The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas has wrapped its 35th edition with the presentation of awards.
HSDFF’s Critics Prize went to NAZA, the investigative documentary directed by Oscar winners Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (No Other Land). The film, based on interviews with 24 anonymous members of Israeli military intelligence and soldiers, accuses Israel of callous disregard for Palestinian civilian life in its war in Gaza. Since the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel, the country has killed 75,000 Palestinians in the occupied territory – more than 80 percent of them civilians — according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. (The Israel Defense Forces has rejected the film’s claims, including the assertion that the IDF used artificial intelligence to determine human targets in Gaza).
Jurors Omaya Jones, Alissa Simon, and Al Topich praised NAZA for “using skillful and subtle editing to detail the story of the ongoing genocide in Gaza as told by the soldiers tasked with carrying it out.”
The critics jury awarded a Special Mention to another film focused on Palestine – Edward Said: Between Worlds. Director Maiken Baird’s film examines the titular Palestinian scholar and activist who became a leading advocate for the Palestinian cause in the West. The jury lauded the film “for its expert use of archival footage and interviews to illuminate a subject who did so much to tell the story of Palestinian people.”
Once Upon a Time in Harlem, directed by David Greaves and produced by Liani Greaves and Anne de Mare, earned the festival’s award for Best Documentary Film. The film was completed from footage shot in 1972 by William Greaves (David’s father and Liani’s grandfather) that documented an unprecedented reunion of surviving members of the Harlem Renaissance.
Jurors Amanda Arya, André Robert Lee, and John Rash wrote Once Upon a Time in Harlem “is a remarkable cinematic time capsule that preserves the voices, brilliance, and cultural legacy of the Harlem Renaissance through the people who lived it. Its extraordinary archival footage and intimate storytelling make it more than a documentary.”
Jurors in that category awarded a Special Mention to American Doctor, directed by Poh Si Teng. The film centers on three American physicians – one Jewish, one Muslim, and one Zoroastrian – who volunteered their expertise in Gaza to treat Palestinian children severely wounded by Israeli armaments. “From the outset this film raises questions of ethics, political bureaucracy, and the absurdity of war,” the jurors wrote. “The filmmakers demonstrate their tremendous access and construction of story to create a poignant and important documentary that leaves audiences activated to push for change.”
Jane Elliot Against the World took the Hot Springs Matt DeCample Audience Choice Award for Best Feature. Judd Ehrlich’s film documents the extraordinary and uncompromising Iowa educator who created a “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise” to elucidate how racism functions.
The 35th Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival honored filmmaker Joe Berlinger with the HSDFF Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award. Berlinger, an Academy Award nominee and multiple Emmy winner is known for Brother’s Keeper, the Paradise Lost Trilogy, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Crude: The Real Price of Oil and other films. Filmmaker Yoruba Richen, founder of Promised Land Film, was honored with HSDFF’s Impact Award.
Richen’s latest film, Free Joan Little, won the festival’s award for Best Documentary Short Film. The jury, comprised of Christopher Everett, Susan Margolin, Christine O’Malley, wrote Richen’s film “weaves rich archival material and evocative voiceover into a deeply immersive film that returns us to a landmark 1975 case, in which a young Black woman stood trial for defending herself against sexual assault by her jailer. Both gripping and historically vital, the film struck us with how urgently its questions about justice, race, and bodily autonomy still resonate today. It is a work that will spark much-needed conversation for years to come.”
A special jury mention in the shorts category went to Caitlin Ochs and Nicholas Weissman’s Black Soil. In its statement, the jury noted, “[W]e were moved by the majestic cinematography and intimate diaristic storytelling. In a world of fast paced editing, Black Soil encourages the viewer to be patient yet is engaging from beginning to end.”
Recognizing its prime position in awards season, the festival under the leadership of Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute Executive Director Ken Jacobson convened a round table in partnership with Deadline, featuring makers of four films in Oscar contention: Poh Si Teng of American Doctor; Michał Marczak of Closure; Biljana Tutorov of To Hold a Mountain, and Liani Greaves of Once Upon a Time in Harlem. Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast will air that round table as its new episode this Tuesday.
HSDFF ran October 9 to 17 in the historic enclave in the Ouachita Mountains. “This year’s festival, once again presented by Oaklawn, marked our 35th edition — and what a breakout year it was!” executive director Ken Jacobson commented. “From the debut of the Deadline/HSDFF Documentary Roundtable, which put the festival — and four exceptional films — front-and-center during this early peak in the Awards season — to our new Filmmaker Retreat, supporting six Mid-Southern/Southern filmmakers, HSDFF has continued to evolve in new and exciting ways. Through the outstanding collective efforts of our programming team, staff, volunteers, and Board, we have laid claim to being the region’s premiere showcase of documentary films and filmmaker-focused programs. The overwhelmingly positive response by our audiences speaks volumes about how vibrant, compelling, and essential to the fabric of our democracy the art of documentary continues to be. The story of documentary lives on!”
The 2026 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Award Winners:
FEATURE FILMS
HSDFF Critics Prize
NAZA
Directors: Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Special Mention
EDWARD SAID: BETWEEN WORLDS
Director: Maiken Baird
Best Documentary Feature Film
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM
Director: David Greaves
Special Mention
AMERICAN DOCTOR
Director: Poh Si Teng
SHORT FILMS
Best Short Documentary Film
FREE JOAN LITTLE
Director: Yoruba Richen
Special Jury Mention
BLACK SOIL
Directors: Caitlin Ochs, Nicholas Weissman
REEL SOUTH AWARD
THE FLOOR REMEMBERS
Director: Jayme Kaye Gershen
MATT DECAMPLE AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS
Audience Choice Award for Best Feature
JANE ELLIOT AGAINST THE WORLD
Director: Judd Ehrlich
Runner Up
DARLENE LOVE: I KNOW WHERE I’VE BEEN
Director: Barry Avrich
Audience Choice Award for Best Short
TAMPONS & TAXES: OR HOW TO PLAY THE OLE BOYS’ CLUB AND WIN
Director: Emily Harrold
Runner Up
THE BADDEST SPEECHWRITER OF ALL
Director: Ben Proudfoot