The Doc’n Roll Jury Award for Documentary of the Year 2024 has gone to Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, directed by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee.
This year’s award, announced by Doc’n Roll co-director Colm Forde following the conclusion of Doc’n Roll’s 11th annual UK-wide film festival, recognises a powerful tribute to the life and career of a Black trans soul singer.
Any Other Way offers fascinating insights into the life and work of an artist who began her career in the 1950s when she moved from Nashville to Toronto, but disappeared from public life from 1970 to 2010. She began to receive her due only toward the end of her life, in her seventies, and died in 2019. The film documents not only her musical work and life, but the determination to share her story by surviving family members.
The Doc’n Roll jury also acknowledged Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson’s playful look at a legendary cult figure, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted, in which the country soul and R&B singer, musician, songwriter and record producer, accompanied by a colourful cast of housemates and collaborators, pursues a bizarre and inspiring path across music, time and space.
Six cheers for our jurors Adam, Caroline, Paulette, Daniel, Nihal and Günseli
This year’s Doc’n Roll festival jury boasted the talents of six dedicated followers of music and film, who gave generously of their time to reflect on the shortlisted films and name the best of the best in this year’s festival.
Our jury members for 2024 are: Adam Thorsmark of CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen film festival; actor/director Caroline Catz; music journalist Daniel Dylan Wray; DJ, author and broadcaster DJ Paulette, broadcaster Nihal Arthanayake and writer, researcher and scholar Günseli Yalcinkaya.
Shane’s story will finally be ‘seen and heard all over the world’: directors
Acknowledging the Doc’n Roll Jury Award for Documentary of the Year 2024, co-directors and co-writers Mabbott and Rosenberg-Lee said: “Thank you so much Doc’n Roll for this award and for recognising this film, and for all the people who came out and saw it. We really appreciate it and we are just so grateful that Jackie’s story is getting to be seen and heard all over the world.”
They added: “This recognition means so, so much to us and to everyone involved with this film, because Jackie, when she was performing, couldn’t or wouldn’t play on some of the stages in some of the cities where she really deserved to me, and it is just really emotional and moving and it just means a whole lot to us that she could be on a stage in London, speaking her truth and doing what she did best, which was perform incredible, incredible music and connect with people. Thank you for giving her that stage and for shining a spotlight on Jackie – it means a lot to us.”
Doc’n Roll jury member Nihal Arthanayake said of the film: “I was amazed at how the filmmakers achieved so much with such limited source material. With only a tranche of recorded phone conversations to bring to life, and one sole filmed performance from the 1960s in existence, they excelled at bringing Jackie Shane’s extraordinary story to life.
“There were so many moments of intimate storytelling in this documentary, that interweaved perfectly with the societal hurdles that she had to overcome to be absolutely authentic to who she was. It was not fame or money that Jackie Shane craved, it was to be given the opportunity to be an openly Black trans woman at a time when straight Black people faced terrible prejudice. This is a film that should be shown in schools and colleges for years to come, so that future generations will know about Jackie Shane,” Nihal added.
‘What a film, what a life’: kudos for joyous Swamp Dogg documentary
Doc’n Roll jury member DJ Paulette commended the directors’ skill in bringing the world of Swamp Dogg to the screen.
“If you like buddy movies with a funktified feel, then Swamp Dogg ticks all the boxes. This is the story of how a country, R&B and Southern soul singer/songwriter, A&R exec, activist and record producer tried to break into country music and the challenges he overcame along the way. Little Jerry Williams reinvented himself as Swamp Dogg in the 60s and became a cult figure through the 70s and 80s, scoring chart hits, but has been largely unrecognised for his legacy.”
She added: “Swamp Dogg’s home became a refuge for friends and artists, where what was formed a beautiful, loving creative community and adopted family. What a film, what a guy, what a career, what a house, what a community and what a life!”
Also shortlisted for the Doc’n Roll Jury Award for Documentary of the Year 2024 were the feature docs Teaches of Peaches (directed by Philipp Fussenegger and Judy Landkammer), S/He Is Still Her/e: Genesis P-Orridge (David Charles Rodrigues), Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story (Nate Pommer and Eric Weinrib) and Hakeem (DEADHORSES), all of which screened as part of Doc’n Roll’s 11th season.
View the list of winners of the Doc’n Roll Jury Award for Documentary of the Year from 2015 to 2024.