DOXA Documentary Film Festival Announces 2023 Award Winners
With still another full day of screenings ahead, DOXA Documentary Film Festival is pleased to announce the winners of its 2023 DOXA Award Winners.
Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s King Coal is this year’s winner of the Nigel Moore Award for Youth Programming. Jurors Olivia Moore, Maya Biderman, Teagan Dobson and Anna Hetherington share that King Coal “offers a nuanced and compassionate insight into a community at the intersection of history and progress.” They applaud its hopeful and imaginative approach, and state that it is “a spectacularly beautiful, deeply moving film that reshapes what we think of as documentary.”
As well, the jurors give special mention and acknowledgement to 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. 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.”
Jurors Eva Anandi Brownstein, Kinga Binkowska and Rylan Friday are delighted to unanimously present
this year’s Short Documentary Award to Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché’s Tiny. Jurors were moved by the storytelling, well-executed animation and obvious care that the filmmakers took in crafting this story. Elder Coleen Hemphill’s memories are beautifully brought to life through sound design and animation in this compelling and compassionate film.
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 both human hubris and resilience in a dystopian landscape.
Presented by the Directors Guild of Canada, the recipient of the Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director is Khoa Lê’s (Má Sài Gòn (Mother Saigon)). Jurors Elad Tzadok, Lindsay McIntyre and Nisha Platzer recognize 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.”
The 2023 DOXA Award Winners included a special jury mention 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 an unwavering eye.
Jurors Dina Al-Kassim, Kent Donguines and Nadia Shihab are delighted to select Khaled Jarrar’s Notes on Displacement as 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.”
The jurors of the 2023 DOXA Award Winners would also like to give a special mention to 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.” Theo Montoya’s Anhell69 also receives a special mention for its “hypnotic hybrid approach to storytelling and the power it gives to the Queer communities it portrays.”
Finally, jurors Jaewoo Kang, Shasha McArthur and Soloman Chiniquay are proud to present the inaugural Elevate Award, presented by Elevate Inclusion Strategies, to Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché for Tiny. The jurors applaud 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. The jury is excited to amplify the diverse stories and storytellers that brought this film to life.
A special jury mention is given to Khaled Jarrar’s 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.”
Jury statements can be read in full HERE.
Committed to cultivating curiosity and critical thought, DOXA 2023 delivers some of the very best in contemporary documentary cinema over 11 days. DOXA Documentary Film Festival runs May 4-14, 2023, offering an exceptional selection of films, filmmaker Q+A’s and Industry events. Select films will be available to stream online after festival dates, between May 15 thru 24, unless otherwise specified. Online films are geo-blocked to Canada and virtual tickets will be limited. Select screenings will include live and pre-recorded filmmaker Q+As and extended discussions. Festival tickets and passes will be available starting Wednesday, April 5th; for details, check www.doxafestival.ca. For further information, call the DOXA office at 604.646.3200.
DOXA is presented by The Documentary Media society, a Vancouver-based non-profit, charitable society. DOXA is presented on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) territory.
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