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2012 DEADLINES TBA

Submit Your Film

Feature Documentary
Feature Documentaries with a total running time from 61 - 180 minutes. (All films in a language other than English require English subtitles)

Documentary Short
Short Documentaries with a total running time between 4 and 30 minutes. (All films in a language other than English require English subtitles)

MiniMovies
Very short documentaries and fiction forms plus all experimental genres allowed with a total running time of under 4 minutes (this is up to 3 minutes and 59 seconds, not a second more!) -- Go to the limit of documentary film making: free form -- free content --(All films in a language other than English require English subtitles)

Documentary Medium-Length and Essay Forms
Medium length documentaries and documentarian film essays with a total running time between 31 and 60 minutes. (All films in a language other than English require English subtitles)

2011 DOCMIAMI NOMINEES

Best Feature Documentary

Boys of Bonneville: Racing on a Ribbon of Salt

The Invocation

Vidal Sassoon: The Movie

Best Short Documentary

Challenging Impossibility

My Country is Tibet

We Shall Not Be Moved: The Nashville Sit-Ins

Best Contemporary Issue Documentary

Burma- A Human Tragedy

Cartography of Loneliness

Peace Through Education: Stealing The Light

Most Entertaining Documentary

Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone

Ghost Player

GO THERE ONCE, BE THERE TWICE

Most Inspirational Documentary

Baby Let Your Hair Hang Down

Happy

Zero Percent

Inside The Perfect Circle

Best Historical Documentary

Behind the Wall

FINDING FIDEL: THE JOURNEY OF ERIK DURSCHMIED

The Mexican Suitcase

Best Investigative Documentary

Katrina Cop in The Superdome

Overlooked Suspect - What If O.J. Simpson Didn't Do It?

The Big Uneasy

Best Local Documentary

Bots High

Tanzania a Friendship Journey

Zapata Vive

2010 DOCMIAMI NOMINEES

Best Feature Documentary:

Do It Again
Footsteps in Africa: A Nomadic Journey
The Shark is Still Working: The Impact and Legacy of JAWS

Best Documentary Short:

Finding D-QU: The Lonely Struggle of California's only Tribal College
She Wore Silver Wings
The Sultans of the Bosphorus

Best Documentary Contemporary Documentary:

Hot Flash Havoc
P.A.T.H.
Women With Altitude

Most Entertaining Documentary

Board Heads
MOMz HOT ROCKs
Mwamba Ngoma

Best Historical Documentary

A Village Called Versailles
Through The Tunnel
To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen's Journey

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2012 DATES TBA
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2011 DocMiami WINNERS

BEST FEATURE	Narrated by Sharon Stone, The Invocation is an exploration of the notion of God and a call for global harmony through foundations of religion, spirituality, history, science, politics and art. It is an invitation to elevate our school of thought and to change the code of human interaction in relation to our perceptions of God. The film proposes answers to universal questions in both a religious and non-religious context: Who am I, where do I come from, and where am I going? Is there something beyond the here and now? What is the global idea of God which has presented us with countless conflicts throughout human history? How can we live in Peace?
BEST SHORT	Challenging Impossibility chronicles the weightlifting odyssey of an unlikely strength athlete, the Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy. From his arrival in the West in 1964, he quickly developed a large following of people from all faiths and all walks of life eager to learn meditation and unlock their own deepest potential. A multifaceted savant, Sri Chinmoy lectured at major universities, wrote hundreds of books, exhibited his paintings in galleries worldwide, offered meditations regularly for United Nations staff and delegates, performed free concerts of his own music for peace at venues ranging from Lincoln Center to the Sydney Opera House, and sponsored a variety of marathons and ultramarathons. Sri Chinmoy received numerous awards for his landmark and often ground-breaking programs for peace and goodwill. Challenging Impossibility features bodybuilding legends as well as Olympic immortal Carl Lewis, World’s Strongest Man Hugo Girard and appearances by President Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Richard Gere, and Susan Sarandon.
AUDIENCE AWARD	A documentary about Grammy Award winner and Pulitzer Prize nominated composer and conductor Joel Thome, who collaborated extensively with rock icon Frank Zappa, arranging all of the eccentric composer's music for rock band and orchestra, and also composed for Steve Vai and Pablo Picasso. In 1991 Thome suffered a debilitating stroke and was paralyzed on the left side of his body, but by using music as a resource for healing, he was able to return to the stage with a new project, his graphically notated mandala scores. With performance by The Scorchio Quartet, and animated mandala artwork by abstract painter Harry C. Doolittle, Inside The Perfect Circle is a feast for the senses.
MOST ENTERTAINING	From the shifting faultlines of Hollywood fantasies and the economic and racial tensions of Reagan's America, Fishbone rose to become one of the most original bands of the last 25 years. With a blistering combination of punk and funk they demolished the walls of genre and challenged the racial stereotypes and political order of the music industry and the nation. Telling it like it is, the iconic Laurence Fishburne narrates EVERYDAY SUNSHINE, a story about music, history, fear, courage and funking on the one.
BEST CONTEMPORY	We follow Dr. Mohammad Khan Kharoti as he builds a school in his home village from a handful of children to over 1,200 students, providing them their first real educational opportunities. In 2008, the school he dedicated himself to build was destroyed. As we follow his journey to rebuild, we explore the role education plays in building peace in Afghanistan.
BEST HISTORICAL	Mexican Suitcase tells the story of the recovery of 4,500 negatives by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David 'Chim' Seymour taken during the Spanish Civil War found 70 years later in a closet in Mexico City. The film looks at the journey of these negatives from France to Mexico; their survival and looks at how Spain reflects today on its own history as well as those who escaped. Mexico was the only country to come to the rescue and support of the Spanish Republic and then honor and support the Republic in exile when the rest of the world turned its back. Mexican Suitcase looks at this unique story and these photos lost for seventy years.
MOST INSPIRATIONAL	In 2005, director Tom Shadyac ('Liar Liar', 'Patch Adams' and 'Bruce Almighty') handed Roko Belic a New York Times article about the new science of happiness. The article ranked the United States down at number 23 on its list of happiest countries. Shadyac, himself dissatisfied with his luxurious Beverly Hills lifestyle, suggested the two collaborate on a documentary investigating the sources of genuine human happiness. How can America be one of the richest countries in the world and nowhere near the happiest? Directed by Academy Award® nominee Roko Belic ('Genghis Blues'), HAPPY was shot in 14 countries on 5 continents and takes viewers from the bayous of Louisiana to the deserts of Namibia, from the beaches of Brazil to the mountains of Bhutan. We meet a beautiful woman named Melissa Moody, a mother of three who had a “perfect life” until the day she was run over by a truck. Disabled for nine years and disfigured for life, amazingly she is happier now than before her accident. Manoj Singh, a rickshaw puller from the slums of Kolkata, India who lives in a hut made of plastic bags with his family, is found to be as happy as the average American. Through these and other stories HAPPY leads us toward a deeper understanding of how the choices we make dramatically effect our sense of well-being and happiness. HAPPY is narrated by best-selling author Marci Shimoff (Happy for No Reason, Chicken Soup for the Soul for Women).
BEST INVESTIGATIVE	"Overlooked Suspect - What If O.J. Simpson Didn't Do It ?" This made for television documentary raises compelling questions and highlights a 15 year investigation by one of America’s leading and acclaimed private investigators William C. Dear, along with a team of internationally recognized scientific and medical experts in their fields. Each expert has come to the same, independent conclusion. The documentary includes references to key communication between the LAPD and agencies responsible for the original trial and lead investigator Dear, making viewers wonder, Why was the Overlooked Suspect we have identified not more vigorously pursued? Was there a cover up? We have distilled 5000 hours of detailed research and investigation into a thought provoking, viewer friendly documentary that will empower the public to decide what they feel about the biggest murder trial of the 20th century.
BEST LOCAL	Zapata Lives is a collection of testimonies gathered from relatives, mates and friends of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a young Cuban laborer advocate of human rights who died in a Cuban prison after 85 days in a hunger strike on February 2010. There are interviews conducted in different places in the United States, Spain and Cuba. These last recordings were done under very difficult conditions and obsolete and defficient equipments in spite of people knowing their testimonies may well legally incriminate them. This documentary revisits Zapata Tamayo's life from his infancy, his years as a boxer, his fight in favor of the defense of Human Rights in Cuba and the testimony of his prison inmates. It also includes testimonies from the Ladies in White about Zapata's death, about his beatings and how his jailers denied him water. It's a blunt description about how solid his convictions were and his decision to die in defense of his ideals without attacking others.

2010 DocMiami WINNERS

BEST FEATURE	Narrated by Chief Martin Brody himself, Roy Scheider, this feature-length documentary focuses squarely on the many ways Jaws has helped to shape these elements of pop culture. In addition,TSISW proudly showcases many of the fans, artists, and craftsmen who keep this film alive, examining some of the creative venues through which they express their passion for the film. It covers the recent events at Jawsfest’05, celebrating the picture’s thirtieth anniversary and highlights Jaws homages and send-ups from pop culture. Interviews with the cast and crew, and prominent filmmakers whose careers have been duly influenced by the movie will give the viewer some insight as to why Jaws has earned a well-deserved place among the greatest classics Hollywood has ever produced. The Shark is Still Working promises to be the ultimate retrospective on Jaws.
BEST SHORT	A true story of Women Airforce Service Pilots told by (WASP), Jean Landis. Brave women pilots who, for the first time in the history of the United States, were recruited to volunteer their services in WWII by ferrying fighter planes, test flying new and repaired planes, and towing targets in the air for live artillery practice. How the WASPs were formed, the incredible challenges they faced and the cause of their early demise. These heroic young women of the 1940's flew over 60 million miles for the US Army and opened the door for today's military female pilots. It's a subject that is still not well known but in 2009 President Obama signed a bill to award the WASPs The Congressional Gold Medal. On March 10th, 2010 a ceremony was held in Washington D.C. honoring and thanking the WASPs for their service.
AUDIENCE AWARD	This film is directed and produced by Tim VandeSteeg, produced by Mark Castaldo, and narrated by Billy Bob Thornton. The Boxmasters, which includes Billy Bob Thornton and J.D. Andrew have lent their hit song “Every King Wears a Crown” to the film’s soundtrack. After tragically losing his wife to breast cancer and struggling to raise three young children on his own, Terry Hitchcock seized on an idea. He wanted to accomplish the impossible: run 75 consecutive marathons in 75 consecutive days to bring attention to the incredibly difficult lives of single-parent families.
MOST ENTERTAINING	MOMz HOT ROCKs is a feature length original music documentary on the emergence of mom rock bands, 2004-2007. Turning the rock genre on its belly, they are the first children of the rock and roll generation to be louder than their kids. Introducing Joy Rose, mother of 4, lead singer of Housewives on Prozac and founder of Mamapalooza Festivals, Frump from Texas, Placenta from California, the Mydols Detroit and a comic from Nashville. The concept and reality are humorous, fast paced and intense. Each of the bands is a completely different entity, each member with unique passions, duties and agendas. Being in a band is likened to being in a marriage and these groups of women formed during and after family life. Never mind the laundry, the balancing act only intensifies as tasks increase with both family and blossoming new musical careers. One thing that the documentary exposes is how hard working and dedicated these women are to playing music in order to inspire others to express themselves somehow, all the while maintaining enormous daily responsibility. MOMz HOT ROCKs is both a documentary and a music video, it combines the best of both of these genres and brings the audience an entertaining look into how women--MOMz, take on the world, manage their full lives and make music to rock your socks off.
BEST CONTEMPORY	'P.A.T.H.' (which stands for Preserving, Archiving and Teaching Hip-Hop History) documents the Hip-Hop Academy, the first ever summer camp of it's kind in Miami. During the four week camp, teenagers from ages 13-18 studied Hip-Hop history, the art of deejaying, emceeing (rapping), B-boying and B-girling (break-dancing), and urban art.
BEST HISTORICAL	This film gives a glimpse of the transition from the segregated to integrated school systems of the 1960's in Manatee County Florida. This is shown from the perspective of two legends from that transition, legendary high school football Coach Eddie Shannon, and former NFL player, Henry Lawrence, who were part of the All-African-American Lincoln Memorial High School, which had a strong legacy in the African-American community, but had to be shut down to integrate previously All-White Manatee High School. The confusion, sadness, and anxiety of the transition is illustrated through their stories.

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2011 DocMiami WINNERS