The Documentary Film in the Public Interest Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is delighted to announce the Grand Prize Winner, Finalists, and Honorable Mentions for the inaugural Henry Awards for Public Interest Documentary.
Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs says, “The Henry Awards honor films that investigate, explore, and explain the critical challenges of our time. Faced with growing threats to free speech and artistic expression, we honor films that advance the public interest by expanding our view of the world—taking us places we could not otherwise go, sharing perspectives we would not otherwise see, and challenging assumptions we might not otherwise question. These awards invite both filmmakers and audiences to celebrate the power of documentary as a vessel for courageous creativity.”
The 2025 Henry Awards Jury released the following statement about this year’s award-winning film: WHILE WE WATCHED is an exceptional cautionary tale that takes an unflinching look at the State’s violent crackdown on freedom of expression through the experience of a journalist who dares to defend his integrity. Ravish Kumar is an unforgettable character. His specific story manages to instantly transcend its locality and become a real time documentation of the global rise of fascism, and the attack against the free press. The film is a brave effort by the filmmakers that should serve as a warning to us all.”
The Henry Awards recognize nonfiction films that advance public understanding of the critical issues of our time while demonstrating outstanding cinematic achievement. Guided by the hallmarks of ethical practice, rigorous investigation, and courageous storytelling, the Henry Awards are intended to honor and encourage a documentary filmmaking practice grounded in its essential role to a thriving society and focused on the public good. Starting with the 2025 Henry Awards, a grand prize of $100,000 will be awarded annually, along with four finalists, each receiving a prize of $25,000. The award winners, finalists, and honorable mentions were recognized at a celebratory dinner on campus on April 16th.
Grand Prize Winner
WHILE WE WATCHED
Director: Vinay Shukla
Producers: Vinay Shukla, Luke W Moody, and Khushboo Ranka
Logline: A timely depiction of a newsroom in crisis, WHILE WE WATCHED follows tormented journalist Ravish Kumar for two years as he battles a barrage of fake news, falling ratings and the resulting cutbacks.
Finalists
FOUR DAUGHTERS
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha
Logline: FOUR DAUGHTERS is a compelling portrait of five women and a unique and ambitious work of nonfiction cinema that pushes against the conventional boundaries of the documentary form to explore the nature of memory, rebellion, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.
HOLLYWOODGATE
Director: Ibrahim Nash’at
Producers: Talal Derki, Odessa Rae, and Shane Boris
Logline: After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, HOLLYWOODGATE follows the Taliban as they enter an American base loaded with billions of dollars of weapons left behind; the film tracks the fundamentalist militia’s transformation into a military regime, showcasing their use of Hollywood-style propaganda.
QUEENDOM
Director: Agniia Galdanova
Producers: Igor Myakotin and Agniia Galdanova
Logline: In defiance of Putin’s regime, a queer, twenty-one-year-old artist risks her life performing in surreal costumes throughout Moscow. Jenna Marvin’s radical public performances blend artistry and activism—and put her life in danger.
THREE PROMISES
Director: Yousef Srouji
Producer: Marielle Olentine
Logline: A mother films her family’s life while sheltering from Israel’s attacks during the Second Intifada in the West Bank. Her son revisits the past through this footage, delivering a heart-breaking portrait of the anguish of parents forced to choose between their children’s safety and the emotional upheaval of leaving home.
Honorable Mentions
COCONUT HEAD GENERATION
Director: Alain Kassanda
Producers: Emilie Guitard, Alain Kassanda
Logline: Every Thursday, a group of students from the University of Ibadan, the oldest university in Nigeria, organizes a film club, transforming a small amphitheater into a political agora where they refine their vision and develop a critical voice.
IF WE BURN
Directors & Producers: James Leong & Lynn Lee
Logline: An urgent, immersive journey into Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests, and a meditation on what it means to resist.
The Henry Awards for Public Interest Documentary Grand Prize Winner, Finalists, and Honorable Mentions were selected from the pool of Semi-Finalist films by a panel of five expert jurors. Sara Archambault, the Program Director of the Documentary Film in the Public Interest (DFPI) Initiative chaired the jury meetings.
The 2025 Henry Awards for Public Interest Documentary Jury:
Ra’anan Alexandrowicz is a director and editor. His most recent film, THE VIEWING BOOTH, premiered at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival, won several international awards, and was named Rolling Stone magazine’s best documentary of 2021. Alexandrowicz’s documentary THE LAW IN THESE PARTS (2012) received the Grand Jury Award in the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Competition, a Peabody Award, and numerous other prizes. His earlier documentaries, THE INNER TOUR (2002) and MARTIN (1999), were shown at the Berlin Film Festival’s Forum section and in MoMA’s New Directors/New Films. His films have been released theatrically in the U.S. and Europe, and have been broadcast by PBS, ARTE, BBC, among other channels. Ra’anan served several times as an editing advisor for the Sundance Documentary Fund. He has also been an editing advisor on CITIZENFOUR, WELCOME TO CHECHNYA, NIGHT IS NOT ETERNAL, and several other documentaries. He is a 2024 Center for Experimental Ethnography Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, a 2024 MacDowell Residency Fellow, and a 2025 ConTrust Fellow at the Goethe University in Frankfurt.
Mandy Chang is an experienced documentary filmmaker, executive producer, and creative director. Her broad perspective of the field comes from having worked in many roles throughout her career—from award-winning producer/director and executive producer, to commissioner. She led the BBC’s flagship international documentary strand, Storyville, curating and overseeing a rich and diverse slate of feature documentaries over four years. She then went to Fremantle as their Global Head of Documentaries—to establish their documentary division, working on films like IT’S NEVER OVER: JEFF BUCKLEY, DEVO, and WHATEVER IT TAKES. She has commissioned and executive-produced acclaimed feature docs and series around the globe, like ONE CHILD NATION, THE MOLE: INFILTRATING NORTH KOREA, WELCOME TO CHECHNYA, and THE FOURTH ESTATE, to name a few, working with the world’s best filmmakers, and fostering new talent. Mandy is a fierce and committed advocate, mentor, curator, and spokesperson within the documentary field and currently works independently on her own slate of projects.
Petra Costa has been telling stories in the crossroads between the personal and the political for more than a decade, trying to understand the brutally unequal society we live in, much focused in her home country, Brazil. Her latest documentary APOCALYPSE IN THE TROPICS premiered at the Venice Biennale in 2024 and won best documentary at the Havana and Montclair film festivals. Previously, she directed THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY, which was nominated for an Academy Award and was listed by the New York Times as one of the best 10 films of 2019. It won the Peabody Award, Spirit Awards, and best director at DOC NYC. Her first feature, ELENA, was the most watched documentary in Brazil in 2013. ELENA premiered at IDFA and won many prizes such as best documentary at Havana Film Festival (2013), best film at DOCSDF, and was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2014 Cinema Eye Honors. In 2015, Petra directed together with Lea Glob, OLMO AND THE SEAGULL, which won the young jury prize in Locarno Film Festival. She produced ECSTASY (2020) by Moara Passoni, she is the Associate Producer of BABENCO (2019) and the Executive Producer of BEBA (2021).
Ron Nixon is the Director of the Associated Press Local Investigative Program. Previously, he served as Vice President for News, investigative, enterprise, and grants and partnerships. Nixon received the inaugural 2021 News Leader of the Year award from the News Leaders Association. He has overseen investigations that have won a number of awards including, the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, a George Polk award, three News and Documentary Emmys, and a George Foster Peabody Award. He previously led AP’s global investigations team.
Michèle Stephenson draws from her Caribbean roots and work as a social justice lawyer to transform non-fiction storytelling. Anchored in a Black radical tradition, she creates narratives of resistance and healing that push the boundaries of form; interweaving fiction, immersive, and experimental approaches in her work. Her films GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT and BLACK GIRLS PLAY were Oscar-shortlisted, with GOING TO MARS winning the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the prestigious Creative Arts Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. BLACK GIRLS PLAY received the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Video. Her feature, AMERICAN PROMISE, earned three Emmy nominations and won the Jury Prize at Sundance. STATELESS was nominated for a Canadian Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. She also co-directed THE CHANGING SAME, a magical realist VR trilogy, premiered at Sundance New Frontier, won the Tribeca Grand Jury Prize for Best Immersive Narrative, and was Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Interactive Media. Stephenson is currently in post-production on TRUE NORTH, a hybrid doc on the Black Power movement in Canada. She is a Guggenheim and Creative Capital Artist.
Financial support for the Henry Awards Program is provided by Linda and John Henry and the John W. Henry Family Foundation. The program is administered by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
More information about The Henry Awards eligibility, criteria, and process can be found here: https://henryawards.org/
ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY FILM IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST INITIATIVE
The goal of the Shorenstein Center’s Documentary Film in the Public Interest Initiative is to inspire a documentary film practice and infrastructure that can contribute to strong societies. The Initiative’s activities are designed to bridge thought and action. We bring together practitioners and researchers, journalists and documentary filmmakers, public policy leaders and technologists in a shared project to build a more resilient field that can serve the needs of a democratic public by design. For more information, please visit our website: https://dfpi.shorensteincenter.org/.
ABOUT THE SHORENSTEIN CENTER
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center dedicated to examining how essential information is created, conveyed, and consumed. We believe that improving the quality of public information and expanding access to it will bring about healthier, stronger, more peaceful societies. The Center pursues its core mission through original research, convening leaders in practice and scholarship, providing trainings and educational opportunities for students and media practitioners, and highlighting best practices across the fields of media and content production.
