June 2019 

Award-Winners

2019 Spotlight Documentary Film Awards

December 2019 

Award-Winners

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

&you
by Claire Downey, Taylor Autumn Herndon & Tessa Lawrence

Spotlight Silver Award


8 Seasons of ART
by Phil McGraw 

Spotlight Silver Award


A Brave One
by Stas Ivanov

Spotlight Gold Award


A Generation Game: Italia Wasteels
by Luciano Ruocco

Spotlight Silver Award


Almost Home
by Susan Cahill & Matt Rogers

Spotlight Bronze Award


A Love Story for Brooke
by Paul Catalanotto 

Spotlight Gold Award


ALTERNATIVE FACTS: The Lies of Executive Order 9066
by Jon Osaki 

Spotlight Silver Award


An Equal Voice
by Phil Cooke

Spotlight Silver Award


Artes Liberales
by Ceng Chen

Spotlight Bronze Award


Back In The Saddle
by Jacob Jolly & Zachary Bush

Spotlight Silver Award


Behind bars are trees of green
by Magdalena Kołodziejczyk &  Rafał Kołodziejczyk

Spotlight Silver Award


Betty Williams: Contagious Courage
by Dawn Engle 

Spotlight Silver Award


Big Lies
by Igor Runov 

Spotlight Silver Award


Boober
by Sriram Papolu

Spotlight Gold Award


Born in America
by Zhan Luo

Spotlight Silver Award


Bronze: A Forgotten Treasure
by Nivitra Devi Hari

Spotlight Silver Award


BRUSH...painted forward
by Dimitri Pantchev 

Spotlight Gold Award


Canvas
by Liv Gwynn

Spotlight Bronze Award


Changing Point
by Rebecca Coley


Chasing the Jet Stream

by Claudio von Planta

Spotlight Gold Award


CHEF DARREN: The Challenge of Profound Deafness 
by Dorothy Fadiman

Spotlight Silver Award


Colors of Resistance
by Areeb Zuaiter

Spotlight Silver Award


Disconnected
by Miroslav Nincic

Spotlight Gold Award


El Cuarto Reino
by Alex Lora Cercos

Spotlight Silver Award


Extraordinary: The Seeding
by Jon Sumple 

Spotlight Silver Award


​Free Spirit
by Hani Yared

Spotlight Silver Award


From Liberty to Captivity
by Debbie Wright

Spotlight Silver Award


Floating Pilgrims
by David Goodman 

Spotlight Bronze Award


Gang Love 
by Adam Ybarra

Spotlight Silver Award


Harmony: Latvian Democracy on Russia's Border
by Samuel George

Spotlight Bronze Award


Hatem: Immigrant, Businessman, Father
by Abraham Kalaoun & Daniella Young

Spotlight Silver Award


Hellbent: The Twisted Vision of Richard Williams
by David Silver

Spotlight Bronze Award


His Last Stop: The Curious Death of Edgar Allan Poe 
by Ben Stahl, Wesley Cianchette & Aaron Decker

Spotlight Silver Award


How to Bend Concrete in 108 Easy Steps
by Mahesh Madhav

Spotlight Gold Award


I am Still Here
by Cynthia Matty-Huber

Spotlight Silver Award


In the Dark Room
by Luigi Abanto Varese

Spotlight Silver Award


In Their Shoes: Unheard Stories of Reentry and Recovery
by Taylor Katsanis 

Spotlight Gold Award


Inviolable - The Fight for Human Rights
by Angela Andersen

Spotlight Gold Award


Jumpin' Johnny: The Incredible True Story Of Dr. John Kline
by Cameron McCasland

Spotlight Silver Award


LAID-BACK APPROACH
by Gino Ceriachi 

Spotlight Silver Award


Last Beer at the Pig's Ear
by Peter Blow

Spotlight Gold Award


Letters From Long Binh
by Greg Stern 

Spotlight Bronze Award


Memphis Majic
by Eddie Bailey

Spotlight Silver Award


More Than A Number
by Vicki O'Neill 

Spotlight Bronze Award


MUSTIMUHW: All of the People
by Lachlan Anderson

Spotlight Silver Award


My Farmland 
by Diana Dai 

Spotlight Silver Award


My life in your hands
by Joaquín Carmona Hidalgo

Spotlight Silver Award


Nollywood in Focus
by Iké Udé

Spotlight Bronze Award


Ocean Station November
by Damon Stuebner

Spotlight Silver Award


Oil Capital Underground: The Genesis and Evolution of Punk Rock in Tulsa-Late 70's to Mid 90's
by Bryan Crain 

Spotlight Gold Award


Our Lady Victory: The Story of Indy 11 
by Nick Evans 

Spotlight Silver Award


Out of Spite 
by Tina Fischer

Spotlight Silver Award


Path of Blood
by Jonathan Hacker

Spotlight Silver Award


Pick It Up! Ska in the '90s
by Taylor Morden 

Spotlight Gold Award


Plastic River 
by Manuel Camia 

Spotlight Platinum Award


Plugged In
by Richard Willett

Spotlight Gold Award

Pooh: The Derrick Rose Story 
by Scott Diener 

Spotlight Gold Award


Prepare Now!
by Peter Charles Downey

Spotlight Gold Award


Prospect
by Duncan Shaw

Spotlight Silver Award


Qassem Haddad .. The Last Door’s Hour
by Khalid Al-Rowaie

Spotlight Bronze Award


Reap What You Sew
by Tyler Adams

Spotlight Gold Award


"Redeemed" The Brandi Brassell Story
by Joe Teixeira 

Spotlight Bronze Award


Reinventing Rosalee
by Lillian Glass

Spotlight Silver Award


Renegade Dreamers
by Karen Kramer

Spotlight Silver Award


Repeat Offender
by Jason Harney

Spotlight Bronze Award


Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook
by Michael Kasino

Spotlight Bronze Award


Rivers of Ukraine. Stokhid. Part I
by Sergii Trofymchuk

Spotlight Silver Award


Scientifilia
by Pilar Rodríguez Franco

Spotlight Silver Award


Searching For Meaning
by Jean-Francois Rodrigues

Spotlight Bronze Award


Sedae
by Daniel Smukalla

Spotlight Gold Award 


Shatter the Silence
by Cheryl Allison

Spotlight Gold Award 


Sunblock
by Bill Bentley

Spotlight Bronze Award


Suspended and the Art of Forgiveness
by Andrew Wall 

Spotlight Gold Award 


The Color of Art
by David Weathersby

Spotlight Bronze Award


The Color of Justice
by Marjolaine Grappe

Spotlight Gold Award 


The Deepest Cut
by Alexandra Guillossou

Spotlight Silver Award


The Last Harvest
by Alexis Spradic

Spotlight Gold Award 


The Magic Behind the Mojo
by Joe Gallo

Spotlight Gold Award 


The Minds of Men
by Aaron Dykes & Melissa Dykes
Spotlight Silver Award


The Race
by Dina Rudick

Spotlight Gold Award 


The Rest Is History
by Peter Costigan

Spotlight Gold Award 


The Unforgettable Augustus Post
by Jason Cohn & Camille Servan-Schreiber

Spotlight Gold Award 


The Wounded Blue
by Jason Harney 

Spotlight Bronze Award


Tin City
by Dina Mande 

Spotlight Gold Award 


To Find a Harpy
by Daniel O'Neill 

Spotlight Gold Award 


To the Brink and Back
by The Church of Almighty God

Spotlight Silver Award


Troublemaker
by Jason C. Wilson

Spotlight Gold Award 


Uncle Frank's House: An American Dream
by Kathy Drasky

Spotlight Silver Award


Undeterred
by Eva Lewis

Spotlight Silver Award


What to Do about Climate Disruption?
by Eric Simon

Spotlight Silver Award


When All That's Left is Love
by Eric Gordon

Spotlight Bronze Award


You Got Everything, Honey
by John Coates 

Spotlight Bronze Award





20 Liters
by Andy Seiler & Aaron Thomas

Spotlight Bronze Award


A New Deal for Public Art in the Free State
by Graham Carroll & Kara Heitz

Spotlight Gold Award


A Story of Courage
by Ariana Feiner

Spotlight Gold Award


A Wonderful World: a Louie Armstrong Documentary
by Paul Notice

Spotlight Gold Award


All Mixed Up?
by Zoë Takaki

Spotlight Silver Award


Answers for Jessica

by Aaron Migdon

Spotlight Silver Award


Babli
by Aneel Ahmad

Spotlight Silver Award


Bass Impact
by Danny Donnelly

Spotlight Gold Award


Becoming Singapore

by Tom St John Gray

Spotlight Silver Award


Big Brother Hui
by Feng Yangyang 

Spotlight Silver Award


Bullied
by Thomas Keith

Spotlight Gold Award


Caiden's Photos
by Nathan Raglan

Spotlight Bronze Award


Catonsville: Music City Maryland
by JD Barth

Spotlight Silver Award


Chen
by Orit Novak

Spotlight Silver Award


CommuKnity
by Vishnu Perumal

Spotlight Bronze Award


Dear, Dreamer
by Kristian Melom

Spotlight Platinum Award


Die Burg

by Hans Andreas Guttner

Spotlight Silver Award


Educated
by Hudson Flynn

Spotlight Silver Award


Flint, Michigan...in their own words
by James Dalrymple

Spotlight Gold Award


FLOAT
by Saila Huusko

Spotlight Silver Award


Hayat
by Rendah Haj

Spotlight Bronze Award


Hope for Breast Cancer
by Eric Zielinski

Spotlight Gold Award


Hope Village
by Ri-Karlo Handy

Spotlight Gold Award


In Flowers Through Space
by Dennis Cahlo

Spotlight Gold Award


Indian Space Dreams
by Sue Sudbury

Spotlight Gold Award


Inside The Heart
by Jesse Monday

Spotlight Silver Award


Iric
by Sandra Tamkin

Spotlight Silver Award


John and the Pahlavan
by Ryan Blake

Spotlight Silver Award


LAKOTA State of Mind
by Filiz Rezvan & Jon-Luke Kavapil

Spotlight Gold Award


Let the Blonde Sing
by Rachel Knoll

Spotlight Silver Award


Lost In Carranza
By Marin Troude

Spotlight Platinum Award

Minor Accident of War
by DIane Fredel-Weis & Piotr Kabat

Spotlight Gold Award


MO TE IWI: Carving for the People
by Robin Greenberg

Spotlight Silver Award


Mosul
by Daniel Gabriel

Spotlight Gold Award


Multiple Personality: Reality & illusion
by Jim Myers

Spotlight Silver Award


No Pork on the Fork: A Kosher BBQ Story
by Jacob Ross & Adam Hirsch

Spotlight Gold Award


Paradise Lost
by Adam Smith & Ryan Sandberg 

Spotlight Silver Award


Photos in the Rain
by Thomas F. O'Brien

​Spotlight Bronze Award


POST-TRUTH, the truth has never been so false
by El Probe Manchego

​Spotlight Bronze Award


Retina: Light Sensitive Layer, Diagnostic Equipments, Common Diseases
by Vedavyasa N K

Spotlight Silver Award


Richard Wilbur: Keeping the Difficult Balance
by Ralph Hammann

Spotlight Silver Award


Riding A Dream
by Tommy Bolwell & Mattia Reiniger

Spotlight Gold Award


Rockabill
by Andrew Power

Spotlight Gold Award


Sankofa
by Princess Garrett

Spotlight Silver Award


Searching for a Beautiful Bachelor

by Peter Evanchuck & Helene Lacelle

​​Spotlight Silver Award


Shelter Me
By Zach Lawson

Spotlight Platinum Award


Swing State Florida: After Michael
by Samuel George

Spotlight Silver Award


Taking Flight: The WASZP Story
by Jordan Roberts

Spotlight Silver Award


TEENAGER 4 GOVERNOR (OF THE GR8 STATE OF KANSAS)
by Michael Engelken

​Spotlight Bronze Award


The Acting Hawaiian Council of Regency; Exposing the American Occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom
by Benjamin Cohn

​Spotlight Silver Award


The Buddy I Never Met
by Keller Fornes

​Spotlight Silver Award


The Cat Man
by Mauricio Ventura & Robert Julian

Spotlight Silver Award


The Difference
by Brianne Berkson & Miguel Gluckstern

Spotlight Silver Award


The Distant Islands
by Alberto Meroni

Spotlight Silver Award


The Doctor Who Refused To Give Up
by Börje Peratt

Spotlight Silver Award


The Forgotten Ones
by Tracii McGregor

Spotlight Silver Award


The Gate: Dawn of the Bahá’í Faith
by Bob Hercules

Spotlight Gold Award


The Giant Deep Reds

by Maurice Micallef

Spotlight Gold Award


The Hebron Protocol
by Jared Leong

​Spotlight Bronze Award


The Housecats
by Molly Hackett

Spotlight Gold Award


The Instant
by Hakan Aytekin

​Spotlight Bronze Award


The Long Road of Exile
by The Church of Almighty God

Spotlight Silver Award


The Making of a Man
by Lo Dagerman

Spotlight Silver Award


The Night is Black and the Day is White
by Joe McStravick

Spotlight Gold Award


The Sako Tapes
by Machiel van den Heuvel

​Spotlight Bronze Award


The Ukishima
by Kim Jin Hong

​Spotlight Bronze Award

The Waitlist
by Natasha Pizzey-Siegeart & James Fredrick

Spotlight Silver Award


Tous Les Jours
by Nicholas Mullins

Spotlight Gold Award


Trailer Boys
by Yusri Sapari

​Spotlight Bronze Award


Transplant
by Zheyu Liang

​Spotlight Bronze Award

(Un)Divided
by Paul Raila

Spotlight Platinum Award


Unmasking Jihadi John: Anatomy of a Terrorist
by Anthony Wonke

Spotlight Gold Award


Vegetable Skin, an Interview
by Giovanni Soletta

Spotlight Silver Award


WARM YOUR HANDS UP WITH SNOW
by Rodion Antakov

​Spotlight Bronze Award


We the Bathers
by Phoebe Arnstein

Spotlight Gold Award


When We Were Apollo
by Zachary Weil

Spotlight Gold Award


Who Am I
by Caleb Vinson

Spotlight Silver Award


Why She Smiles
by Caroline Sims

​Spotlight Gold Award


Yam Festival, Ghana
by James Dalrymple
​Spotlight Gold Award








 Award-Winning independent Documentary Films