The International Documentary Association (IDA) has announced the 35th Annual IDA Documentary Awards’ honorees, and Freida Lee Mock and Rachel Lears are among them. The former is set to receive the Career Achievement Award and the latter the Emerging Doc Filmmaker Award.
A five-time Oscar nominee, Mock took home the Best Documentary Feature award in 1995 for “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision,” a portrait of the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. She also received nods for “Sing!”, “Never Give Up: The 20th Century Odyssey of Herbert Zipper,” “Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember,” and “To Live or Let Die.” She scored an Emmy for exec producing “Lillian Gish: The Actor’s Life for Me.”
Mock most recently directed “Ruth – Justice Ginsburg in her own Words.” Asked about what surprised her most about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mock said, “I had no idea she had such a singular vision about gender. I had no idea that she was really the pioneer in the contemporary way we approach gender discrimination, equality and justice. A lot of it comes from her childhood, her Jewish upbringing, being raised during WWII [and encountering] overt discrimination and violence toward Jews. So that was really fascinating to understand why she took this path,” she explained.
Lears received an Emmy nod for “The Hand that Feeds,” a doc about undocumented immigrants who take on a New York restaurant chain with abusive working conditions. She most recently helmed Sundance sensation “Knock Down the House,” which took home the Audience Award: US Documentary and Festival Favorite Award out of Park City. The political doc doc sees four working-class women — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez among them — running for political office for the first time.
“I became a filmmaker in my mid-20s while in a PhD program for Cultural Anthropology. My background before that was in music and photography. I fell in love with the art of documentary because it allowed me to do everything I cared about all at once — to engage directly with ideas, politics, and people, and to craft stories in a collage-like way using visual, sonic, musical, and verbal elements,” Lears told us. “Beyond this, I also really wanted to make art that connected with diverse audiences on multiple levels — aesthetic, emotional, intellectual — and documentary film allows this.”
“We are so excited to be honoring such talented filmmakers and organizations that really make a difference in the world,” said Simon Kilmurry, executive director of the IDA. “Freida Lee Mock’s Career Achievement Award is overdue. Her films have tackled a wide range of topics with an insightful artistic vision, and her unparalleled body of work continues to inspire and impact the world. In her film ‘Knock Down the House,’ Emerging Filmmaker Award recipient Rachel Lears brings us a powerful story of what it can mean when ordinary citizens decide to get involved in the political process and shows the change they can make.”
In reaction to the announcement, Mock said, “I’m delighted and honored as a documentary filmmaker to be recognized by the world’s preeminent media organization devoted to the documentary arts and craft.”
“I am truly humbled and honored to be this year’s recipient of the Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award, given the IDA’s long history as a pillar in the field,” Lears remarked. “As I continue to try to tell stories with human depth, political and cultural nuance, and audiovisual grace, I’m thrilled to have the IDA’s vote of confidence in my ongoing commitment to the art form of independent documentary.”
The Awards will be presented during a ceremony in Los Angeles on December 7.
