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Grierson 2006 shortlist announced
The Grierson Trust and reviewers have chosen 77 entries in nine categories to go forward to the next stage of the competition. These shortlisted documentaries will be seen by independent panels of judges who will select four films in each category to be nominated for the final awards. Nominees for the UK Film Council Best Cinema Documentary include March of the Penguins, The Road to Guantanamo, and Unknown White Male and Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price among other strong candidates. The Bloomberg Best Newcomer nominees are Astrid Busink, Clare Richards, Nasfim Haque, Emma Parkin, Vaughan Pilikian, Lee Phillips, Jamie Johnson, Andrew Henderson, Nicki Stoker, Sadik Ahmed and Aneel Ahmad.

The winners for the British documentary awards will be announced at the Grierson Awards ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London on 17th November. At the ceremony, the Grierson Trust will also present the Trustees’ Award, which recognises an outstanding contribution to the art or craft of the documentary.

The Grierson Awards commemorates the pioneering Scottish documentary maker John Grierson who is widely regarded as the father of the British documentary.

Major supporters of Grierson 2006 are The UK Film Council, Bloomberg and The Dorset Foundation.

The shortlisted films are:

Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue
Asylum (Peter Gordon for BBC) BBC Four
Dispatches: Beslan (Kevin Sim for Mentorn Oxford) Channel 4
Born in the USSR: 21 Up (Sergei Miroshnichenko for Granda Television) ITV 1
Gaza: The Fight for Israel (Monica Garnsey for Raw TV Ltd & Israel Goldvicht Productions) Channel 4
The Insurgency (Tom Roberts for October Films) BBC Two
The Real Sex Traffic (Ric Esther Bienstock for True Vision Productions) Channel 4
Women on the Edge: The Truth About Styal Prison (Rachel Coughlan for BBC) BBC Two
A World Without Water (Brian Woods for True Vision Productions) Channel 4

Best Documentary on the Arts
Imagine: Andy Warhol Denied (Chris Rodley for BBC) BBC One
Imagine: Elgar and the Missing Concerto (John Bridcut for Mentorn Oxford) BBC One
In Search of Mozart (Phil Grabsky for Seventh Art Productions) five
John Osborne and the Gift of Friendship (Tony Palmer for Isolde Films) five
The Photographer, His Wife, Her Lover (Paul Yule for Berwick Pictures) BBC Four
Sinatra: Dark Star (Christopher Olgiati for Paladin Invision) BBC One
South Bank Show: Maxim Vengerov: Living the Dream (Ken Howard for Landseer Productions) ITV 1
Take That For The Record (David Norman-Watt for talkback THAMES in association with Syco TV) ITV 1

Best Historical Documentary
The Blitz - London’s Firestorm (Louise Osmond for Darlow Smithson) Channel 4
Elusive Peace - Israel and the Arabs (Mark Anderson for Brook Lapping) BBC Two
The First Emperor (Nic Young for Lion Television) Channel 4
How Vietnam Was Lost (Two Days In October) (Robert Kenner for Robert Kenner films) BBC One
How We Fell for Europe (Nikki Stockley for Brook Lapping) BBC Two
Timewatch: Pol Pot - Journey to the Killing Fields (Andrew Williams for BBC) BBC Two
Tory! Tory! Tory! (for Mentorn) BBC Four
A Very British Olympics (Dominic Sutherland for BBC) BBC Four

Best Documentary on Science or the Natural World
Bodyshock: Curse of the Mermaid (Julia Harrington for RedBack) Channel 4
Planet Earth: From Pole to Pole (Mark Linfield for BBC) BBC One
Horizon: Ghost in your Genes (Nigel Paterson for BBC) BBC Two
The King Cobra and I (Harry Marshall for Icon Films) BBC Two
Life in the Undergrowth: Invasion of the Land (Peter Bassett for BBC) BBC One
Monkey Love (Brian Henry Martin for Doubleband Films) Channel 4
The Natural World: The Queen of Trees (Victoria Stone and Mark Deeble for Flat Dog Productions) BBC Two
Extraordinary People: The Seven Year Old Surgeon (Polly Steele for Firecracker Films) five

Most Entertaining Documentary
Armed Robbery Orgasm (Norman Hull for Firefly Productions) Channel 4
Mischief: Booze Bird (Colete Camden for BBC) BBC Three
Censored At The Seaside: The Saucy Postcards of Donald McGill (Steve Webb for Firefly Productions) BBC Two
Arena: Little Platform, Big Stage (Zimena Percival for Lone Star Productions) BBC Four
Live 8: Programme One: Twenty Years Ago Today (Anna Davies for Brook Lapping) BBC One
Michael Carroll - King of Chavs (Ned Parker and Keith Allen for Associated Rediffusion Television) Channel 4
Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares: Prog 3 - Momma Cherri’s (Christine Hall for Optomen Television) Channel 4
Taxidermy: Stuff The World (Moran Matthews for Century Films) Channel 4
The Trouble with Gay Men (Maninderpal Sahota for Diverse TV) BBC Three

Best Drama Documentary
Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster (Nick Murphy for BBC) BBC One
Elizabeth David – A Life in Recipes (James Kent for Wall to Wall) BBC Two
Fantabulosa (Andy De Emmony for BBC) BBC Four
Hiroshima (Paul Wilmshurst for BBC) BBC One
Our Hidden Lives (Michael Samuels for Diverse Productions) BBC Four
The Plot Against Harold Wilson (Paul Dwyer for BBC) BBC Two
The Secretary Who Stole £4 Million (Colin Barr for BBC) BBC Two
The Year London Blew Up (Edmund Coulthard and Mark Hayhurst for Blast Films) Channel 4

Best Documentary Series
49 Up (Michael Apted for Granada Television) ITV 1
Cult of the Suicide Bomber (David Batty and Kevin Toolis for Many Rivers Productions) Channel 4
In Search of Mozart (Phil Grabsky for Seventh Art Productions) five
Mischief (BBC) BBC Three
My Life as a Child (Nicola Gibson for BBC) BBC Two
Russian Godfathers (Patrick Forbes for Oxford Film & Television) BBC Two
Underground Britain (Alastair Cook and Robert Davis for Blast Films) BBC Two
A Very English Village (Luke Holland for ZEF Productions) BBC Four

UK Film Council Best Cinema Documentary
Storyville: Darwin’s Nightmare (Hubert Sauper for Mille et Une, Coop 99 & Saga Film) BBC Four
Diameter of the Bomb (Steven Silver and Andrew Quigley for Rainmaker Films)
Dig (Ondi Timoner for Interloper)
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Alex Gibney for HD Net Films)
March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet for Warner Independent Pictures & National Geographic Feature Films)
The Road to Guantanamo (Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross for Revolution Films) Channel 4
Unknown White Male (Rupert Murray for Spectre Broadcast Ltd) More4
Viva Zapatero! (Sabina Guzzanti for Studiosound srl)
Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price (Robert Greenwald for Brace New Films)

Bloomberg Best Newcomer
Astrid Busink for Angelmakers
Clare Richards for Disabled and Looking for Love
Nasfim Haque for Don't Panic I'm Islamic
Emma Parkin for Family Ties: Flesh and Blood
Vaughan Pilikian for Hammer and Flame
Lee Phillips for How to Start Your Own Countrys
Jamie Johnson for Man's New Best Friend ... a Dogumentary
Andrew Henderson for The Rest is Silence
Nicki Stoker for Show Me the Money
Sadik Ahmed for Tanju Miah
Aneel Ahmad for Waiting for Sunrise

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