DOC LA Opens Submissions For The 2019 Edition
By: A.A. Cristi Dec. 17, 2018
DOC LA - Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, presented by the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute, opened this week submissions for its 2019 edition. After five successful editions, the film festival, which rapidly has positioned itself as one of the most coveted by documentary filmmakers in the USA and abroad, has launched its call for entries.
DOC LA doesn't require a Los Angeles premiere for short films, but they prefer it for features. Although the festival's focus is documentary and short cinema, the official website states that they will program films of any genre and length whenever they discover 'unique or charming work'. Enthusiastic about 'strange and unclassifiable films', the festival's founding institute is named after the renowned nonconformists Sergei Paradjanov (1924-1990) and Mikhail Vartanov (1937-2009) who overcame censorship, persecution and low budgets, and earned praise for their daring point of view from some of cinema's greatest luminaries such as Jean-Luc Godard, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.
DOC LA programmer is their disciple and UCLA alum Martiros Vartanov, who has served as a curator and juror at festivals in Busan and Beverly Hills, and worked on the restoration of the masterpiece THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES selected for Festival de Cannes. Mr Vartanov also presents the annual Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Awards which have honored such masters as French cinema icon Jean Vigo, the legendary screenwriter Mardik Martin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan, Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese, the Grammy-winning rock band System Of A Down, and Oscar-winner actress and activist Susan Sarandon.
This is the complete list of winners in all categories for 2018:
2018 AWARDS - DOC LA - LOS ANGELES DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
AMERICAN MIRROR - INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY
Best Innovative Film
ARTHUR BALDER
Best Composer (tie)
MARK PETRIE
Best Cinematography (feature)
ARTHUR BALDER, Ambrose Eng
Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Award
GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY
Best Documentary
Best Composer (tie)
DOC LA Icon Award
USHER
MANRY AT SEA
Best Screenwriting
STEVE WYSTRACH & STEVE ARMSTRONG
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE ARTS
Best Producer
J. DAUGHERTY, D. HIGGINS, C. CALISE
Audience Award - Documentary Feature
C. STONEY & W. A. JONES & LIV OSTHUS
CHILDREN OF THE SNOW LAND
Best International Documentary
ZARA BALFOUR & MARCUS STEPHENSON
(Nepal/UK)
THE GUARDIANS
Best Director
BILLIE MINTZ (Canada)
BALLAD OF A RIGHTEOUS MERCHANT
Best Documentary Portrait
HERBERT GOLDER
LITTLE FIEL
Best Animated Documentary (tie)
IRINA PATKANIAN
ATTACHE
Honorable Mention - Documentary Feature
MELISSA PACE OVERHOLT
PAIN IS MINE
Best Documentary Short
FARSHID AKHLAGHI (Australia)
COSMIC DEBRIS
Best Animated Documentary (tie)
PATRICK WALDROP
THE END OF WEED
Honorable Mention - Documentary Short
KRISTY GUEVARA-FLANAGAN & J. GRAY
MITZVOT
Best Experimental Documentary - Feature
BADER ALAWADHI (Kuwait/US)
SOUL OF LINCOLN HEIGHTS
2018 DOC LA Storyteller Award
EMILIO RIVERA
Audience Award - Documentary Short
DAVID TREVINO
THE LOST FOOTAGE OF LEAH SULLIVAN
Best Feature - StorytelLA sidebar
Burt Grinstead & Anna Stromberg
CITY OF DREAMS
Best Experimental Doc - Mid Length
S1REE1
FAITHFUL
Best Student Documentary - Gold
DANE CHRISTENSEN
DIWA
Best Actress
AINA DUMLAO
Best Short Film - StorytelLA sidebar
AINA DUMLAO & BRU MULLER
THE RAVENITE
Best Mid Length Documentary
DENNIS MOHR & MORGAN SCHMIDT-FENG
USE LESS
Best Environmental Film
GARDARSDOTTIR & OLAFSDOTTIR (Iceland)
THE MUAY THAI KID
Best Sports Documentary
ANDY SCHLACHTENHAUFEN
BEFORE I JUMP
Best Experimental Documentary - Short
GUSTAV AHLGREN (Sweden)
GODS FROM SPACE
Best Student Documentary - Silver
ANNALISE PASZTOR
INGEST
Best Screenwriting - StorytelLA sidebar
ANKUR MALHOTRA
ROCKSTAR byTANE McCLURE
Best Cinematography Award (short)
SANDY STENZEL
Best Song
TARRA LAYN
BABY YOU'RE LIKE A DRUG
Best Music Video
JOSHUA BUTLER
TWICE UPON A TIME
Best Animated Film
VOJIN VASOVIC
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