Your Favourite Docs of 2019 - The Yearlies Results!
The time has finally come to announce your winners of our inaugural Yearlies Awards.
And what an edition it has been! We’re elated by the incredible reaction and support that the competition has received from all around the world. There’s been plenty twists aplenty, one double-winning film and one category so hotly contested that we’ve exceptionally awarded a Special Mention alongside our winners.
Across all four categories, the Yearlies received a phenomenal 1.5 Million votes! The bulk of these were made in the Feature Film competition, where both the winning film and runner-up received over 600 000 votes each. Votes were made from close to 100 different countries around the world and they even received coverage in the UK press.
So, without further ado, time to meet 2019’s winners.
Best Feature Documentary of the Year 2019
Honeyland by Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov
After cleaning up at Sundance 2019, receiving critical acclaim from the entirety of last year’s festival circuit and ending 2019 on the high of an Oscar nomination, Honeyland is our deserved winner of the Feature Award with a record 802,567 votes!
What started life as a study of Macedonian wild beekeeper Hatidzie was transformed into a powerful and cautionary tale of our time when an enterprising gypsy family settleds nearby. Pressured by a bullying tradesman to produce impossible quantities of honey, the gypsies’ first endeavour into beekeeping wipes out the struggling Hatidzie’s hives despite her warnings of respecting the environment’s natural balance.
Honeyland is also a beautifully shot reminder of what rural life is still like in parts of Eastern Europe, a heart-wrenching portrait of a strong woman forced to care for her ageing mother and a revealing demonstration of how markets can raid natural ressources, even on the smallest of scales.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Honeyland’s cinematographer, Samir Ljuma, earlier this year. His interview is now our most viewed on our site. Watch it here.
Special Mention: Rocketman by Toby Brusseau, Michael Linn
We couldn’t end the Feature Competition without a Special Mention for Rocketman. The two films were neck and neck throughout the voting process with Rocketman ending on a huge 679,356 votes despite coming in second.
Rocketman is a fly on the wall documentary about 63 year-old retired daredevil and limo driver ‘Mad’ Mike Hughes’ crackpot plan to prove that the earth is flat by building a homemade rocket in his garage and launching himself into space.
The buildup to the launch is a chaotic and unnerving mixture of half-baked science, visits to Home Depot, references to the bible and visibly accumulating work accidents as Mike appears on camera with an increasing array of cuts and bruises. Days before the launch, the rocket even falls off its trailer when being transported to the site.
Reminiscent of documentary classic “American Movie”, Rocketman is as hilarious as it is feel-good and you’ll find yourself cheering Mad Mike on, despite his misguided beliefs.
We spoke with Co-Director Toby Brusseau for our review of the film, which is one of our most-read articles of 2019. You can read it here.
Best Free Documentary of the Year 2019
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Best Short Documentary of the Year 2019
61 Hugs by CK Goldiing
61 Hugs is creator CK Goldiing’s viral debut short film, that we discovered after attending Sheffield Doc Fest last year. After a crazy year that has led to a screening at Sheffield Doc Fest, a US premiere and even coverage from the BBC, we’re delighted that the film has picked up not one, but two Yearlies, fighting off competition from six other nominees.
The film is in black and white and self-shot in a video blog style from CK’s smartphone as he faces his fears and ventures out of his house to find the all-important 61 strangers that he has to hug in the name of a mystery challenge.
What starts as a freakish social experiment transforms into a powerful, uplifting ode to the people of Sheffield. Time and time again CK is blown away by the uncomplicated and selfless character of the strangers he accosts, culminating in a truly moving pen-ultimate scene that is sure to bring out a few tears in the audience.
Don’t be put off by the low-res approach here, the filming style acts as an effective first-hand account, passing on CK’s rollercoaster of emotions, from his early nerves to his joy at his success, followed by his awe and fascination with the reaction he receives.
We interviewed CK about 61 Hugs earlier this year and we also filmed an interview with him for the launch of his first series, The Bench.
Best Documentary Series of the Year 2019
Red Chef Revival by Black Rhino Creative
Best Series of the Year goes to Red Chef Revival, the travel and cooking show redefining our perception of indigenous cuisine with an impressive 828 votes. Filmed across six episodes, the series sets out to meet the Canadian chefs modernising traditional indigenous cooking.
From bison heart to beaver tail, seal and even moose nose, the show leads viewers on a path of discovery that will surprise even Canadians with every episode.
Inevitably, the show goes deeper than food alone. Canada’s indigenous community continues to be stereotyped and misrepresented, even when it comes to cuisine. Its also a culture that is struggling to uphold its identity in the modern world, with inflexible government bans on hunting and fishing taking their toll along with the government’s wider indifference to their struggling communities.
Priyanka Desai, a producer on the show, wrote an article for Doc Weekly relaying her experience on set and how best to (or perhaps how not to) search for stories when meeting locals.
