Director Sacha Gervasi's 2008 documentary feature focusing on the comedic antics of Canadian heavy metal rock band "Anvil", won the 'Distinguished Feature Award', December 4 at the International Documentary Association's annual awards show.
"Anvil!: The Story Of Anvil", from Australian producer Rebecca Yeldham, won over competing features "Food, Inc." and "Mugabe and the White African," both short-listed in the Oscar documentary feature category.
The IDA show was hosted by Ira Glass, host of the TV/radio series "This American Life." In his opening remarks he described a documentary filmmaker as a person who uses "...all the tools and tricks to get an audience to care about something it has no interest in at all."
Then he introduced clips of the best docs of 2009, including Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story", James Toback's "Tyson" and the 'mock doc' "Bruno".
"Anvil! The Story of Anvil", has been likened to a real-life "Spinal Tap", including interviews with metal musicians influenced by the band, the likes of Slash from 'Guns N' Roses', Lemmy from 'Motörhead' and Lars Ulrich from 'Metallica'.Gervasi first met Anvil in 1982 at The Marquee Club in London, where he became a 'roadie' for the band on their tours over the next three years, then reunited after a break of 20 years to begin shooting the documentary in 2005.
Sneak Peek "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil"...
