IDA Documentary Awards: Best Feature Goes to 'The Tale of Silyan'

The Tale of Silyan emerged as the winner of the Best Feature Documentary at the International Documentary Association Awards, held on Saturday. This National Geographic production tells the story of a North Macedonian immigrant who develops a bond with an injured white stork while adapting to life in a new country.

In addition to its top feature recognition, the film also earned the Best Cinematography award for Jean Dakar, known for his work on The Walk and the TV series Radius. Directed by Tamara Kotevska, who received an Oscar nomination for Honeyland, the documentary previously won the Cinema and Arts award at the Venice Film Festival. North Macedonia has also chosen it as its submission for the Best International Feature at the Oscars.

Other notable winners from the ceremony included Brittany Shyne, awarded Best Director for Seeds, a film exploring the lives of Black farmers. Apocalypse in the Tropics, analyzing evangelisms influence on Brazilian politics, won awards for Best Production and Best Writing.

Additional honors went to:

• Best Short Documentary: Looking for a Donkey (Mexico, Venezuela)
• Best Editing: Alex Megaro and Ian Bell, WTO/99 (United States)
• Best Original Score: Frdric Filiatre, The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson (Panama)
• Best Sound Design: Thomas Perez-Pape, Only on Earth (Denmark, Spain)
• Best Curated Series: 99 (France)
• Best Episodic Series: Citizen Nation (United States)
• Best Music Documentary: One to One: John & Yoko (United Kingdom)
• Best 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)

The 2025 IDA Awards spanned three days, culminating in the main ceremony at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in downtown L.A., hosted by former Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson.

Author: Ava Mitchell