia Moore, Maya Biderman, Teagan Dobson, and Anna Hetherington praised the film’s hopeful and imaginative approach in a release, calling it “a spectacularly beautiful, deeply moving film that reshapes what we think of as documentary” while offering “nuanced and compassionate insight into a community at the intersection of history and progress”.
The jurors also made special mention and acknowledgement of We Will Not Fade Away. “The very existence of this film, captured at the brink of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the work of filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko, is courageous and defiant,” the panel says. “Showcasing the spirit and determination of youth, it encapsulates the honesty of feeling confined by circumstance and age. It is a film that connects to Nigel’s strong sense of justice and social awareness.”
Khaled Jarrar’s Notes on Displacement is the winner of this year’s DOXA Feature Documentary Award. “Jarrar’s bravery and compassion create a deeply human look at the individuals who find themselves forced to migrate in search of safety,” jurors Dina Al-Kassim, Kent Donguines and Nadia Shihab say.
The jurors also made special mention of Nishtha Jain’s The Golden Thread “for its meditative observation of jute mills and its dignified portrait of the low-wage workers who have laboured in the factories for decades”; and to Theo Montoya’s Anhell69 for its “hypnotic hybrid approach to storytelling and the power it gives to the Queer communities it portrays.”
This year’s Short Documentary Award goes Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché’s compelling and compassionate “Tiny”. Jurors Eva Anandi Brownstein, Kinga Binkowska, and Rylan Friday were moved by the storytelling, well-executed animation, and care that the filmmakers took in crafting the story, with elder Coleen Hemphill’s memories brought to life through sound design and animation.
A special jury mention was given to Nicolas Lachapelle’s “Zug Island” for its striking cinematography, sound design, and humanist lens. This short was “brilliantly executed” in its artful portrayal of human hubris and resilience in a dystopian landscape.
Presented by the Directors Guild of Canada, the Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director goes to Khoa Lê’s (Má Sài Gòn (Mother Saigon). Jurors Elad Tzadok, Lindsay McIntyre, and Nisha Platzer describe Lê’s “impeccable balance between his powerful and unwavering visual aesthetic, the delicate relationships he built with the community and the empathy he managed to create on screen.”
A special jury mention also goes to Rodrigue Jean and Arnaud Valade for 2012/Through the Heart (2012/Dans le coeur) for bringing to light an ugly and underreported part of Canada’s recent history with a critical eye.
Finally, the inaugural Elevate Award, presented by Elevate Inclusion Strategies, goes to Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché for “Tiny”. Jurors Jaewoo Kang, Shasha McArthur, and Soloman Chiniquay praised the film’s innovative use of stop motion animation and the filmmaker’s caring celebration of elder Colleen Hemphill and the lands and waters of Alert Bay. A special jury mention is given to Notes on Displacement, for “its timely and delicate exploration of the lives of migrant families [that] reminds us of the human beings at the heart of news stories.”
More information is at DOXA.
Related Articles
Eternal You, A Man Imagined, Black Box Diaries, nanekawâsis, and other intriguing offerings at the celebration of new nonfiction film
Festivals, music, dance, poetry, and more as artists honour Asian culture with a luminous May events calendar
New DOXA Documentary Film Festival feature tells the incredible story of the Armstrong company, and how spending childhood summers there inspired McNeil’s own art-making
New showcase of cinema that inspires social change to highlight nine films from Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. at Surrey City Hall
The Cultch and Urban Ink present Kamila Sediego’s play that explores cultural identity and familial duty
Programming announcement includes Artists in Residence Sakina Abdou, Shahzad Ismaily, and DJ O Show hosting performances, artist talks, and workshops
Filmmaker Shannon Walsh turns her lens on a labyrinthian fantasy world and an all-consuming love that transcends death
The 2024 fest’s closing celebration hears from Vancouver Art Gallery’s deputy director and director of curatorial programs
Documentary film shares the story of Jacob Beaton, who is training Indigenous people to grow their own food
Taboo-buster Cheyenne Rouleau traverses more personal terrain in new one-woman show
Gender-nonconforming artist and activist moves fluidly between standup comedy, poetry, and public speaking
The countercultural icon of fringe cinema riffs the dangers of smoking, mainstream acceptance, and trigger warning in advance of his appearances at the Rio Theatre on April 25 and 26
Artists set to come in from Ukraine, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, South Africa, New Zealand, South Korea, and beyond at Jericho Beach July 19 to 21
Canadian-Pakistani filmmaker Zarrar Kahn’s assured feature draws on horror tropes for story of a young Karachi woman and her mother
Advocates welcome boost from $8 million to $15.5 million per year, but call for longer-term funding
Additional screenings of Food, Inc. 2, A Difficult Year, and Silvicola will be shown throughout late April at the VIFF Centre
French filmmaker probes themes of free will, psychopathy, and perversity in his two most recent works at The Cinematheque
Shannon Walsh’s Adrianne & the Castle (2023) opens the festival’s screenings at the Vancouver Playhouse on May 4
Diana Donnelly’s take on Twelfth Night opens the season, which also features Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors, and Measure for Measure
Premium sake sampling, children’s J-pop dancing, samurai sword performances, and more at weekend event
Running May 2 to 12, fest also features nanekawâsis, Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, Tea Creek, and Caravan Farm Theatre doc The Originals
Shadbolt Centre for the Arts presentation of retro-futuristic sci-fi classic is accompanied by music from duo Beautiful Violence
Nina and the Hedgehog’s Secret, Adventures in the Land of Asha, and Coco Farm
Trinidadian-Canadian band Kobo Town, Innu-Acadian artist Shauit, Swedish acoustic-folk band Fränder, and more on the main stage
Opening Film Nina and the Hedgehog’s Secret is followed by a reception with snacks, drinks, and animation workshops
Four short film programs and Jules Koostachin’s feature WaaPake (Tomorrow) screen at SFU’s Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema
Taiko drumming, yoga, paper fan-painting, pink dumplings, and more on offer underneath the park’s 100 Akebono cherry blossom trees