The 41st annual IDA Documentary Awards brunch held on December 6 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club assembled the nonfiction community to celebrate the best television and film documentaries of 2025.
Dozens of global IDA jurors voted on more than 550 entries in all categories from 85 countries.
The winner of Best Feature Documentary, “The Tale of Silyan,” beat out nominees “Apocalypse in the Tropics” (Netflix), which did win two awards, for Best Writing and Best Production, “Life After” (Multitude Films), “Songs of Slow Burning Earth” (EPF Media) and “Seeds,” which also won Best Director for Brittany Shyne. The Sundance U.S. Grand Jury prize winner, among many other IDA contenders, still lacks distribution.
“The Tale of Silyan” also won Best Cinematography. Kevin Macdonald’s “One to One: John & Yoko” won Best Music Documentary.
Winning the top IDA award pushes NatGeo’s moving portrait of a failing farm community, “The Tale of Silyan,” from the filmmakers behind North Macedonia’s twice-nominated documentary “Honeyland,” ahead in the Oscar race.
Winning Best Curated Series was France’s “99,” executive-produced by Jérôme Plan; Best Episodic Series went to PBS’ “Citizen Nation.”
Among the special awards, American documentary filmmaker Julie Goldman accepted the Career Achievement Award; Brittany Shyne (“Seeds”) the Emerging Filmmaker Award; and Impact
Partners the Pioneer Award.
The complete winners are listed below.
Best Feature Documentary
“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 Short Documentary
“Looking for a Donkey” (Mexico, Venezuela | Director: Juan Vicente Manrique | Producers:
Juan Vicente Manrique, María Benítez)
Best Director
Brittany Shyne, “Seeds” (United States)
Best Cinematography
Jean Dakar, “The Tale of Silyan” (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom
| National Geographic)
Best Editing
Alex Megaro, Ian Bell, “WTO/99” (United States)
Best Original Music Score
Frédéric Filiatre, “The Sorcerer,” Julio Zachrisson
Best Production
Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa, “Apocalypse in the Tropics” (United States | Netflix
Best Sound Design
Thomas Perez-Pape, “Only on Earth” (Denmark, Spain | DR, HBO, SVT)
Best Writing
Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker, Tina Baz, “Apocalypse in
the Tropics”
Best Curated Series
“99” (France | EP: Jérôme Plan)
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)
Best Music Documentary
“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)
David L. Wolper Student Documentary
“What a day, what a life” (United Kingdom | National Film and Television School, UK | Director:
Maylana Colchete | Producers: Luiza Amelio de Carvalho, Maylana Colchete)
ABC News VideoSource Award
“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.)
Pare Lorentz Award
“River of Grass” (United States | Director: Sasha Wortzel | Producers: Danielle Varga, Sasha
Wortzel)
