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Grierson Awards: Shortlist Announced

The Grierson Trust has announced the shortlist of documentaries for The British Documentary Awards 2008.

Included in the list are Geoffrey Smith's acclaimed film The English Surgeon, shown at the ICA in March in a special DFG screening, together with Marc Isaac's latest All In White In Barking, which premiered at last year's Sheffield Doc/Fest.

David Dugan, tutor on DFG's recent Science on Film initiative, has been shortlisted in the category of Best Science Documentary for his film for BBC Four, The Race for Absolute Zero, while another DFG tutor, Suzanne Lynch, has been shortlisted for her series Last Chance Kids. The Tower: A Tale of Two Cities, the feature-length version of which was screened at DFG's member screening event in December, has also been nominated for best series. A full list of the shortlisted films is below.

The winners of the Griersons 2008 will be announced at the annual British Documentary Awards ceremony which will take place at The Royal Institution, Albermarle Street, London W1 on the evening of Thursday, 20th November 2008.

Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue

All White in Barking
Marc Isaacs for Bungalow Town Productions (BBC Two)
Beautiful Young Minds
Morgan Matthews for Blast Films (BBC Two)
China’s Stolen Children
Jezza Neumann for True Vision (Channel 4)
The English Surgeon
Geoffrey Smith for Eyeline Films (London Film Festival)
Inside Hamas
Rodrigo Vazquez for Stampede (Channel 4)
The Lie of the Land
Molly Dineen for RTO Productions (Channel 4)
The Not Dead
Brian Hill for Century Films (Channel 4)
The War in America
Abdallah el Binni, Abdeddayem Sammari for Al Jazeera Satellite Network (Al Jazeera Satellite Network)
We Are Together
Paul Taylor for Rise Films (Edinburgh International Film Festival)

Best Arts Documentary

Daniel Libeskind - The Making Of An Architect
Christopher Swann for Lion Television (BBC Four)
Derek
Isaac Julien for Normal Films (More4)
George Melly’s Last Stand
Katie Buchanan for Walker George Films Ltd (BBC Four)
Here's Johnny
Adam Lavis for Animal Monday (Dana Centre, London)
Joy Division
Grant Gee for Hudson Productions Ltd./Brown Owl Films Ltd (Sheffield Doc/Fest)
The Nutcracker Story
Margy Kinmonth for ITV Productions (ITV 1)
Soweto Strings
Mark Kidel for Calliope Media (BBC Four)
War Oratorio
James Kent for Oxford Film & Television (Channel 4)

Best Historical Documentary

1983 - The Brink of Apocalypse
Henry Chancellor for Flashback Television (Channel 4)
Day of the Kamikaze
Peter Nicholson for Darlow Smithson (Channel 4)
The Day India Burned: Partition
Ricardo Pollack for BBC Factual Birmigham (BBC Two)
Ian Hislop's Scouting for Boys
Deborah Lee for Takeaway Media (BBC Four)
In the Shadow of the Moon
David Sington for Dox Productions (BFI Southbank)
Rivers Of Blood
Denys Blakeway for Blakeway Productions (BBC Two)
Sea of Fire
Ian Duncan for Windfall Films Ltd (BBC Two)
What Did You Do in the Great War Daddy?
Steve Humphries for Testimony Films (BBC Four)

Best Science Documentary

Atom - Episode 1
Tim Usborne for Oxford Scientific Films (BBC Four)
Earth: The Power of the Planet – Atmosphere
Annabel Gillings for BBC (BBC Two)
How Does Your Memory Work?
Annabel Gillings for BBC (BBC Two)
Life in Cold Blood: Armoured Giants
Adam White for BBC (BBC One)
Northern Star
Niamh Sammon for Independent Pictures (BBC One Northern Ireland)
Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives
Louise Lockwood for BBC Scotland (BBC Four)
The Race for Absolute Zero
David Dugan for Windfall Films Ltd (BBC Four)
Stephen Hawking - Master of the Universe
Gary Johnstone for IWC Productions (Channel 4)

Johnathan Gili Award for Most Entertaining Documentary

Boys from The Brown Stuff
David Clews for Blast Productions (BBC Two)
Clowns
Daisy Asquith for Dandy Films (BBC Two)
Kike Like Me
Jamie Kastner for Cave 7 Productions Inc (Channel 4)
The Man Who Eats Badgers and Other Strange Tales from Bodmin Moor
Daniel Vernon for BBC (BBC Two)
Please Vote for Me
Weijun Chen for Steps International (BBC World)
Pramface Babies
Philippa Robinson for Century Films (Channel 4)
Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares: Fish & Anchor
Heenan Bhatti for Optomen (Channel 4)
Seven Sins of England
Joseph Bullman for Halcyon/Diverse Productions (Channel 4)

Best Drama Documentary

10 Days to War
David Belton for BBC News & Current Affairs (BBC Two)
Battle for Haditha
Nick Broomfield for Lafayette Flms (More4)
The Beckoning Silence
Louise Osmond for Darlow Smithson Productions (Channel 4)
The Curse of Steptoe
Ben Bickerton, Michael Samuels and Brian Fillis for BBC Drama (BBC Four)
Forgiven
Paul Wilmshurst for Betty TV (Channel 4)
Frongoch - Man Geni'r IRA (Frongoch - University of Revolution)
Ifor Ap Glyn for Cwmni Da (S4C)
Maxwell
Colin Barr for BBC London Factual (BBC Two)
The Relief of Belsen
Justin Hardy for Hardy Pictures (Channel 4)

Envy Best Documentary Series

Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain
Tom Giles, Fatima Salaria for BBC Current Affairs (BBC Two)
The Choir - Boys Don't Sing
Rob McCabe, Harry Beney for Twenty Twenty (BBC Two)
Hugh's Chicken Run
Helen Simpson for Keo Films (Channel 4)
Last Chance Kids
Suzanne Lynch for Diverse Productions (Channel 4)
Meet the Natives
Gavin Searle for Keo Films (Channel 4)
The Mummy Diaries
Amanda Blue for Ricochet (Channel 4)
The Tower: a Tale of Two Cities
Anthony Wonke for BBC London Factual (BBC One)
Why Democracy?
Don Edkins and Mette Heide for Steps International (BBC Two)

UK Film Council Best Cinema Documentary

Garbage Warrior
Oliver House for Open Eye Media
In the Shadow of the Moon
David Sington for Dox Productions
Iraq In Fragments
James Longley for Typecast Pictures
Joy Division
Grant Gee for Hudson Productions Ltd./Brown Owl Films Ltd
Taxi to the Darkside
Alex Gibney for X-Ray Productions
Tovarisch I Am Not Dead
Stuart Urban for Cyclops Vision
Waveriders
Joel Conroy for Inís Films and Besom Productions
We Are Together
Paul Taylor for Rise Films

Bloomberg Best Newcomer

Beekeeping After War: Stories from the former Yugoslavia
Tomas Leach for Fabrica (Pocket Visions, LIDF)
Beryl’s Last Year
Charlie Russell for Firefly Productions (BBC Four)
Cut Up Kids
Emma Parsons for BBC Current Affairs (BBC Three)
Garbage Warrior
Oliver Hodge for Open Eye Media (Edinburgh Intenational Film Festival)
The Gathering
Colin O’Toole for Killing Ants & Pulse Films Ltd (Channel 4)
Here's Johnny
Adam Lavis for Animal Monday (Dana Centre, London)
Living Goddess
Ishbel Whitaker for DarkFibre Films; entered by DarkFibre Films (More4)
Standing Start
Finlay Pretsell and Adrian McDowall for Scottish Documentary Institute (Edinburgh International Film Festival)
Tommy’s Story
William Jessop for Fulcrum TV (The Community Channel)

Related Pages

Interview with Geoffrey Smith, DFGDocs/Articles
Marc Isaacs in DFGDocs/Directory

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