Announcing 2023 Award Winners

With still another full day of screenings ahead, DOXA Documentary Film Festival is pleased to announce the winners of its 2023 competitions.

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.” 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. His thoughtful approach translates to a captivating and dynamic cinematic experience.”

A special jury mention is given 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, highlighting the power of collective action.

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 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 below.

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Click here to read this press release as a PDF

Click here to learn more about the awards and read jury biographies

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Nigel Moore Award for Youth Programming Jury Statement

The films considered for the Nigel Moore Award this year took our breaths away. Powerful and sincere storytelling invited us viewers to form intimate relationships with the subjects ; it was a true privilege to bear witness to the stories told. 

Amongst an extremely competitive cohort of films, we are thrilled to present the Nigel Moore Award in the Rated Y for Youth category to King Coal. King Coal offers a nuanced and compassionate insight into a community at the intersection of history and progress. The film humanizes the coal industry in a way that sheds new light on conversations of sustainable development and the people at its core. Imaginative and hopeful, it highlights the innately human capacity for change. 

While deeply situated in Central Appalachia, the film transcends time and place, emphasizing the ways in which all are connected. This is a movie about coal. This is a movie about community. This is a movie about class, race, and social mobility. This is a movie of ethereal storytelling and surreal cinematography interwoven with archival footage. 

This is a spectacularly beautiful, deeply moving film that reshapes what we think of as documentary film.

As consumers of documentary film, we are given the privilege of forming intimate relationships with the subjects on screen. We come to know them, we feel with them, and we witness their progress throughout the arc of these films. In doing so, we cannot help but feel connected with them; it is the magic and essence of documentary film.

We the jurors would like to acknowledge our privilege in being connected to the subjects 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. 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. 

As the five teen subjects dreamt of brighter futures for themselves, we the viewers dreamt along with them. Our thoughts are with the subjects of this film and their families, and particularly with Ruslan and Illia with whom we have lost contact. We were so lucky to come to know them and we can only hope that they are alive and well.

We are very honoured to award this film in Nigel’s legacy and hope that it can continue to reach more audiences and encourage youth to see documentary film.

 

Short Documentary Award Jury Statement

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.

 

Feature Documentary Award Jury Statement

Jurors Dina Al-Kassim, Kent Donguines and Nadia Shihab are delighted to select Khaled Jarrar’s Notes on Displacement as the winner of the DOXA Feature Documentary Award. Jarrar’s bravery and compassion create a deeply human look at the Syrian and Palestinian individuals who find themselves forced yet again to migrate in search of safety. 

The jurors 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 Bengali 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 Columbian communities it portrays.

 

Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director Jury Statement

Presented by the Directors Guild of Canada, the recipient of the Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director is Khoa Lê for Mà Sài Gòn. 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 portray on screen. His thoughtful approach translates to a captivating and dynamic cinematic experience.

A special jury mention is given to Rodrigue Jean and Arnaud Valade for 2012/ Through The Heart for bringing to light an ugly, and underreported part of Canada’s recent history with an unwavering eye, highlighting the power of collective action. This telling documentary is an unflinching portrait of the struggle against entrenched colonialism and state oppression which, despite the 10 years that have passed since, bears a striking resemblance to present-day struggles in the face of policing tactics and policies in BC and across North America.

 

Elevate Award Jury Statement

Presented for the first time by Elevate Inclusion Strategies, the inaugural Elevate Award is given to the short film Tiny from filmmakers Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché. Jurors Jaewoo Kang, Shasha McArthur and Soloman Chiniquay 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. Its timely and delicate exploration of the lives of migrant families reminds us of the human beings at the heart of news stories.