On Tuesday 4 May 2010 winners were announced for the Webby Awards, also known as the ‘Oscars of the internet’. Among the nominees this year were five documentary projects from IDFA's Doc Lab, the festival's new media program. Four of them took up 'the Internet's highest honor' this Tuesday, among which the interactive documentary Waterlife, about the last great supply of fresh drinking water on Earth.
IDFA’s Doc Lab investigates the relationship between documentary filmmaking and new media. During the festival, Doc Lab presents films, web documentaries, and installations that innovate the documentary genre. Last year's theme was
Live Stories, with radio presenter and master of storytelling Ira Glass as principal guest.
The projects mentioned below, showcased at IDFA Doc Lab in 2009, will all receive an award at the 14th Webby Gala on 14 June 2010. Interview Project, an epic roadtrip presented by David Lynch and directed by his son, also won the People's Voice Award for best documentary series. These and other Doc Lab projects can be viewed online through the
IDFA Doc Lab website.
Winner Webby Award for best web documentary (individual episode)
Waterlife (Kevin McMahon, Pablo Vio, 2008)
The importance of water and the problems associated with it in the Great Lakes. Examined in 23 distinctly themed sections, using text, image and sound.
Winner Webby Award & People's Voice Award for best documentary series
Interview Project (Austin Lynch, Jason S., 2009)
Director David Lynch sent a young film crew on "a road trip where people have been found and interviewed."
Winner Webby Award for best editing
Driftless: Stories from Iowa (Brian Storm, Danny Wilcox Frazier, 2009)
Affectionate but unpitying black-and-white images capture the tough existence of people still living in declining rural areas of Iowa. Driftless was also nominated for best web documentary.
Winner Webby Award for best educational website
We Choose The Moon (JFK Presidential Museum, 2009)
An interactive recreation of the historic Apollo 11 mission to the Moon. Also nominated in the categories
best navigation/structure and
best use of video or moving image
Furthermore,
One in 8 Million (Alexis Mainland, Sarah Kramer, 2009), a fifth Doc Lab project, was nominated for a Webby in the category
best use of photography. A series of miniature portraits in sound and photographs; each introduces just one of the more than eight million inhabitants of New York City.
Webby Awards 2010
Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile web sites. Established in 1996, the 14th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.