‘The Tale of Silyan’ takes top prize at 2025 IDA Documentary Awards: Complete winners list

The Tale of Silyan was the big winner at Saturday's International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards, taking home prizes for Best Documentary Feature and Best Cinematography.

Bankrolled by National Geographic and directed by Tamara Kotevska, the film tells the story of a North Macedonian immigrant who finds an unlikely connection with an injured white stork while adapting to life in a new country. North Macedonia has chosen it as its official submission for the Best International Feature Oscar.

The Tale of Silyan is one of the 201 movies eligible at the upcoming Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature, and one of 86 eligible for Best International Feature. We'll know more about its chances in those two Oscar races when the shortlists are unveiled on Dec. 16.

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Other films claiming victory at the IDA Documentary Awards were: Looking for a Donkey for Best Documentary Short, Seeds for Best Director (Brittany Shyne), WTO/99 for Best Editing, The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson for Best Score, Apocalypse in the Tropics for Best Production Design, Only on Earth for Best Sound, and Apocalypse in the Tropics for Best Writing.

This year, the annual event took place over three days, culminating with Saturday's ceremony at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson hosted the event.

See the complete list of 2025 IDA Documentary Awards winners in all 15 categories:

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Looking for a Donkey (Mexico, Venezuela)

BEST DIRECTOR
Brittany Shyne, Seeds (United States)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jean Dakar, The Tale of Silyan (Republic of North Macedonia, United States, United Kingdom)

BEST EDITING
Alex Megaro, Ian Bell, WTO/99 (United States)

BEST SCORE
Frédéric Filiatre, The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson (Panama)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa, Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States)

BEST SOUND
Thomas Perez-Pape, Only on Earth (Denmark, Spain)

BEST WRITING
Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker, Tina Baz, Apocalypse in the Tropics (United States)

BEST CURATED SERIES
99 (France)

BEST EPISODIC SERIES
Citizen Nation (United States)

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
One to One: John & Yoko (United Kingdom)

DAVID L. WOLPER STUDENT DOCUMENTARY
What a Day, What a Life (United Kingdom)

ABC NEWS VIDEOSOURCE AWARD
Deaf President Now! (United States)

PARE LORENTZ AWARD
River of Grass (United States)