When the International Documentary Association convened to hand out its annual awards Friday night in Los Angeles, heavyweight filmmakers such as Alex Gibney (Oscar nominee for “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”) and Michael Moore waited to hear their names read. But to the surprise of all in attendance, the show was stolen by a little-known New York filmmaker and her little-seen documentary, “A Walk to Beautiful.”

“It’s all finally happening!” the exuberant director, Mary Olive Smith, said at her post-victory party Friday evening. “It feels like we’ve made it, to win this award and realize that people are responding so powerfully to the film. You talk about Alex Gibney and Michael Moore, and we were up against some real big-timers; they’ve probably never even heard of me. But we’ve awards from audiences at festivals around the world, and it’s exciting to see that carry over to audiences here.”

Better known for her considerable work in the TV documentary realm, for projects that have appeared on such networks as the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the History Channel, Ms. Smith’s “A Walk to Beautiful” tells the harrowing tale of five Ethiopian women who have been shunned by their families and community after suffering debilitating injuries during childbirth. The women abandon their homes on a quest for the medical treatment that will restore their dignity. Already selected for more than a dozen festivals, and the winner of the Audience Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Ms. Smith’s film has been picked up by the PBS series NOVA, which plans to air it in mid-2008, long after its theatrical run begins in New York next month.

Another New Yorker, Yoni Brook, won the evening’s short documentary competition with her film “A Son’s Sacrifice,” about a young American Muslim who comes to grips with his cultural and religious roots in the shadow of his father’s New York slaughterhouse. “We Are Together,” a documentary about a South African orphanage, took home the first Alan Ett Music Documentary Award, singling out the most creative use of music in a documentary.

What was most notable about Friday’s ceremony was how little light it shone on the intense battle currently being waged for this year’s documentary Oscar. From the evening’s top three categories, six films recently added to the “short list” by the Academy — Mr. Moore’s “Sicko,” Mr. Gibney’s “Taxi to the Dark Side,” “War/ Dance,” and “Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience,” plus short films “Freeheld” and “Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy” — walked away empty- handed, placing even more emphasis on the other award bodies that will weigh in prior to the January 22 Oscar nominations.

Late last week, the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures began the speculation when it chose the short-listed “Body of War” as the year’s best documentary. Early this afternoon, the New York Film Critics Circle will add yet more fuel to the fire with its year-end announcement.

The IDA awards mark the beginning of the end for another documentary Oscar season, one that has been marked largely by confused and angry documentary filmmakers. The controversy began with a substantial change to the Academy’s qualifying rules. The executive director of the IDA, Sandra Ruch, pointed to two particular changes that devastated her membership: First, the Academy decreed that documentaries must screen theatrically not just in Los Angeles or New York, but in 14 cities, with at least two screenings a day for three days in a row. Making things even more complicated, the “eligible” hours of the day were tightened, meaning that some theaters could not open early, or remain open late, in order to accommodate directors booking their qualifying runs.

For low-budget filmmakers such as Ms. Smith, who are not being funded or supported by studios or distributors, launching a costly, national screening campaign is difficult, sometimes impossible. “It’s made it that much more difficult and challenging,” Ms. Ruch said, pointing to the IDA’s attempts to aid documentary filmmakers through organizing and facilitating an annual “DocuWeek.” This year, 18 films were accepted to DocuWeek, ensuring that they met the Academy’s rules of eligibility by screening both in L.A. and in more than a dozen other cities. “It caused a lot of anger and exasperation among filmmakers,” Ms. Ruch said. “We tried to help as much as we can, but it’s daunting. This year, 150 films tried to get into DocuWeek, but we could only take 18 because we can’t afford to rent many more theaters across the country.”

The anger made it all the way to the Academy, which, to its credit, revised the rules governing films hitting theaters through next August (which include “A Walk to Beautiful,” but not “Sicko” or “Taxi to the Dark Side,” which made their theatrical premieres this past year and have had to abide by the mutlicity rule). For documentaries attempting to qualify for next year’s Academy Awards (2009), the Academy dropped the multicity requirement, stating instead that documentaries must screen for a week in both New York and Los Angeles. As a result, the IDA is considering hosting its first-ever DocuWeek on the East Coast.

As for the hit of the moment, the qualifying New York screening of Ms. Smith’s “A Walk to Beautiful” is being finalized today. Come late January, Ms. Smith said, it will debut at the Quad Cinema — more than a year before she hopes to be back in Los Angeles at the Kodak Theatre, vying for her first Academy Award.

ssnyder@nysun.com