International Documentary Association Awards: ‘The Tale of Silyan’ Wins Top Prize

The Tale of Silyan has won the top prize from the International Documentary Association Awards, who concluded three days of festivities with a ceremony on Saturday evening at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in downtown L.A. and hosted by former Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson.

The North Macedonian film, directed by Tamara Kotevska of the double Oscar-nominated film Honeyland, tells the story of an immigrant who forms a relationship with an injured white stork as he adjusts to life in a new country, won the IDA award for Best Feature Documentary as well as Best Cinematography. The film is North Macedonia’s selection for the International Feature Film Oscar.

Brittany Shyne won the Best Director award for Seeds, her film of Black farmer and Apocalypse in the Tropics, an examination of the role that evangelism has played in Brazilian politics, won two top awards, for Best Production and Best Writing.

Here is the complete list of winners of the 2025 IDA Awards.

BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY

The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom)

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY

Looking for a Donkey (Mexico, Venezuela)

BEST DIRECTOR

Brittany Shyne, Seeds (United States)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Jean Dakar, The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom)

BEST EDITING

Alex Megaro, Ian Bell, WTO/99 (United States)

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE

Frédéric Filiatre, The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson (Panama)

BEST PRODUCTION

Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa, Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States)

BEST SOUND DESIGN

Thomas Perez-Pape, Only on Earth (Denmark, Spain)

BEST WRITING

Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker, Tina Baz, Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States)

BEST CURATED SERIES

99 (France)

BEST EPISODIC SERIES

Citizen Nation (United States)

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY

One to One: John & Yoko (United Kingdom)

DAVID L. WOLPER STUDENT DOCUMENTARY

What a day, what a life (United Kingdom)

ABC NEWS VIDEOSOURCE AWARD

Deaf President Now! (United States)

PARE LORENTZ AWARD

River of Grass (United States)

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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