The 2024 SIFF DocFest concluded on a high note with the announcement that “Devo,” Chris Smith’s documentary about the iconic new wave band, clinched the inaugural SIFF DocFest Audience Award. 

Held from October 3-10 at SIFF Cinema Uptown, the festival screened 15 docs that consistently packed the house. The introduction of the Audience Voted Award was met with hundreds of pass and ticket holders casting their vote with “Devo” emerging as the clear favorite.

Stan Shields, SIFF’s Associate Director of Festival Programming, commented on the fest’s origins and the addition of this year’s Audience Award: “Seattle has one of the most enthusiastic documentary-going audiences in the world, which is what initially inspired us to conceive of this Festival in 2021. Documentaries are meant to engage and ignite conversation, and we’re looking forward to hearing directly from our audiences on this expansive lineup with this new award.”

Chris Smith’s documentary looks back at the radical and deeply political band that formed in the wake of the 1970 Kent State shootings. While many people are familiar with their hit single ‘Whip It,” the band’s story goes much deeper than the song that brought them mass popularity. Through candid interviews with founding members Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh, the doc paints a vivid picture of Devo’s journey from avant-garde artists to unlikely pop culture icons.

Other standouts

While other docs like “Driver,” “Eno,” and “They All Came Out To Montreux” also garnered attention, it was “Devo” that won over the SIFF DocFest audience, casting their votes for the top award. The film’s win underscores the continued fascination with Devo’s artistic vision and impact more than four decades since the band formed.

The chance to weigh in on the new audience award was a clear hit with fest filmgoers and is sure to return in the coming years. If you didn’t catch ‘Devo” at the fest, we highly recommend it (it was certainly one of our favorites as well) once it rolls out.