NATALIA KONIARZ’S “SILVER” SHORTLISTED FOR THE IDA DOCUMENTARY AWARDS
Natalia Koniarz’s “Silver” has been shortlisted for the prestigious IDA Documentary Awards in the Best Feature Documentary category. The Polish director’s feature-length debut is one of just 16 documentaries competing for a nomination for the awards presented by the International Documentary Association. This marks another major achievement for the film, which has collected more than 20 awards and distinctions at international film festivals since its world premiere at the Krakow Film Festival. But this isn’t the film’s only chance of winning a prestigious film award.
The 42nd IDA Documentary Awards attracted considerable interest, with organisers receiving 650 submissions from 95 countries – an increase on the previous year in both the number of entries and the countries represented. Only 16 films made the Best Feature Documentary shortlist, from which five nominees will be selected. The nominations will be announced on November 17, while the winners will be revealed at a ceremony in Los Angeles on December 4. The winners of the Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary categories will be determined by a vote of IDA members from around the world.
For “Silver”, it all began in Krakow. Natalia Koniarz’s feature-length debut had its world premiere at the 65th Krakow Film Festival, immediately emerging as one of the most acclaimed films of the edition. It received no fewer than six awards, including the Silver Horn for outstanding artistic merit, the FIPRESCI Prize, the Audience Award and the Maciej Szumowski Award. Producer Maciej Kubicki was also recognised, while Stanisław Cuske received the award for Best Cinematography. The film was also recommended by the Krakow Film Festival for the European Film Awards.
A few months later, “Silver” had its international premiere in the Czech town of Ji.hlava, home to one of Europe’s leading documentary film festivals. “Silver” Opus Bonum) at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, which is a Qualifying Film Festival for the 99th Oscars® in the Documentary Feature Film category. The documentary also received the award for Best Documentary Film from the Visegrad Region, while Stanisław Cuske earned another Best Cinematography award.
But “Silver” was only getting started. At its US premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival, the documentary won the Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize. Natalia Koniarz subsequently received the Best Director award in the Baltic Focus competition at Artdocfest/Riga. At ZagrebDox, the film was awarded the Little Stamp Award for the best film by a young filmmaker, as well as a Special Mention in the International Competition. In India, it took home the Golden Conch Award, the top prize at the Mumbai International Film Festival. Further accolades included the Special Jury Prize at Switzerland’s FIFALP, along with the Jury Prize and Student Jury Prize at the 74th Trento Film Festival in Italy.
In the autumn, the film’s festival journey took it to South Korea, where “Silver” won the Best Cinematography award at the Ulsan Ulju Mountain Film Festival. For Stanisław Cuske, this marked yet another recognition of the documentary’s remarkable visual artistry, following earlier awards in Krakow and Ji.hlava. In October, the film also received the Grand Jury Prize at Family Film Project in Porto and the “Patient Eye” Kazimierz Karabasz Award, presented by the National Centre for Culture during the “Man in Danger” Media Festival in Łódź.
This year also brought a particularly significant honour for the director herself. Natalia Koniarz received the 2026 Annual Award of the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage in the Film category.
The documentary has also screened at numerous festivals around the world, including the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Bergen International Film Festival, One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Prague, Beldocs in Belgrade, Doxumentale in Berlin, DocsMX in Mexico and Docudays UA in Kyiv.
These are by no means all of “Silver’s” achievements. The sheer scale of its international festival presence speaks to the film’s ability to resonate with audiences and juries across different countries and cultures.
“Silver” takes viewers deep into Cerro Rico, a mountain in Bolivia that has been associated with silver mining for centuries. It tells the story of people whose daily lives are shaped by dangerous work in the mines, while also examining the legacy of colonialism, social exclusion and a deeply entrenched culture of exploitation and violence that has defined this place for generations.
Natalia Koniarz’s camera ventures underground, but its gaze extends far beyond the mines themselves, exposing the mechanisms that allow the exploitation of people and natural resources to persist in the modern world. Stanisław Cuske’s evocative cinematography and the film’s meticulously crafted sound design create a haunting portrait of a place where harsh living and working conditions are perpetuated across generations. In doing so, the documentary invites reflection on the historical roots of inequality and the price local communities continue to pay for the extraction of valuable natural resources.
“Silver” is a Polish-Finnish-Norwegian co-production, produced in Poland by Maciej Kubicki of Telemark. KFF Sales handles the film’s international festival distribution.