International Documentary Association (IDA) is a non-profit organisation, founded in 1982, the aim of which is to promote the documentary film genre. For thirty years, the members of the organisation have been awarding the best documentary productions of a given year with IDA Awards. “Our Curse” by Tomasz Śliwiński has been nominated for the IDA Awards in the short film category this year. It is the only Polish film nominated this year. The award gala will be held on 5 December.
“Our Curse,” produced by Warsaw Film School, is one of the most frequently awarded documentary films this year. In addition to numerous awards at film festivals, the film was recently placed on the Academy Awards shortlist. In this film, Tomasz Śliwiński documents the first months after the birth of his son, who is ill with a very rare, incurable disease, called Ondine's Curse. People afflicted with this disease stop breathing during sleep and require life-long use of respirator to support their respiratory functions.
IDA has its seat in Los Angeles, but it unites over 2000 members from 53 countries. The organisation runs Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund and several educational programmes, organises screenings of documentary films, publishes the quarterly “Documentary”, etc. Since 1985, it has been awarding the IDA Awards.
The full list of the films nominated for IDA Awards can be found here.