Once Upon a Time in Harlem Wins Hot Springs Top Prize
Once Upon a Time in Harlem has won Best Documentary Film at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas, closing the festival's 35th edition, as reported by Deadline.
The film is directed by David Greaves. It took the top jury prize. This year's edition ran from 9 to 17 October, according to the festival.
The Critics Prize went to NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. That is a separate award, chosen by critics covering the festival rather than the main jury. NAZA arrived in Arkansas with a festival run already under way.
It is a Venice-winning Gaza documentary, as noted by IndieWire. The New York Film Festival was its first domestic stop, meaning its first festival date in the United States and Canada, according to IndieWire. Hot Springs added a United States regional festival prize to that path.
The audience chose differently. Jane Elliot Against the World, directed by Judd Ehrlich, won the Matt DeCample Audience Choice Award for Best Feature.
That award is decided by votes from festival-goers. It honours a feature, which is industry language for a full-length film. The win puts an audience favourite alongside the jury and critics' choices.
In the short film section, Free Joan Little won Best Documentary Short Film. Shorts are brief films, usually programmed in groups before or alongside features. The category gives smaller stories a platform of their own at a festival devoted to non-fiction.
Two career honours were also presented. Joe Berlinger received the Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award. Yoruba Richen received the Impact Award.
Berlinger is an Oscar nominee and Emmy winner, while Richen is a Peabody winner, as reported by Deadline. Those honours recognise bodies of work over time, rather than a single film in this year's competition. They were presented as part of the 35th edition programme.
What makes this stand out is the split. The jury, the critics and the audience each backed a different feature. That is common at festivals, and it means three titles leave Arkansas with something to show.
