As the 16^th annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival heads into its closing weekend, thousands of fans have taken in an exceptional program of nonfiction films, with more to come in the final days. 35 of the 181 films in the festival competed in four different categories, and the following films were announced as the 2019 winners at the Awards event on Friday, February 22.

The 2019 competition featured 16 world premieres and six North American premieres. The four competitions shine a spotlight on superior works in documentary filmmaking, with one winner in each category selected by the festival juries. Each jury also had the option of awarding a second prize for artistic vision. Winners in each category receive a $500 cash prize, and winners in the Short and Mini-Doc categories automatically qualify for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for an Oscar in the Documentary Shorts competition.

The 2019 competition jury included representatives from the International Documentary Association, Atlantic Studios, America ReFramed, Points North Institute, American Experience, Women in Film, Northwest Film Center, Tehran’s Cinema Vérité documentary film festival, and independent filmmakers.

“The 2019 competitions were incredibly strong this year, which made for some very difficult decisions by the juries,” said Big Sky Executive Director Rachel Gregg. “We are delighted to have so many filmmakers and their teams attending in anticipation of the announcements this weekend, and extend our heartfelt congratulations to the winners!”

--

Jury: Maikiko James, Talena Sanders, Jeff Zimbalist

BEST MINI-DOC WINNER: SCENES FROM A DRY CITY

Simon Wood and Francois Verster, 2018, South Africa — 13 minutes

Gripped by a fear of drought, ‘SCENES FROM A DRY CITY’ uses the lens of water to explore Cape Town South Africa’s current water crisis. Juxtaposing vignettes in different areas of the city, the film examines how the scarcity of man’s most precious resource causes cracks in the city’s complex social fabric.

Mini-Doc Artistic Vision Winner: LOTUS

Mohammadreza Vatandoust, 2018, Iran — 13 minutes

In April of 2010, after the construction of the Lafour dam, Lafourak and several other villages were flooded under 80 meters of water. One old woman has waited 12 years for permission to cross the lake to an island where the last resident of Lafourak waits for her.

JURY STATEMENT: We chose to give an Artistic Vision Award to one film whose artistry and craftsmanship stood out. For its controlled and intentional use of pacing, natural light, and mis-en-scéne; its disciplined focus on one woman's painfully patient, singular mission; and its innovative subjective motifs rich with symbolism and emotion, we give this award to LOTUS.

Jury: Mia Bruno, Emily Buder, Eric Gulliver

BEST SHORT WINNER: ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN

Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan, 2019, USA — 28 minutes

Bruce Franks Jr., a Ferguson activist and battle rapper who was elected to the overwhelmingly white and Republican Missouri House of Representatives, must overcome both personal trauma and political obstacles to pass a critical bill for his community.

Short Artistic Vision Winner: EL DESIERTO

Carly Jakins, Jared Jakins, 2019, USA — 19 minutes

Amid a terrible winter drought, a lone migrant worker struggles with his task of caring for thousands of sheep in the Great Basin desert. El Desierto poetically explores themes of isolation, climate change, and the Sisyphean plight of migrant workers in the United States.

JURY STATEMENT: This film speaks volumes without saying a word. The film is stunning and spare.The verité cinematography and attention to intimate spaces communicated much about human isolation, climate struggles and the life of migrant workers and the intersection therein. It was a bold artistic vision to exclude dialogue that paid off. An exemplary use of cinema to convey anguish-both environmental and human, EL DESIERTO is proof that a telling documentary does not necessarily need words to underscore its point.

BIG SKY AWARD

Presented to a film that artistically honors the character, history, tradition and imagination of the American West. 

BIG SKY AWARD WINNER: THE BLESSING

Hunter Robert Baker, Jordan Fein, 2018, USA — 74 minutes

Personal and crucial, The Blessing follows a Navajo coal miner raising his secretive daughter as a single father, and struggling with his part in the irreversible destruction of their sacred mountain at the hands of America’s largest coal producer. The Blessing is a feature-length documentary film, co-directed by the Emmy® Award-winning filmmaking team Hunter Robert Baker and Jordan Fein.

Big Sky Award Artistic Vision Winner: FIRE ON THE HILL: THE COWBOYS OF SOUTH CENTRAL L.A.

Brett Fallentine, 2018, USA – 86 minutes

When a sudden and mysterious fire wipes out the Hill Stable – the last public horse stable in South Central – a culture of urban cowboys comes under threat. This western documentary follows the life and struggles of three inner-city cowboys and the line they must walk between the gang-filled streets of L.A. and the path of an American black cowboy.

Films over 40 minutes in length

Jury: Toni Bell, Robert Chang, Bahman Nooraei

BEST FEATURE WINNER: PARIAH DOG

Jesse Alk, 2019, USA — 77 minutes

A poetic documentary focusing on several eccentric street dog caretakers in Kolkata, India. Shot over three years, the film paints a kaleidoscopic picture of the city of Kolkata, seen through the prism of four outsiders and the dogs they love.

Feature Artistic Vision Winner: DARK EDEN

Jasmin Herold and Michael Beamish, 2017, Germany — 80 minutes

A wildfire, cancer, oil, and the need for work: DARK EDEN is a self-awakening descent into a toxic reality of our modern world. A deeply personal and moving story about love, life, and death in one of the world’s most destructive industries, the Canadian oil sands. 

JURY STATEMENT: Set in Fort McMurray, located at the Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada, DARK EDEN’S haunting voice-over coupled with images of sweeping, decimated landscapes forces the viewer to wrestle with the complexities and conflicts that arise when dreams of economic stability clash with harsh environmental realities.