Awards
Crime After Crime has received 25 national, international, and regional film honors.
★★★★★
Yoav Potash celebrates with his wife Shira Potash and actor George Clooney at the National Board of Review Gala
Freedom of Expression Award
National Board of Review
CRIME AFTER CRIME received the Freedom of Expression Award from the National Board of Review (NBR). The NBR is an American film institution that has been dedicated to promoting and honoring significant achievement in motion pictures for over 100 years. The Freedom of Expression prize honors films that are of great artistic merit and social importance. In his acceptance speech, filmmaker Yoav Potash highlighted efforts underway to bring about legal reforms on behalf of incarcerated survivors of domestic violence across the US.
Rosie O'Donnell presented Yoav Potash with the National Board of Review's Freedom of Expression Award
The Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism
The Sydney Hillman Foundation
The Sydney Hillman Foundation honors excellence in journalism in service of the common good. Past recipients of the broadcast award have included filmmaker Spike Lee, Ed Bradley (60 Minutes), Bill Moyers (PBS), and Brian Ross (ABC). In 2012, the year that CRIME AFTER CRIME received this award, CNN’s Anderson Cooper was the runner-up.
Filmmaker Yoav Potash with Kerry Kennedy, human rights leader and daughter of Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
Established in December of 1968 by a group of reporters covering Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign, The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards honor those who report on issues that reflect Robert F. Kennedy’s concerns including human rights, social justice, and the power of individual action in the United States and around the world. The Awards are judged by more than fifty journalists each year, and has become the largest program of its kind and one of few in which the winners are determined solely by their peers.
Audience Choice Award
San Francisco International Film Festival
In announcing this award, San Francisco Film Society Executive Director Graham Leggat described the audience response to CRIME AFTER CRIME as being so overwhelmingly positive that the film would have won the award even if dramas and documentaries were lumped together in a single category.
Golden Gate Award
for Investigative Documentary Feature
San Francisco International Film Festival
This coveted prize honors a single film each year that demonstrates journalistic dedication and acumen. We’re proud to dedicate this award to Bobby Buechler, the private investigator who unearthed so much of the information revealed in CRIME AFTER CRIME.
Justice Matters Jury Prize
Washington DC International Film Festival
Outstanding dramas and documentaries from all over the world competed for this cash prize, made possible by the CrossCurrents Foundation.
Best Editing
Milan International Film Festival
Outstanding dramas and documentaries from all over the world competed for this single prize. The award, which takes the form of Leonardo DaVinci’s horse, marked the first overseas honor for CRIME AFTER CRIME.
Henry Hampton Award
for Excellence in Film & Digital Media
Council on Foundations Film Festival
Of nearly 100 foundation-funded films, only two were selected to receive this honor. The prize is named after the producer of “Eyes on the Prize,” the landmark PBS documentary series on the civil rights movement.
Audience Award
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
Festival director Kenny Blank described the audience’s enthusiasm for CRIME AFTER CRIME as unprecedented during their 10-year history. The festival is the largest film festival in Atlanta and the second largest Jewish film festival in the US.
Pursuit of Justice Award
California Women’s Law Center
Filmmaker Yoav Potash and attorneys Joshua Safran and Nadia Costa were honored for their work on behalf of victims of domestic violence and wrongful incarceration.
Audience Award
Berkshire International Film Festival
Audiences chose CRIME AFTER CRIME over some very strong competition.
Best Documentary
Berkshire International Film Festival
The jury awarded CRIME AFTER CRIME a $5,000 cash prize for this achievement.
Grand Prize
San Antonio Film Festival
Debbie Peagler’s sister Carla McIntosh accepted the festival’s highest honor on behalf of everyone associated with the film.
Crystal Heart Award
Heartland Film Festival
A highly regarded award honoring films with hope and meaning.
Documentary Grand Prize
Heartland Film Festival
The film took home one of the most prestigious and largest cash prizes available to documentaries in the US.
Audience Award
Heartland Film Festival
The audience made Crime After Crime’s performance at Heartland an unprecedented three for three, with the film winning every award it was eligible for at the festival.
Whitehead Award
Whitehead Film Festival
The Whitehead Film Festival’s slogan and mission is “Celebrating films that promote the common good.” Each film that is selected for the festival “speaks of human dignity, of our responsibilities to one another, of problems common to us all, and of the hope of creative transformation in our very togetherness.” The festival’s Whitehead Award is bestowed upon the film that bests embodies these principles.
Gold SpIFFy for Best Documentary
Spokane International Film Festival
The Spokane International Film Festival is a small, selective offering of world-class films, including the very best features, documentaries and shorts from around the world. The jury gave Gold and Silver “SpIFFys” to documentaries in 2012, and Crime After Crime earned the Gold SpIFFy.
Audience Award for Best Feature (Fiction and Documentary)
Spokane International Film Festival
In a tally of audience votes that combined fiction films and documentaries, Crime After Crime received the highest audience rating of any feature-length film at the festival.
Prevention for a Safer Society Award
The National Council on Crime and Delinquency
The “PASS” Award is the only national recognition of print and broadcast journalists, producers, writers, and filmmakers who focus America’s attention on our criminal justice, juvenile justice, child welfare, and adult protection systems in a thoughtful and considerate manner.
Jury Award
Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival
Presented for the Festival Committee’s recognition of excellence in documenting human rights issues.
Audience Award
Teaneck International Film Festival
Teaneck is the local film festival for New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, who has been inspired by the film to draft new legislation for incarcerated survivors of domestic violence, referring to it as “Debbie’s Law.”
Grand Festival Award for Documentary
Berkeley Video & Film Festival
Top documentary honors in Berkeley’s festival, sponsored by East Bay Media Center.
Official Selection
Sundance Film Festival
The competition for a documentary film to premiere at Sundance is so fierce, that simply being accepted into the festival is a huge honor. In 2011, over 840 documentaries applied for 16 coveted Sundance slots. CRIME AFTER CRIME not only premiered at Sundance, but received standing ovations at all six sold-out Sundance screenings.
