DOC LA Opens Submissions For The 2019 Edition

DOC LA - Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, presented by the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute, opened this week submissions for its 2019 edition. After five successful editions, the film festival, which rapidly has positioned itself as one of the most coveted by documentary filmmakers in the USA and abroad, has launched its call for entries.

DOC LA doesn't require a Los Angeles premiere for short films, but they prefer it for features. Although the festival's focus is documentary and short cinema, the official website states that they will program films of any genre and length whenever they discover 'unique or charming work'. Enthusiastic about 'strange and unclassifiable films', the festival's founding institute is named after the renowned nonconformists Sergei Paradjanov (1924-1990) and Mikhail Vartanov (1937-2009) who overcame censorship, persecution and low budgets, and earned praise for their daring point of view from some of cinema's greatest luminaries such as Jean-Luc Godard, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

DOC LA programmer is their disciple and UCLA alum Martiros Vartanov, who has served as a curator and juror at festivals in Busan and Beverly Hills, and worked on the restoration of the masterpiece THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES selected for Festival de Cannes. Mr Vartanov also presents the annual Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Awards which have honored such masters as French cinema icon Jean Vigo, the legendary screenwriter Mardik Martin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan, Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese, the Grammy-winning rock band System Of A Down, and Oscar-winner actress and activist Susan Sarandon.

This is the complete list of winners in all categories for 2018:

2018 AWARDS - DOC LA - LOS ANGELES DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

AMERICAN MIRROR - INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY

Best Innovative Film

ARTHUR BALDER

Best Composer (tie)

MARK PETRIE

Best Cinematography (feature)

ARTHUR BALDER, Ambrose Eng

Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Award

Susan Sarandon

GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

Best Documentary

Harry Moses

Best Composer (tie)

Terence Blanchard

DOC LA Icon Award

USHER

MANRY AT SEA

Best Screenwriting

STEVE WYSTRACH & STEVE ARMSTRONG

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE ARTS

Best Producer

J. DAUGHERTY, D. HIGGINS, C. CALISE

Audience Award - Documentary Feature

C. STONEY & W. A. JONES & LIV OSTHUS

CHILDREN OF THE SNOW LAND

Best International Documentary

ZARA BALFOUR & MARCUS STEPHENSON

(Nepal/UK)

THE GUARDIANS

Best Director

BILLIE MINTZ (Canada)

BALLAD OF A RIGHTEOUS MERCHANT

Best Documentary Portrait

HERBERT GOLDER

LITTLE FIEL

Best Animated Documentary (tie)

IRINA PATKANIAN

ATTACHE

Honorable Mention - Documentary Feature

MELISSA PACE OVERHOLT

PAIN IS MINE

Best Documentary Short

FARSHID AKHLAGHI (Australia)

COSMIC DEBRIS

Best Animated Documentary (tie)

PATRICK WALDROP

THE END OF WEED

Honorable Mention - Documentary Short

KRISTY GUEVARA-FLANAGAN & J. GRAY

MITZVOT

Best Experimental Documentary - Feature

BADER ALAWADHI (Kuwait/US)

SOUL OF LINCOLN HEIGHTS

2018 DOC LA Storyteller Award

EMILIO RIVERA

Audience Award - Documentary Short

DAVID TREVINO

THE LOST FOOTAGE OF LEAH SULLIVAN

Best Feature - StorytelLA sidebar

Burt Grinstead & Anna Stromberg

CITY OF DREAMS

Best Experimental Doc - Mid Length

S1REE1

FAITHFUL

Best Student Documentary - Gold

DANE CHRISTENSEN

DIWA

Best Actress

AINA DUMLAO

Best Short Film - StorytelLA sidebar

AINA DUMLAO & BRU MULLER

THE RAVENITE

Best Mid Length Documentary

DENNIS MOHR & MORGAN SCHMIDT-FENG

USE LESS

Best Environmental Film

GARDARSDOTTIR & OLAFSDOTTIR (Iceland)

THE MUAY THAI KID

Best Sports Documentary

ANDY SCHLACHTENHAUFEN

BEFORE I JUMP

Best Experimental Documentary - Short

GUSTAV AHLGREN (Sweden)

GODS FROM SPACE

Best Student Documentary - Silver

ANNALISE PASZTOR

INGEST

Best Screenwriting - StorytelLA sidebar

ANKUR MALHOTRA

ROCKSTAR byTANE McCLURE

Best Cinematography Award (short)

SANDY STENZEL

Best Song

TARRA LAYN

BABY YOU'RE LIKE A DRUG

Best Music Video

JOSHUA BUTLER

TWICE UPON A TIME

Best Animated Film

VOJIN VASOVIC