Award-Winning independent Documentary Films
Platinum Awards: celebrate truly remarkable films with the highest scores from our panel.
Gold Awards: celebrate incredible films with the second highest scores from our panel.
Silver Awards: awarded to unforgettable films with the third highest scores from our panel.
Bronze Awards: awarded to films with high artistic achievement with the fourth highest scores from our panel.
SPOTLIGHT
DOCUMENTARY
FILM AWARDS
December 2017 Award-Winners
2017 Spotlight Documentary Film Awards
A PIECE OF PARADISE
by Patrick Alcedo
Spotlight Silver Award
A Storyteller's Story
by Alejandro Yoshizawa & Florencia Marchetti
Spotlight Bronze Award
Aghanashini
by Ashwini Kumar Bhat
Spotlight Gold Award
All The Wild Horses
by Ivo Marloh
Spotlight Gold Award
Almost Cured
by Tom Dierolf
Spotlight Silver Award
Being Roosevelt
by Samuel Sprynczynatyk
Spotlight Gold Award
beneath the surFACE
by Gaston Yvorra
Spotlight Gold Award
Beyond Standing Rock
by Leigh Paterson
Spotlight Gold Award
Beyond The Wall
by Jay Root & Todd Wiseman
Spotlight Gold Award
"Boris: Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man"
by Matus Racek
Spotlight Silver Award
Children of Drum: The Legacy of Black Journalists in Apartheid-era South Africa
by Larry Tung
Spotlight Silver Award
Dancing in the Dark.
by Steven Mac Sweeney
Spotlight Gold Award
Dignity & Connection
by Mel Powsner
Spotlight Silver Award
DOCTOR
by Yavuz ÜÇER
Spotlight Gold Award
Erase and Forget
by Andrea Luka Zimmerman
Spotlight Silver Award
Feel Like Going Home
by Jessica Klein
Spotlight Silver Award
Fight Like A Girl
by Yoon Young Lee
Spotlight Silver Award
For Ahkeem
by Jeremy S. Levine & Landon Van Soest
Spotlight Gold Award
For The Birds
by Miku Otagiri
Spotlight Silver Award
Forging A Heritage
by Aaron Johnson
Spotlight Silver Award
God Told Me To
by Kexin Gao & Mengyang Zhang
Spotlight Bronze Award
Gold in the Ashes
by Beth Grannis
Spotlight Bronze Award
Good Fortune
by Josh Tickell, Rebecca Tickell
Spotlight Platinum Award
HANNA IS BEAUTIFUL
by Shira Meishar
Spotlight Gold Award
Invisible Hands
by Shraysi Tandon
Spotlight Gold Award
Is Radiation the Asbestos of the 21st Century?
by Hjalmar Ilmer
Spotlight Gold Award
La Hoyada
by Roberto Flores
Spotlight Silver Award
Like I'm Flying
by Babu Aryankalayil
Spotlight Silver Award
Limits of Freedom: The Street Children of Kathmandu
by Joe Gist & Aidan Joseph
Spotlight Silver Award
Little Music Manchild: The Malik Kofi Story
by Malena Cunningham Anderson
Spotlight Silver Award
Living on a Dollar a Day
by Thomas Nazario
Spotlight Gold Award
Love or in Love: Love in the Making
by Orlando H. Brenes
Spotlight Silver Award
Mama Kim
by Jaime Wilken
Spotlight Gold Award
Mamadou Warma: Deliveryman
by Yusuf Kapadia
Spotlight Silver Award
Mazal Means Luck
by Mazal Ben Yishai
Spotlight Bronze Award
Melody Makers
by Leslie - Ann Coles
Spotlight Gold Award
Mercy's Kennel
by Tracy Bishop
Spotlight Silver Award
Misafir "A Guest"
by Mariam El Marakeshy
Spotlight Silver Award
Monger
by Jeff Zorrilla
Spotlight Gold Award
No Heroes Welcome The Documentary
by Erica Ashley
Spotlight Bronze Award
Of Rails & Sails - The Life and Times of Arthur Curtiss James
by Joseph Daniel & Roger Vaughan
Spotlight Silver Award
Oli Petur With Spirit In His Hand
by Fjolnir Baldursson & Baldur Smari Olafsson
Spotlight Gold Award
One Man, One City, Three Evictions:
The human cost of Rio's Growth
by Nicky Milne
Spotlight Gold Award
Our Own Ceylon, Essay From Natural Born Foreigners
by Sergio García Locatelli
Spotlight Bronze Award
Our Yolŋu Story of Faith
by Matthew Blyth & Yurranydjil Dhurrkay
Spotlight Silver Award
Perception: From Prison to Purpose
by Jonathan Reed
Spotlight Gold Award
Perfect 36 - When Women Won the Vote
by Yoshie Lewis
Spotlight Silver Award
R.A.P.E. Recovering After Post-traumatic Experience
by Naz Pankey
Spotlight Bronze Award
Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches
by Robert de Young
Spotlight Gold Award
Score: A Film Music Documentary
by Matt Schrader
Spotlight Gold Award
Scotland 4K - A Timelapse Journey
by Andreas Koeng
Spotlight Platinum Award
Sia
by Vincent Mann
Spotlight Silver Award
Sisterly
by Nina Vallado
Spotlight Gold Award
SO LONG ASLEEP, Waking the Ghosts of a War
by David Plath
Spotlight Bronze Award
South Dakota Warrior
by John Mollison
Spotlight Silver Award
Stopover
by Alexander Bambach
Spotlight Silver Award
Strike A Rock
by Aliki Saragas
Spotlight Silver Award
Sudep (Sudden & Unexpected)
by Tanzeal Rahim
Spotlight Silver Award
Taking Them Home
by Mario DeAngelis
Spotlight Silver Award
Teacher of the Year - A Documentary Based on a True Story
by Jay Korreck & Robert Phillips
Spotlight Silver Award
Techa
by Aron Anselmi
Spotlight Gold Award
Tell Me About My Mother
by Chris Churchill
Spotlight Silver Award
Tempest Storm
by Nimisha Mukerji
Spotlight Platinum Award
The Birthplace-Seeking Ancestors in Sanjiazi Manchu Village
by Yanan Hu & Yong Qi
Spotlight Silver Award
The Disunited State of America
by Luis Prieto
Spotlight Platinum Award
The Promise Land: The Story of Pocahontas Island
by Zachary Mann
Spotlight Silver Award
The Rookie Season
by Hannah Nemer & Molly Nemer
Spotlight Gold Award
The Saints of Sin
by Aniruddha (Oni) Sen
Spotlight Silver Award
The UnAmerican Struggle
by Ric Osuna
Spotlight Platinum Award
THE YAKSHAGANA PUPPETS
by Kiranraj K
Spotlight Silver Award
Theo's Choice
by Mi KL & Thomas Cauvin
Spotlight Silver Award
This Cold Life
by Darren Mann
Spotlight Platinum Award
Threads of History: Conversations with a Community
by Allan Moye
Spotlight Silver Award
Treasures of the Past
by Oliver Langewitz
Spotlight Silver Award
Victoria
by Serge Hlayel
Spotlight Gold Award
VIGOR
by Chen Qianzhang & Lan Yunjian
Spotlight Gold Award
WHITNEY Can I Be Me?
by Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal
Spotlight Platinum Award
Wønderland
by Tay Who
Spotlight Silver Award
Worth Dying For?
by Nicky Milne
Spotlight Gold Award
Zero Weeks
by Ky Dickens
Spotlight Gold Award
420
by Colleen McCreanor
Spotlight Silver Award
9546 km.
by Sergio García Locatelli
Spotlight Gold Award
A Place to Call His Own
by Mike Krumlauf
Spotlight Silver Award
Adventurmentalism
by Luke Holton
Spotlight Silver Award
AGE
by Thomas Collocott
Spotlight Bronze Award
Aggression
by Galina Toneva
Spotlight Silver Award
American Street Kid
by Michael Leoni
Spotlight Bronze Award
Before the Wave
by Molly Willows
Spotlight Silver Award
Big Fish Blues
by Leslye Abbey
Spotlight Bronze Award
Black Fatherhood: Trials & Tribulations, Testimony & Triumph
by Maia Porter
Spotlight Silver Award
Called To Rescue Redefining Our Barnyard Story
by Naomi Call, Loghan Call
Spotlight Gold Award
Cambodia and Jimmy's Village School
by Adrian Eppel
Spotlight Gold Award
Celling Your Soul
by Joni Siani
Spotlight Silver Award
Detroit Punks: Jerry Vile
by Elizabeth Holloway
Spotlight Bronze Award
Do You Like Peacocks?
by Mary Clay Fields
Spotlight Silver Award
Dogs of Democracy
by Mary Zournazi
Spotlight Silver Award
by James Blannin-Ferguson
Spotlight Platinum Award
Fallen Angel
by Monique Groen, Corey Palermo, Jane Jiang
Spotlight Bronze Award
Flowers and Roots, James Ragan, An Ambassador of the Arts
by Dodo Banyak
Spotlight Bronze Award
Fragments
by Carlos Cova
Spotlight Bronze Award
GIVE RIGHT TO THE RIGHTS
by Christian Angeli
Spotlight Gold Award
GODS AMONG US - The Science of Contact
by Caroline Cory
Spotlight Platinum Award
Great Florida Cattle Drive: Unbroken Circles
by Elam Stoltzfus
Spotlight Silver Award
Harvested Alive － Ten Years of Investigation
by Jun Li
Spotlight Silver Award
How to fall apart : a true love story
by Sofie Hanegreefs, Jelle Janssens
Spotlight Gold Award
How? Lucky
by Freya Billington
Spotlight Gold Award
I Am Syria
by Jad Jacob
Spotlight Bronze Award
In Lorton's Darkroom
by Karen Ruckman
Spotlight Gold Award
IRON MEN
by Paul Crompton & Suri Krishnamma
Spotlight Gold Award
Jesus the Game Changer
by Karl Faase
Spotlight Gold Award
KCKPL's Stories on the Bus: Matt de la Peña Reads Last Stop on Market Street
by Matt de la Peña
Spotlight Bronze Award
Miles in the Life
by Shaun Mathis
Spotlight Gold Award
Musa in Kobane (Moses in Kobane)
by Bashdar Hazhar
Spotlight Bronze Award
My Erotic Body
by Michele Beck
Spotlight Silver Award
My Personal Pink Time
by Josh Reed
Spotlight Silver Award
Namaskaram Means Hello
by Summer Dunsmore
Spotlight Bronze Award
NATURE AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS:From Four Poems
by Takamasa Iwasaki
Spotlight Bronze Award
NOW I'M HAPPY
by Drew Russell
Spotlight Silver Award
Obama: The Man Who Hoped to Change America
by Tim Gallagher
Spotlight Silver Award
On a Knife Edge
by Jeremy Williams
Spotlight Gold Award
Oor wally
by Martin Lennon
Spotlight Gold Award
Peace Has No Borders
by Deb Ellis, Denis Mueller
Spotlight Bronze Award
Photo Farag Film
by Kobi Farag
Spotlight Silver Award
Plant Codes, Unleashing Nature's Healing Power
by Gary Null
Spotlight Gold Award
RAIN PROJECT
by Oleg Chorny
Spotlight Gold Award
Report from World 3
by Mark Woodcock
Spotlight Bronze Award
Resonances ..
by Jean-Julien Pous
Spotlight Silver Award
Risky Business
by Taylor Lewis
Spotlight Silver Award
Root Up
by Katia Cafe-Febrissy
Spotlight Silver Award
Running On Empty
by Joey Dwyer, Timmy Dwyer
Spotlight Gold Award
Rural
by Tyler Hall
Spotlight Bronze Award
Sacred Valley Sacred Rock
by Sean McElhose
Spotlight Silver Award
Sammie the Comic Book Man
by Dan Sellers
Spotlight Silver Award
Sand Men
by Tal Amiran
Spotlight Silver Award
Santi: Isolation
by Daniel Rodriguez
Spotlight Gold Award
Sauti (voice)
by Gayle Nosal, Beret Strong
Spotlight Gold Award
Saving Place, Saving Grace
by George F, Patterson
Spotlight Bronze Award
Saving the Planet, One Bite At A Time
by Gary Null
Spotlight Gold Award
Stone Story
by Jean-André Fourestié
Spotlight Silver Award
Tables of Istanbul
by Zeynep Kilic
Spotlight Gold Award
That Never Happened: Canada's First National Internment Operations
by Ryan Boyko
Spotlight Silver Award
The 30th of May
by James William Theres, Chris Windfield
Spotlight Bronze Award
The 2015-16 Boston Pride: A Dream Born With Isobel
by Curtis Stiles
Spotlight Gold Award
The American Skin
by Elana Meyers , Christy Rose, Woody Tucker
Spotlight Platinum Award
The Basketball Family
by Jason Harney
Spotlight Bronze Award
The Circus
by Gino Pinetti
Spotlight Silver Award
The End of Remembrance?
by Peter Scheiner
Spotlight Silver Award
The Eviction
by Andy Galloway
Spotlight Silver Award
The Evil Within
by Eduardo Rufeisen
Spotlight Bronze Award
The Greatest Weapon Ever Used
by John Mollison
Spotlight Silver Award
The Heritage
by Kateryna Svyeshnykova
Spotlight Gold Award
The Journey to Lan Yuan
by Toitu Otago Settlers Museum
Spotlight Silver Award
The Lost Village
by Roger Paradiso
Spotlight Bronze Award
The Louisiana Project
by Levilyn Chriss
Spotlight Bronze Award
The Magic Pill
by Robert Tate
Spotlight Gold Award
The Road To Hollywood
by Valeriya Elenskaya
Spotlight Gold Award
The Ultimate Triathlon
by Jay Cox
Spotlight Silver Award
THE VISION
by Laura Allen, Lightning Mitchell
Spotlight Bronze Award
TOLERANCE
by Mike Wittlin
Spotlight Silver Award
Tomorrowland
by Sarvnaz Alambeigi
Spotlight Bronze Award
Unlock the Stage
by Nasko Atanasov
Spotlight Silver Award
Wagging Tales Documentary
by Scarlett Clark
Spotlight Silver Award
Waking a Monster
by Mirjam Clement
Spotlight Gold Award
Weed Nuns
by Chris Stoudt
Spotlight Platinum Award
Wine Diamonds: Uncorking America's Heartland
by Bradley Johnson
Spotlight Gold Award