“Bobi Wine: The People’s President” has been named the best nonfiction film of 2023 at the International Documentary Association’s IDA Documentary Awards, which were handed out in a virtual ceremony on Tuesday evening.
The film, directors Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp’s look at Ugandan politician, singer, actor and activist Bobi Wine, won in a heavily international category that included “Apolonia, Apolonia,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” “In the Rearview” and “The Mother of All Lies.” Among the high-profile documentaries that were not nominated for the top IDA award: “American Symphony,” “20 Days in Mariupol,” “The Deepest Breath,” “The Eternal Memory,” “Beyond Utopia,” “Kokomo City” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”
Other winning films came from Morocco, Estonia, Chile, Germany, Tunisia and the United Kingdom. The only American films to win were the short, “Incident” and the music documentary “Max Roach: The Drummer Also Waltzes.” (U.S. TV productions also won.)
Three of the winners are also entered in the Oscars Best International Feature Film category: “The Mother of All Lies,” which won for directing (Asmae El Moudir); “Four Daughters,” which took the award for writing (Kaouther Ben Hania) and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” which won for cinematography (Ants Tammik).
TV awards went to “POV” for Best Curated Series, “Our Planet II” for Best Episodic Series and “Dear Mama” for Best Multi-Part Documentary.
The IDA winner has gone on on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature five times in the 13 years from 2004 (“Born Into Brothels”) to 2016 (“O.J.: Made in America”), but it has not won since then.
The full list of winners:
Best Feature DocumentaryWinner: Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Uganda | National Geographic Documentary Films | Directors: Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp | Producers: Christopher Sharp, John Battsek)
Best Short DocumentaryWinner: Incident (United States | Hypnotic Pictures | Director: Bill Morrison | Producers: Bill Morrison, Jamie Kalven)
Best DirectorWinner: Asmae El Moudir, The Mother of All Lies (Arizona Distribution | Morocco)
Best CinematographyWinner: Ants Tammik, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Greenwich Entertainment | Estonia, France, Iceland)
Best EditingWinner: Carolina Siraqyan, The Eternal Memory (MTV Documentary Films | Chile, USA)
Best Original Music ScoreWinner: Leonard Küssner, Anselm (Sideshow and Janus Films | Germany)
Best WritingWinner: Kaouther Ben Hania, Four Daughters (Kino Lorber | France, Tunisia, Germany)
Best TV Feature Documentary or Mini-SeriesWinner: Mariupol: The People’s Story (BBC | UK | Director: Robin Barnwell | EP: Darren Kemp, Tom Stone | Producer: Hilary Andersson)
Best Curated SeriesWinner: POV (PBS | USA | EP: Erika Dilday, Chris White)
Best Episodic SeriesWinner: Our Planet II (Netflix | USA, UK | EP: Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey)
Best Music DocumentaryWinner: Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes (PBS, American Masters | USA | Directors/Producers: Ben Shapiro, Sam Pollard)
Best Multi-Part DocumentaryWinner: Dear Mama (FX | USA | Director: Allen Hughes | EP: Lasse Järvi, Quincy “QD3” Jones III, Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles King, Peter Nelson, Adel “Future” Nur, Jamal Joseph, Ted Skillman, Allen Hughes, Steve Berman, Marc Cimino, Jody Gerson, John Nanick, Nicholas Ferrall, Nigel Sinclair)
Best Short-Form SeriesWinner: POV Shorts (PBS | USA | EP: Opal H. Bennett, Erika Dilday, Chris White)
Best Standalone Audio DocumentaryWinner: This Coal Life (South Africa | Host: Lesedi Mogoatlhe | Reporter: Siyabonga Mokoena | Producer: Dhashen Moodley)
Best Multi-Part Audio Documentary or SeriesWinner: You Didn’t See Nothin (USA | The Invisible Institute, USG Audio | Host: Yohance Lacour | Producers: Bill Healy, Erisa Apantaku, Dana Brozost-Kelleher, Sarah Geis)
David L. Wolper Student DocumentaryWinner: Lettre à Elie (Letter to Elie) (National Film and Television School | UK | Director/Producer: Alexis Grigorieff)
Pare Lorentz AwardIn the Rearview (Poland | Cinephil | Director: Maciek Hamela | Producers: Maciek Hamela, Piotr Grawender)
ABC News VideoSource AwardStorming Caesars Palace (USA | Independent Lens, PBS | Director: Hazel Gurland-Pooler | Producers: Hazel Gurland-Pooler, Nazenet Habtezghi)