Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell is among the five documentaries battling it out for the International Documentary Association’s Best Feature Award.

The news comes as the IDA on Oct. 29 unveiled the full list of nominees for its 2013 IDA Documentary Awards.

Polley’s NFB-produced documentary, which investigates her complicated family history, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2012, with its North American premiere at TIFF soon afterwards. Stories We Tell later won the Toronto Critics Association’s $100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, and was released theatrically in the U.S. in early 2013.

Also receiving nods for the Best Feature Award are The Act of Killing, The Square, Blackfish and Let the Fire Burn.

The Best Feature nomination was one of three nods for Jason Osder’s all-archive doc Let the Fire Burn, which was also nominated for the Humanitas Award and the ABCNews Videosource Award. The Square also notched a nomination for the Humanitas Award.

“With over 400 submissions from around the world, this year’s awards represent a thriving global documentary community,” said IDA exec director Michael Lumpkin. “Collectively these incredible stories expand our understanding of our shared human experience and foster an informed, compassionate and connected world.”

The IDA is also honouring Cutie and the Boxer helmer Zachary Heinzerling with the Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award; and is giving awards to Alex Gibney, Laura Poitras and Geralyn Dreyfous.

The 29th annual IDA Documentary Awards will take place on December 6 at the DGA Theater in LA.

The full list of nominees follows below:

BEST FEATURE AWARD

The Act of Killing
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Producers: Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Executive Producers:  Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Torstein Grude, André Singer, Joram ten Brink,
Bjarte Mørner Tveit
Drafthouse Films

Blackfish
Directors: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Producer: Manuel V. Oteyza
Writers: Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Eli Despres
Executive Producers:  Judy Bart, Erica Kahn
Our Turn Productions, Magnolia Pictures & CNN

Let the Fire Burn
Director/Producer: Jason Osder
Executive Producer:  Andrew Herwitz
The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs,  Zeitgeist Films

Stories We Tell
Director/Writer: Sarah Polley
Producer: Anita Lee
Roadside Attractions

The Square
Director: Jehane Noujaim
Producer: Karim Amer
Noujaim Films

BEST SHORT AWARD

The Education of Muhammad Hussein
Directors: Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady
Producers: Heidi Ewing; Rachel Grady; Sadia Shepard; Sara Bernstein (for HBO)
Executive Producers:  Sheila Nevins (for HBO)
Loki Films, HBO Documentary Films

The Flogsta Roar
Director/Producer: Johan Palmgren
Writer: Johan Palmgren and Åsa Blanck
Strix Television AB, Swedish National Television

Nine to Ninety
Director: Alicia Dwyer
Producer: Juli Vizza
Executive Producers:  Sally Jo Fifer
Independent Television Service (ITVS)

Slomo
Director: Josh Izenberg
Producer: Amanda Micheli
Executive Producer: Neil Izenberg
Big Young Films, Runaway Films

Vultures of Tibet
Director: Russell O. Bush
Producer: Elisabeth Oakham
Executive Producer:  Gary Newsom
Bushfilm

BEST LIMITED SERIES AWARD

180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School
Directors/Producers: Jacquie Jones, Garland McLaurin
Executive Producer:  Jacquie Jones
NPBC/PBS

Inside Combat Rescue
Producers: Jared McGilliard, John Collin, Jr.
Executive Producers:  Jerry Decker, Ted Duvall, Richard J. Wells.
National Geographic Channel

Inside Man
Producers: Kristen Vaurio, Lisa Kalikow, Shannon Gibson, Suzanne Hillinger, Lara Benario
Writers: Jeremy Chilnick, Morgan Spurlock
Executive Producers:  Jeremy Chilnick, Matthew Galkin, Morgan Spurlock
Warrior Poets/CNN

Viewfinder: Latin America
Directors: Manuel Contreras, Russ Finkelstein, Alfonso Gastiaburo, Juan Pablo Rojas, Paola Gosalvez, Luciana Freitas Silva, Susanna Lira, Fernanda Polacow and Juliana Borges
Producers: Rodrigo Vazquez, Patricia Boero
Writer: Ingrid Falck
Executive Producers:  Flora Gregory
Series Producer: Jean Garner
Al Jazeera English

Witness
Directors:David Frankham, Abdallah Omeish
Producers: Ike Martin, Allison Kunzman, Youree Henley, Julie Herrin, Josiah Hooper
Co-Producer: Ra’uf Glasgow
Executive Producers:  Michael Mann, David Frankham
Blue Light Productions and Little Puppet Productions with HBO Entertainment and HBO Documentary Films

BEST CONTINUING SERIES AWARD

30 for 30
Producers: Libby Geist, Andy Billman, Kyle Godwin, Brian D’Ostilio, Jenna Anthony, Erin Leyden, Deirdre Fenton
Executive Producers:  Connor Schell, John Dahl, Bill Simmons
ESPN

Curiosity
Producers: Geoff Deehan, Christine Weber
Executive Producers:  Erik Nelson, Simon Dickson, Sanjay Singhal, Dave Harding, Mike Masland
Discovery Channel

Independent Lens
Producer: Lois Vossen
Executive Producers:  Sally Jo Fifer
Independent Television Service (ITVS) in association with PBS

POV
Executive Producer: Simon Kilmurry
Co-Executive Producer: Cynthia López
VP of Programming & Production: Chris White
Series Producer: Andrew Catauro
American Documentary | POV in association with PBS

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
Producer: Joe Perskie
Executive Producers:  Rick Bernstein
HBO Sports

DAVID L. WOLPER STUDENT DOCUMENTARY AWARD

Between Land and Sea
Directors/Producers/Writers: Sarah Berkovich, J. Christian Jensen
Stanford University

OME: Tales from a Vanishing Homeland
Director/Producer: Raul O. Paz Pastrana
Producer: Emily Parkey
School of Visual Arts

My Sister Sarah
Directors/Producer: Elizabeth Chatelain
University of Texas at Austin

Sodiq
Directors/Producers/Writer: Adeyemi Michael
National Film & Television School, UK

Why We Race
Directors: Kiley Vorndran, Ryan Westra, Andrew Evers, Ben Fischinger
Producer: Kiley Vorndran
Chapman University / Dodge College of Film and Media Arts

HUMANITAS AWARD

Antons Right Here
Director: Evgeniya Blaze
Producers: Konstantin Shavlovsky , Aleksandra Golutova
Writers: Lyubov Arkus
Executive Producers:  Sergey Selyanov
CTB Film Company, INTERCINEMA Agency

Blood Brother
Director: Steve Hoover
Producer: Danny Yourd
Writers: Steve Hoover, Phinehas Hodges, Tyson VanSkiver
Executive Producers:  Steve Hoover, Michael Killen, Kathy Dziubek, Jim Kreitzburg, Leigh Blake, John Carlin
Animal

Let the Fire Burn
Director/Producer: Jason Osder
Executive Producer:  Andrew Herwitz
The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs,  Zeitgeist Films

The Square
Director: Jehane Noujaim
Producer: Karim Amer
Noujaim Films

PARE LORENTZ AWARD

A Place at the Table
Directors/Producers: Lori Silverbush and Kristi Jacobson
Producers: Julie Goldman, Ryan Harrington
Magnolia Pictures

ABCNEWS VIDEOSOURCE AWARD

All the Presidents Men Revisited
Director/Producer: Peter Schnall
Executive Producers: Robert Redford, Andy Lack, Laura Michalchyshyn
Writers: Chana Gazit, Patrick Prentice
Partisan Pictures in Association with Sundance Productions

Free Angela and All Political Prisoners
Director/Producer/Writer: Shola Lynch
Producers: Sidra Smith, Carole Lambert, Carine Ruszniewski
Overbrook Entertainment

Let the Fire Burn
Director/Producer: Jason Osder
Executive Producer:  Andrew Herwitz
The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs,  Zeitgeist Films

The Trials of Muhammad Ali
Director: Bill Siegel
Producers: Bill Siegel, Rachel Pikelny
Executive Producers:  Justine Nagan, Gordon Quinn, Leon Gast, Kat White
Kartemquin Educational Films

We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks
Director/Producer/Writer: Alex Gibney
Producer: Marc Shmuger
Focus World

From realscreen (NB: This story has been edited from its original version)

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