British documentary Man On Wire shared the International Documentary Association's top gong with Israeli animated doc Waltz With Bashir at their annual award ceremony on Friday.
The award marks the end of a terrific year for James Marsh's crowd-pleaser about World Trade Centre tightrope-walker Phillipe Petit, which has been picking up awards ever since it premiered at Sundance in January.
Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir - which uses animation to explore the experiences of Israeli soldiers in the first Lebanon War - has also been garnering global praise since it premiered at Cannes.
The short documentary award was won by Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega for La Corona (The Crown) - about a beauty pageant in a Colombian women's prison.
The IDA awards inaugural audience award went to Chris Taylor's food fight, while Ira Glass picked up the Continuing Series Award for the second time on the trot for This American Life.
The awards were presented in LA by Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock.
