{"id":635343,"date":"2026-10-19T14:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/635343\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T14:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:26:08","slug":"naza-once-upon-a-time-in-harlem-earn-awards-at-hot-springs-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/635343\/","title":{"rendered":"‘NAZA,’ Once Upon A Time In Harlem’ Earn Awards At Hot Springs Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival<\/a> in Arkansas has wrapped its 35th edition with the presentation of awards.<\/p>\n

\n\tHSDFF<\/a>\u2019s Critics Prize went to NAZA, the investigative documentary directed by Oscar winners Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (No Other Land). The film, based on interviews with 24 anonymous members of Israeli military intelligence and soldiers, accuses Israel of callous disregard for Palestinian civilian life in its war in Gaza. Since the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel, the country has killed 75,000 Palestinians in the occupied territory \u2013 more than 80 percent of them civilians \u2014 according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. (The Israel Defense Forces has rejected the film\u2019s claims, including the assertion that the IDF used artificial intelligence to determine human targets in Gaza).<\/p>\n

\n\tJurors Omaya Jones, Alissa Simon, and Al Topich praised NAZA for \u201cusing skillful and subtle editing to detail the story of the ongoing genocide in Gaza as told by the soldiers tasked with carrying it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe critics jury awarded a Special Mention to another film focused on Palestine \u2013 Edward Said: Between Worlds. Director Maiken Baird\u2019s film examines the titular Palestinian scholar and activist who became a leading advocate for the Palestinian cause in the West. The jury lauded the film \u201cfor its expert use of archival footage and interviews to illuminate a subject who did so much to tell the story of Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOnce Upon a Time in Harlem, directed by David Greaves and produced by Liani Greaves and Anne de Mare, earned the festival\u2019s award for Best Documentary Film. The film was completed from footage shot in 1972 by William Greaves (David\u2019s father and Liani\u2019s grandfather) that documented an unprecedented reunion of surviving members of the Harlem Renaissance.<\/p>\n

\n\tJurors Amanda Arya, Andr\u00e9 Robert Lee, and John Rash wrote Once Upon a Time in Harlem \u201cis a remarkable cinematic time capsule that preserves the voices, brilliance, and cultural legacy of the Harlem Renaissance through the people who lived it. Its extraordinary archival footage and intimate storytelling make it more than a documentary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJurors in that category awarded a Special Mention to American Doctor, directed by Poh Si Teng. The film centers on three American physicians \u2013 one Jewish, one Muslim, and one Zoroastrian \u2013 who volunteered their expertise in Gaza to treat Palestinian children severely wounded by Israeli armaments. \u201cFrom the outset this film raises questions of ethics, political bureaucracy, and the absurdity of war,\u201d the jurors wrote. \u201cThe filmmakers demonstrate their tremendous access and construction of story to create a poignant and important documentary that leaves audiences activated to push for change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJane Elliot Against the World took the Hot Springs Matt DeCample Audience Choice Award for Best Feature. Judd Ehrlich\u2019s film documents the extraordinary and uncompromising Iowa educator who created a \u201cBlue Eyes\/Brown Eyes exercise\u201d to elucidate how racism functions.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 35th Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival honored filmmaker Joe Berlinger with the HSDFF Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award. Berlinger, an Academy Award nominee and multiple Emmy winner is known for Brother\u2019s Keeper, the Paradise Lost Trilogy, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Crude: The Real Price of Oil and other films. Filmmaker Yoruba Richen, founder of Promised Land Film, was honored with HSDFF\u2019s Impact Award.<\/p>\n

\n\tRichen\u2019s latest film, Free Joan Little, won the festival\u2019s award for Best Documentary Short Film. The jury, comprised of Christopher Everett, Susan Margolin, Christine O\u2019Malley, wrote Richen\u2019s film \u201cweaves rich archival material and evocative voiceover into a deeply immersive film that returns us to a landmark 1975 case, in which a young Black woman stood trial for defending herself against sexual assault by her jailer. Both gripping and historically vital, the film struck us with how urgently its questions about justice, race, and bodily autonomy still resonate today. It is a work that will spark much-needed conversation for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA special jury mention in the shorts category went to Caitlin Ochs and Nicholas Weissman\u2019s Black Soil. In its statement, the jury noted, \u201c[W]e were moved by the majestic cinematography and intimate diaristic storytelling. In a world of fast paced editing, Black Soil encourages the viewer to be patient yet is engaging from beginning to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRecognizing its prime position in awards season, the festival under the leadership of Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute Executive Director Ken Jacobson<\/a> convened a round table in partnership with Deadline, featuring makers of four films in Oscar contention: Poh Si Teng of American Doctor; Micha\u0142 Marczak of Closure; Biljana Tutorov of To Hold a Mountain, and Liani Greaves of Once Upon a Time in Harlem. Deadline\u2019s Doc Talk podcast will air that round table as its new episode this Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\n\tHSDFF ran October 9 to 17 in the historic enclave in the Ouachita Mountains. \u201cThis year\u2019s festival, once again presented by Oaklawn, marked our 35th edition \u2014 and what a breakout year it was!\u201d executive director Ken Jacobson commented. \u201cFrom the debut of the Deadline\/HSDFF Documentary Roundtable, which put the festival \u2014 and four exceptional films \u2014 front-and-center during this early peak in the Awards season \u2014 to our new Filmmaker Retreat, supporting six Mid-Southern\/Southern filmmakers, HSDFF has continued to evolve in new and exciting ways. Through the outstanding collective efforts of our programming team, staff, volunteers, and Board, we have laid claim to being the region\u2019s premiere showcase of documentary films and filmmaker-focused programs. The overwhelmingly positive response by our audiences speaks volumes about how vibrant, compelling, and essential to the fabric of our democracy the art of documentary continues to be. The story of documentary lives on!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 2026 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Award Winners:<\/p>\n

\n\tFEATURE FILMS<\/p>\n

\n\tHSDFF Critics Prize<\/p>\n

\n\tNAZA<\/p>\n

\n\tDirectors: Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention<\/p>\n

\n\tEDWARD SAID: BETWEEN WORLDS<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Maiken Baird<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Documentary Feature Film<\/p>\n

\n\tONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: David Greaves<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention<\/p>\n

\n\tAMERICAN DOCTOR<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Poh Si Teng<\/p>\n

\n\tSHORT FILMS<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Short Documentary Film<\/p>\n

\n\tFREE JOAN LITTLE<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Yoruba Richen<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Jury Mention<\/p>\n

\n\tBLACK SOIL<\/p>\n

\n\tDirectors: Caitlin Ochs, Nicholas Weissman<\/p>\n

\n\tREEL SOUTH AWARD<\/p>\n

\n\tTHE FLOOR REMEMBERS<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Jayme Kaye Gershen<\/p>\n

\n\tMATT DECAMPLE AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS<\/p>\n

\n\tAudience Choice Award for Best Feature<\/p>\n

\n\tJANE ELLIOT AGAINST THE WORLD<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Judd Ehrlich<\/p>\n

\n\tRunner Up<\/p>\n

\n\tDARLENE LOVE: I KNOW WHERE I\u2019VE BEEN<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Barry Avrich<\/p>\n

\n\tAudience Choice Award for Best Short<\/p>\n

\n\tTAMPONS & TAXES: OR HOW TO PLAY THE OLE BOYS\u2019 CLUB AND WIN<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Emily Harrold<\/p>\n

\n\tRunner Up<\/p>\n

\n\tTHE BADDEST SPEECHWRITER OF ALL <\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Ben Proudfoot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas has wrapped its 35th edition with the presentation of awards.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,42682,311413,42683,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-635343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-hot-springs-documentary-film-festival","tag-hsdff","tag-ken-jacobson","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}