‘Citizenfour’ takes top honor at IDA Documentary Awards

“Citizenfour,” Laura Poitras’ film about NSA document leaker Edward Snowden, won the International Documentary Assn.’s prize for best feature at the 2014 IDA Awards on Friday evening.

Poitras’ third documentary in a trilogy about post-9/11 America, “Citizenfour” is a you-are-there account of Snowden’s decision, with Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald, to expose the National Security Agency’s massive surveillance operation collecting the personal data of ordinary citizens.

“Citizenfour” debuted to a rare standing ovation at the New York Film Festival in October and made the Oscar shortlist for documentary features earlier this week; it also won the Gotham Award for best documentary.

The IDA’s award for best short went to Johnny Burke and Andrew Hinton’s “Tashi and the Monk,” about a Buddhist monk running a community for orphaned and neglected children in India. The short also garnered the Pare Lorentz Award, which recognizes films focusing on environmental and social issues.

Robert Redford received the IDA’s Career Achievement Award, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato received the Pioneer Award, and Rithy Panh received the Preservation and Scholarship Award.

Hosted by writer and comedienne Carol Leifer, the ceremony also included the debut of three new series awards: “Our America With Lisa Ling” won for best episodic series, “Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt” won for best short-form series, and “Independent Lens” won for best curated series.

For a full list of winners, go to the IDA Awards website.

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