The 2025 International Documentary Awards nominations have been revealed.
Apocalypse in the Tropics tops this year’s film nominees with four nods, including in the top category of best feature documentary.
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Other films nominated for multiple awards include three-time nominees Life After, Seeds and The Tale of Silyan. Double nominees include Songs of Slow Burning Earth, Redlight to Limelight and Suburban Fury.
This year’s nominees were selected from more than 550 submissions from 85 countries, an increase from last year in the total number of countries represented. The entries were reviewed by juries consisting of dozens of documentary professionals worldwide.
This year, the IDA juries included special special mentions alongside nominees instead of announcing a shortlist for best feature and best short.
IDA members will be able to vote for the best feature and best short documentary winners from Nov. 19-Dec. 2. Winners in other categories will be selected by juries representing the international documentary community.
The IDA Documentary Awards previously announced plans to recognize Julie Goldman with the career achievement award, Brittany Shyne (Seeds) with the emerging filmmaker award and Impact Partners with the pioneer award.
The 2025 IDA Documentary Awards will be presented on Saturday, Dec. 6 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. In addition to the awards in competitive categories, the IDA Documentary Awards will announce winners in the ABC News VideoSource Award and Pare Lorentz Award categories.
Best Feature Documentary Nominees
Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States | Netflix | Director: Petra Costa | Producers:
Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa)
Life After (United States | Multitude Films | Director: Reid Davenport | Producer: Colleen
Cassingham)
Seeds (United States | Director: Brittany Shyne | Producers: Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt
Gordon, Brittany Shyne)
Songs of Slow Burning Earth (Ukraine, Sweden, Denmark | EPF Media | Director: Olha
Zhurba | Producer: Darya Bassel)
The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom | National
Geographic | Director: Tamara Kotevska | Producers: Tamara Kotevska, Jean Dakar, Anna
Hashmi, Jordanco Petkovski)
Best Feature Documentary Special Mentions
Come See Me in the Good Light (United States | Apple | Director: Ryan White | Producers:
Jessica Hargrave, Ryan White, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen)
Cover-Up (United States | Netflix | Director: Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus | Producers: Yoni
Golijov, Olivia Streisand, Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus)
Deaf President Now! (United States | Apple | Directors: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim |
Producers: Amanda Rohlke, Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Nyle DiMarco, Michael Harte,
Wayne Betts Jr.)
Mothers of Chibok (United States, Nigeria | Director: Joel ‘Kachi Benson | Producers: Jamie
Patricof, Katie McNeill, Rachel Halilej, Joel ‘Kachi Benson, Samira Mohammed, Adeyinka
Oduniyi)
ORWELL: 2+2=5 (United States | NEON | Director: Raoul Peck | Producers: Alex Gibney, Raoul
Peck, George Chignell, Nick Shumaker)
YANUNI (Austria, Brazil, United States | Director: Richard Ladkani | Producers: Anita Ladkani,
Richard Ladkani, Juma Xipaia, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson, Phillip Watson)
Best Short Documentary Nominees
Correct Me If I’m Wrong (Germany, United States | Director: Hao Zhou | Producer: Tyler Hill)
If a Walnut Falls (China, Hong Kong | Director: Bohao Liu | Producer: Bohao Liu)
Looking for a Donkey (Mexico, Venezuela | Director: Juan Vicente Manrique | Producers: Juan
Vicente Manrique, María Benítez)
Mama Micra (Germany | interfilm Berlin | Director: Rebecca Blöcher | Co-director: Frédéric
Schuld | Producer: Fabian Driehorst)
Their Eyes (France, United States | The New York Times Op-Docs | Director: Nicolas Gourault |
Producers: Yannick Beauquis and Quentin Brayer)
Best Short Documentary Special Mentions
All The Empty Rooms (United States | Netflix | Director: Joshua Seftel | Producers: Joshua
Seftel, Conall Jones, James Costa, Trevor Burgess)
The Candy Factory (United States | The New Yorker | Directors: Cory Jacobs and Jason
Schmidt | Producers: Cory Jacobs and Jason Schmidt)
Landscapes of Longing (India, United States | Directors: Alisha Tejpal, Mireya Martinez,
Anoushka Mirchandani | Producers: Alisha Tejpal, Mireya Martinez)
perfectly a strangeness (Canda, Chile | Premium Films | Director: Alison McAlpine | Producer:
Alison McAlpine)
Please Step Aside! (Germany | Raha Films | Director: Raha Faridi | Producer: Raha Faridi)
Voices From The Abyss (Mexico | EPF Media | Directors: Irving Serrano & Víctor Rejón |
Producer: Ramón Llaven Zavala)
Best Director
Petra Costa, Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States | Netflix)
Reid Davenport, Life After (United States | Multitude Films)
Brittany Shyne, Seeds (United States)
Olha Zhurba, Songs of Slow Burning Earth (Ukraine, Sweden, Denmark | EPF Media)
Tamara Kotevska, The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United
Kingdom | National Geographic)
Best Cinematography
Ben Sturgulewski, Champions of the Golden Valley (United States)
Subhadeep Dey, Mrinmoy Mondal, Rupesh Chaturbedi, Redlight to Limelight (India, Finland,
Latvia | BBC Storyville)
Jean Dakar, The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom |
National Geographic)
Natalia Pietsch, Grzegorz Piekarski, The Town That Drove Away (Poland | Polish National
TV)
Richard Ladkani, YANUNI (Austria, Brazil, United States)
Best Editing
Julia Loktev, My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow (United States | Argot)
Pablo Proenza, Natchez (United States | ITVS)
Jason Reid, Robinson Devor, Adam Sekuler, Matt Levinthal, Suburban Fury (United States)
Daniel Claridge, Pedro Kos, Sara Newens, The White House Effect (United States | Netflix)
Alex Megaro, Ian Bell, WTO/99 (United States)
Best Original Music Score
Sam Slater, Divia (Ukraine, Poland, Netherlands)
Mato Wayuhi, Free Leonard Peltier (United States)
Matthew Dougherty, Shuffle (United States)
Fréderic Filiartre, The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson (Panama)
Afshin Azizi, Writing Hawa (France, Netherlands, Qatar | First Hand FIlms, Icarus Films)
Best Production
Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa, Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States | Netflix)
Yoni Golijov, Olivia Streisand, Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, Cover-Up (United States |
Netflix)
Colleen Cassingham, Life After (United States | Multitude Films)
Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Brittany Shyne, Seeds (United States)
Andrew Jarecki, Charlotte Kaufman, The Alabama Solution (United States | HBO Max)
Best Sound Design
Yannick Dauby, Always (United States, France, Taiwan)
Alexander Dudarev, Architecton (Germany, France, United States | A24)
Thomas Perez-Pape, Only on Earth (Denmark, Spain | DR, HBO, SVT)
Rico Andriolo, Manu Gerber, Song of Breath (Switzerland, Italy)
Rubí J. Pérez, The Silence of My Hands (Mexico | AD Maiora)
Best Writing
Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker, Apocalypse in the Tropics
(United States | Netflix)
Bipuljit Basu, Redlight to Limelight (India, Finland, Latvia | BBC Storyville)
Sasha Wortzel, River of Grass (United States)
Cristina Costantini, Tom Maroney, Sally (United States | National Geographic)
Robinson Devor, Jason Reid, Bob Fink, Charles Mudede, Suburban Fury (United States)
Best Curated Series
99 (France | EP: Jérôme Plan)
Independent Lens (United States | PBS | EPs: Lois Vossen, Carrie Lozano, Royd Chung)
POV Season 38 (United States | PBS | EPs: Erika Dilday, Chris White)
POV Shorts Season 8 (United States | PBS | EPs: Opal H. Bennett, Erika Dilday, Chris White)
The New York Times Op-Docs (United States | The New York Times Op-Docs | EPs: Kathleen
Kingsbury, Adam B. Ellick, Alexandra Garcia)
Best Episodic Series
Citizen Nation (United States | PBS | Directors: Bret Sigler, Singeli Agnew | Producers:
Veronika Adaskova, Emily Orr, Wesley Harris, Cole Cahill, Victor Couto, Tom Brown)
Earnhardt (United States | Prime Video | Director: Joshua Altman | Producers: Riel
Roch-Decter, Tally Hair, Rebecca Russell)
Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015 (United States |
HBO Max | Directors: Geeta Gandbhir, Samantha Knowles, Muta’Ali, Rudy Valdez, Smriti
Mundhra, Asako Gladsjo | Producers: Asako Gladsjo, Nimco Sheikhaden, Jevon Frank, Leah
Smith, Clare Smith Marash, Niema Jordan)
The Sing Sing Chronicles (United States | PNBC News Studios in association with Trilogy
Films, MSNBC Films | Director: Dawn Porter | Producers: Lauren Capps, Sadie Bass, Nick
McElroy)
Turning Point: The Vietnam War (United States | Netflix | Director: Brian Knappenberger |
Producers: Doan Hoang Curtis, Bo Kovitz, Keven McAlester, Tommy Nguyen)
Best Music Documentary
El Canto de las Manos (Spain, United States | Feel Sales | Director: María Valverde |
Producers: María Valverde, Martí Font Isern, Cristina Oliva, Gustavo Dudamel)
Move Ya Body: The Birth of House (United States | Director: Elegance Bratton | Producer:
Chester Algernal Gordon)
One to One: John & Yoko (United Kingdom | Magnolia Pictures, HBO Documentary Films |
Director: Kevin Macdonald | Co-director: Sam Rice-Edwards | Producers: Peter Worsley, Kevin
Macdonald, Alice Webb)
Selena y Los Dinos (United States | Netflix | Director: Isabel Castro | Producers: Julie
Goldman, Christopher Clements, J. Daniel Torres, Simran Singh, David Blackman)
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) (United States | Hulu | Director: Ahmir
“Questlove” Thompson | Producers: Joseph Patel and Derik Murray)
David L. Wolper Student Documentary
Beyond Eden (United Kingdom | National Film and Television School, UK | Director: Al Johnstone |
Producer: Al Johnstone)
Dancing in Tomorrowland (United States | UCLA | Director: Jakob Roston | Producers: Grace
Vincent, Nazanin Nemetollahi)
Two Days on the Interstate (United Kingdom | National Film and Television School, UK | Director:
Tatiana Stark | Producer: Tatiana Stark)
Two Travelling Aunties (United Kingdom | National Film and Television School, UK | Director:
Christine Seow | Producer: Christine Seow)
What a day, what a life (United Kingdom | National Film and Television School, UK | Director: Maylana
Colchete | Producers: Luiza Amelio de Carvalho, Maylana Colchete)
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