Jennifer Lawrence Doc ‘Zurawski V Texas,’ ‘No Other Land’ & ‘Porcelain War’ Claim Top Prizes At Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival

EXCLUSIVE: Zurawski v Texas, the new documentary executive produced by Jennifer Lawrence, Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, earned two awards as the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival wrapped its 33^rd edition.

The film, centering on women who filed suit against the state of Texas after its extremely restrictive abortion laws almost cost them their lives, won the Jury Prize for Best Feature at HSDFF, North America’s longest-running documentary festival. Zurawski v Texas, directed by Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, also won the Hot Springs Matt DeCample Audience Choice Award for Best Feature.

“This urgent film sheds light on the inhumane and devastating consequences of Texas’s restrictive abortion laws,” the jury said of Zurawski v Texas. “By following the legal battles and intimate personal stories of several women denied essential healthcare, it powerfully and movingly highlights the vital importance of protecting women’s autonomy, reproductive rights, and bodily integrity.”

The jury, comprised of film programmer Penelope Bartlett, filmmaker Darius Clark Monroe, and Jamie Shor, president or PR Collaborative and co-founder of DC/DOX, also awarded a special mention to Mati Diop’s Dahomey (winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale). Jurors wrote, “[Diop] has crafted a singular, poetic work exploring enduring questions of identity, displacement and belonging in a world shaped and scarred by colonialism. By giving voice to a variety of perspectives, including those of inanimate objects, they ask us to consider the weight the past still bears on the present, and, inevitably, on the future.”

The Critics Jury Prize went to No Other Land, the documentary by a collective of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers that examines the lives of Palestinian villagers in the West Bank who face an expulsion order from the Israeli army. The Critics jury wrote the film “offers a compelling ground-level view of everyday existence in the occupied West Bank, expertly underlining how grave injustices have persisted there for years. But now, in this politically urgent moment, this powerful documentary about friendship and a community’s mass expulsion has the potential to open eyes and change minds.”

The Critics jury – made up of Variety and New York Times contributor Addie Morfoot and myself – awarded a special mention to Elizabeth Lo’s Mistress Dispeller, lauding the film as “a provocative, empathetically crafted documentary – a Rashōmon-inspired, complex examination of love in the 21st century. Lo’s strikingly intimate access gives audiences a rare glimpse into Chinese bourgeois society.”

Porcelain War, the film set in Ukraine directed by Brian Bellomo and Slava Leontyev, won the Hot Springs Matt DeCample Audience Choice Award for Best Feature. The compelling documentary, shot by artist Andrey Stefanov, examines the artistic collaboration of Leontyev and his wife Anya Stasenko, who create remarkable sculptures out of porcelain. They continue their work even as Russia pursues its brutal war of conquest in Ukraine, and Leontyev serves in the army, training soldiers to repel the invasion.

Best Short Documentary Film went to The Final Copy of Ilon Specht, directed by two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot. The jury called the film an “intimate portrait of a trailblazing woman whose four-word [Revlon] tag line ‘Because I’m worth it’ became a feminist manifesto and changed advertising forever. Even from her deathbed, Specht’s unvarnished candor and fiery spirit illuminate a remarkable life, revealing not just the story behind an iconic slogan, but the enduring power of believing in one’s own worth.”

A special jury mention went to Haley Watson’s Motorcycle Mary, executive produced by Proudfoot. The Hot Springs Matt DeCample Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film went to Emily Sheskin’s Livestreams with Grandmapuzzles. (The audience award is named after the former festival communications director, a passionate supporter of HSDFF until his passing in 2020).

The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival ran from October 18-26 in the Arkansas resort town, renowned for its natural thermal springs and as the place where former Pres. Bill Clinton spent his youth. This year’s event included, among other highlights, two world premieres, a three-day Filmmaker Forum, presentation of the Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award to documentary great Steve James, and “a brand new salute to the art of the mockumentary, launched with a screening of the 70’s classic The Legend of Boggy Creek,” a film about a reputed Arkansas sasquatch.

“In addition to featuring an extraordinary array of the best documentary films from around the world, the 33rd Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival also marked an exuberant celebration of the art, craft, and practice of non-fiction storytelling,” said Ken Jacobson, executive director of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute, which puts on the festival. “From the locally produced short films in our Documentary Workshop Showcase to works in progress presentations by filmmakers Sam Green and Nathan Willis, and the Showcase of New Works by Southern Filmmakers presented at our 2nd Filmmaker Forum, this year’s festival highlighted the dynamic creative process unique to documentary filmmaking. The electrifying World Premiere screenings of American Coup: Wilmington 1898 and Louder Than Guns underlined the power of documentary film to shine a light on historical events and critical contemporary issues in ways that profoundly reached our audiences.”

Jacobson continued, “In all respects, the festival was a genuine coming together of filmmakers, special guests and audiences to engage in meaningful conversations and to share a common love of documentary film. My deepest thanks to our audiences, supporters, filmmakers, staff, volunteers, and board of directors for making this such a special year.”

The 2024 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Award Winners

Best Documentary Feature Film:

ZURAWSKI V TEXAS

Directors: Maisie Crow, Abbie Perrault

Special Mention:

DAHOMEY

Director: Mati Diop     

HSDFF Critics Prize:

NO OTHER LAND

Directors: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Special Mention:

MISTRESS DISPELLER

Director: Elizabeth Lo

SHORT FILMS

Best Short Documentary Film:

THE FINALCOPY OF ILON SPECHT

Director: Ben Proudfoot

Special Jury Mention:

MOTORCYCLE MARY

Director: Haley Watson