DOC LA Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival Announces 2020 Awards

DOC LA Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival announced 2020 Awards.

Escape From Extinction, by Matthew R. Brady and American Humane, about the world's leading animal welfare specialists and top conservation scientists who protect and preserve species on the brink of extinction, was recognized with the Best Environmental Film Award. The film's narrator Helen Mirren was honored with the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Award. The past recipients of the award include Martin Scorsese and Emma Thompson.

Kiss The Ground, by Josh and Rebecca Tickell, won the top Best Documentary Award, and the narrator Woody Harrelson was recognized with DOC LA Storyteller Award. Kiss the Ground reveals that by regenerating the world's soils, we can completely and rapidly stabilize Earth's climate, restore lost ecosystems and create abundant food supplies.

Ahead of Me the South, by Academy Award winning filmmaker Pepe Danquart, and based on Italian icon Pier Paolo Pasolini's diaries, won Best International Documentary Award.

The Accidental President, by James Fletcher, an educated examination of the most controversial election in modern history, won DOC LA's Best Documentary Portrait Award (feature) and Best Producer Award. Immigrant at Home, by Sufian Abulohom, which explores a human experience through the Arab-American lens, won Best Documentary Portrait Award (short).

Best Director Award went to Andrew Nethery for Outlawed: A Punk Rock Uprising in the Basque Country, which follows a group of Basque separatists that choose music over violence in the generations-long battle against repression and censorship.

From Fat Lolli to 6 Pack Lolli, about the extreme body transformation journey of the real estate mogul and multimillionaire, Anthony Lolli, won Best Inspirational Documentary Award.

Icelander, a startling story of Nils Oliveto's journey to uncover his father's secretive double-life, won Best Autobiographical Documentary Award and Best Screenwriting Award.

Honorable Mention - Documentary Feature went to Rory Kelly's To Someday Understand, which focuses on the stories People of Color tell to bear witness to their ongoing experiences of racism. LeRhonda Manigault-Bryant's Death Everything Nothing, partly based on her New York Times article, received Honorable Mention - Documentary Short.

Land Hacks: Masculine Media Anxiety Disorder (or 55 Film Locations Near Bakersfield) by John Thornton Caldwell, based on his cultural and ethnographic fieldwork in California's rural Central Valley, won Best Experimental Documentary Award.

Jimmy is Punk, by Duco Donk, which tells the story of the Dutch punk band Panic, won Best Music Documentary Award (feature). World Premiere Video - The Music Video that survived after Music Television didn't, by Mike J. Nichols, won Best Music Documentary Award (short).

12 000 KM by Erik Nylander, a winter journey through Siberia and Japan, won Best Adventure Film Award. Let Yourself Rest, by Courtney Dixon, about a sleeping disorder narcolepsy, won Best Animated Documentary Award.

DOC LA's StorytelLA Fiction sidebar honored directing duo Samen's Rumori with Best Film Award. Matilda de Angelis won Best Actress Award, and Andrea Arcangeli won Best Actor Award. Best Director Award went to Anna Radchenko and Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux for Another Day. Francisco Pereira Coutinho won Best Student Film Award for A Greenhouse.

It was Good Talking to You, by Samuel Ott, shot on 16mm film during Covid lockdown in Los Angeles, won Best Documentary Short. Young deaf French filmmaker Clément Papillon's Little Boy, about overcoming suicide and depression, won Best International Documentary Short. Anna Prokou's Emily, ilaw ng tahanan, about one woman's attempt to confront her painful past, won Best Mid Length Documentary Award.

Here's the complete list of all 2020 DOC LA Award winners.

ESCAPE FROM EXTINCTION

Best Environmental Film Award

Matthew R. Brady

Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Award

Helen Mirren

KISS THE GROUND

Best Documentary Award

Josh & Rebecca Tickell

DOC LA Storyteller Award

Woody Harrelson

AHEAD OF ME THE SOUTH

Best International Documentary Award

Pepe Danquart

IT WAS GOOD TALKING TO YOU

Best Documentary Short Award

Samuel Ott

EMILY, ilaw ng tahanan

Best Mid Length Documentary Award

Anna Prokou

LITTLE BOY

Best Int'l Documentary Award (short)

Clément Papillon

THE ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENT

Best Documentary Portrait Award

James Fletcher

Best Producer Award

James Fletcher, Eve Kornblum,

Agnus Wall, Kent Kubena

IMMIGRANT AT HOME

Best Documentary Portrait Award (short)

Sufian Abulohom

OUTLAWED

A Punk Rock Uprising in the Basque Country

Best Director Award

Andrew Nethery

ICELANDER

Best Autobiographical Documentary Award

Nils Oliveto

Best Screenwriting Award

Nils Oliveto

FROM FAT LOLLI TO 6 PACK LOLLI

Best Inspirational Documentary Award

Anthony Lolli, James Hergott, Keith Eccles

TO SOMEDAY UNDERSTAND

Honorable Mention - Documentary Feature

Rory Kelly

DEATH. EVERYTHING. NOTHING.

Honorable Mention - Documentary Short

LeRhonda Manigault-Bryant

LAND HACKS

Best Experimental Documentary Award

John Thornton Caldwell

LET YOURSELF REST

Best Animated Documentary Award

Courtney Dixon

12 000 KM

Best Adventure Film Award

Erik Nylander

JIMMY IS PUNK

Best Music Documentary Award

Duco Donk

WORLD PREMIERE VIDEO

Best Music Documentary Award (short)

Mike J. Nichols

RUMORI

Best Film (StorytelLA Award)

Samen

Best Actress

Matilda De Angelis

Best Actor

Andrea Arcangeli

Bastille, Alessia Cara - Another Place

Best Director (StorytelLA Award)

Anna Radchenko

Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux

A GREENHOUSE

Best Student Film (StorytelLA Award)

Francisco Pereira Coutinho

DOC LA, Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, is presented by the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. www.docla.org