'For Sama' Wins Grand Prize at Traverse City Film Festival; 'Slay the Dragon,' 'American Factory,' and More Claim Doc Awards

One Child Nation, St. Louis Superman, 16 Shots and Martin Scorsese's Rolling Thunder Revue join winner's circle

For Sama, the gripping documentary about a young Syrian couple raising their baby daughter in the midst of the siege of Aleppo, has won the top award at the 15th Traverse City Film Festival. 

The film by Waad al-Kataeb and Edward Watts earned the festival's Grand Prize at an outdoor ceremony Saturday night emceed by TFCC founder, president and programmer Michael Moore. 

This is the latest honor for the documentary, which premiered in March at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It won Best Documentary Feature there as well as the Audience Award for Documentary, and went on to claim the top prize for documentary at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Al-Kateab and Watts appeared at the Traverse City Film Festival in support of their film, which screened here on Thursday and Friday.

Traverse City Film Festival founder and president Michael Moore announces the winners of prizes for the 15th edition of the festival. Traverse City, Michigan, Saturday, August 3, 2019. Photo by Matt Carey

TFCC's award for Best US Nonfiction Film went to Slay the Dragon, directed by Chris Durrance and Barak Goodman, a documentary focusing on "the corrupt practice of gerrymandering... and the fight for fair elections in America."

Best Foreign Nonfiction Film went to One Child Nation, directed by Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang. The documentary about the Chinese government's cruel enforcement of its official one child policy - which the filmmakers say included forced abortions and killing of live babies - previously won top documentary awards at Sundance and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in North Carolina.

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Related: 
>For Sama director Waad al-Kateab on shooting footage amid destruction of Aleppo: 'What's going on in my mind was this is the last minute, this is the last video, this is the last story'
>One Child Nation earns top documentary award at Full Frame

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Also earning recognition at the Traverse City Film Festival was Rick Rowley's film 16 Shots, about the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer. It won the Bruce Sinofsky Award for Documentary Filmmaking.

Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story, Troy Miller's documentary on the near career-ending backlash comedian Kathy Griffin faced after posting a satirical photo of her holding a mockup of President Trump's severed head, won the Special Award for Freedom of Speech.

Martin Scorsese's Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story, a hybrid nonfiction/fiction film that's also part true/part false, won the festival's Stanley Kubrick Award for Bold & Innovative Filmmaking.

Filmmaker Julia Reichert accepts the Founders Grand Prize for Documentary/D.A. Pennebaker Award for her film "American Factory." Traverse City, Michigan, Saturday, August 3, 2019. Photo by Matt Carey

Julia Reichert, previously announced as the recipient of a special tribute for her career in documentary, received the Founders Grand Prize for her documentary American Factory, which she directed with Steven Bognar.

​Moore announced that in honor of the late D.A. Pennebaker, the filmmaking giant who died Thursday, the Founders Grand Prize will be called the D.A. Pennebaker Award. At the awards ceremony, Moore also revealed that Pennebaker and his wife, filmmaker Chris Hegedus, had been expected to attend this year's festival.

American Factory, which won the Directing Award for Documentary at Sundance, unfolds outside Dayton, Ohio, where a Chinese auto glass company took over an abandoned General Motors plant. The business venture became something of a cross-cultural experiment as Chinese managers and American workers struggled to work effectively together.

​The short documentary St. Louis Superman, directed by Smriti Mundhra & Sami Khan, won the Audience Award for Best Nonfiction Film. The film was recently acquired by MTV Documentary Films, under the new leadership of Sheila Nevins, the former longtime head of HBO Documentary Films.

Best Documentary Short Film went to Fast Horse, directed by Alexandra Lazarowich. Winning the award at TCFF qualifies Fast Horse for Academy Awards consideration for in the category of Best Documentary Short Subject.

A Special Mention went to the documentary short Lazarus, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker David Darg.

This is the full list of award winners at Traverse City Film Festival, including fiction and nonfiction films.

BEST US FICTION FILM
The Etruscan Smile

BEST US NONFICTION FILM
Slay the Dragon

BEST FOREIGN FICTION FILM
Official Secrets

BEST FOREIGN NONFICTION FILM
One Child Nation

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST FILM
For Sama

TOP 5 AUDIENCE FAVORITES - NONFICTION

1.) For Sama
2.) Slay the Dragon
3.) Rewind
4.) Planet of the Humans
5.) One Child Nation
5.) Gay Chorus Deep South

TOP 5 AUDIENCE FAVORITES - FICTION

1.) Official Secrets
2.) The Etruscan Smile
3.) Balloon
4.) Capernaum
5.) The Silent Revolution

FOUNDERS PRIZES

FOUNDERS PRIZE FOREIGN FICTION
Capernaum
 
FOUNDERS PRIZE US FICTION
Sword of Trust
 
NORA EPHRON PRIZE
Saint Frances
Kelly O’Sullivan, Screenwriter
 
FOUNDERS GRAND PRIZE FICTION
THE PAUL MAZURSKY AWARD
Blinded by the Light

SPECIAL AWARD: FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story
 
BRUCE SINOFSKY AWARD FOR DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING
16 Shots

STANLEY KUBRICK AWARD FOR BOLD & INNOVATIVE FILMMAKING
Rolling Thunder Revue

FOUNDERS GRAND PRIZE DOCUMENTARY
D.A. PENNEBAKER AWARD
American Factory

SHORTS

STUART J. HOLLANDER PRIZE FOR BEST FAMILY FILM
Zog dir. Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon

BEST FICTION SHORT FILM
Westfalia dir. Haley Finnegan

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
Fast Horse dir. Alexandra Lazarowich

SPECIAL MENTION SHORT FILM
Lazarus dir. David Darg

SPECIAL MENTION SHORT FILM
All On A Mardi Gras Day dir. Michal Pietrzyk

AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST FICTION FILM
The Neighbors' Window dir. Marshall Curry
 
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST NONFICTION FILM
St. Louis Superman dir. Smriti Mundhra & Sami Khan