“THE COVE” WINS 3 CINEMA EYE HONORS INCLUDING FEATURE PRIZE
AGNES VARDA NAMED OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR
2 HONORS FOR “BURMA VJ” and “OCTOBER COUNTRY”
“THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE” NAMED AUDIENCE CHOICE

JANUARY 15, 2010 – (New York) The Cinema Eye Honors, celebrating artistic achievement in nonfiction film in 12 categories, were presented tonight at the Times Center in New York City where Louie Psihoyos’ THE COVE – the acclaimed undercover investigation into secret dolphin hunting in Taijii, Japan – was the night’s big winner, receiving three Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, Outstanding Production and Outstanding Cinematography.

The third annual event drew a packed house of documentary filmmakers, with presenters including Albert Maysles, Academy Award winners Barbara Kopple and Peter Davis, Ellen Kuras, Amir Bar-Lev and Bill Plympton.  The event was hosted by Cinema Eye co-chairs Esther Robinson and AJ Schnack.

Legendary French filmmaker Agnès Varda was awarded the Cinema Eye for Outstanding Direction for THE BEACHES OF AGNES.  Her longtime production designer, Franckie Diago, accepted the award on Varda’s behalf.

Anders Østergaard’s BURMA VJ received two awards, Outstanding International Feature and Outstanding Achievement in Editing, as did Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher’s OCTOBER COUNTRY, which was named Outstanding Debut and received the award for Original Music Score.

RJ Cutler’s behind-the-scenes look at Vogue Magazine, THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, took the Audience Choice Prize.  Jessica Oreck received the first Cinema Eye Spotlight Award for her debut feature, BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO.  The Spotlight Award is intended to showcase a film that has not yet received proper attention in the United States.

[Full list of winners below.]

Ross McElwee’s 1986 documentary classic SHERMAN’S MARCH was presented with the first Cinema Eye Legacy Award.  McElwee received his award from two-time Oscar winner Kopple and then discussed the film and his work on stage with Thom Powers, chair of the Cinema Eye Honors Nominations Committee and Documentary Programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival.

The process for selecting the awards began with a list nearly 100 feature length nonfiction films eligible in 2009. The nominees were selected by a panel of documentary programmers from 14 different film festivals in North America and Europe.  More than 150 members of the documentary community – filmmakers, distributors, programmers and critics – voted for this year’s Cinema Eye winners.  Two categories – Original Music Score and the Spotlight Award – were voted on by a select jury.

http://www.cinemaeyehonors.com

2010 Cinema Eye Honorees

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

THE COVE
Directed by Louie Psihoyos
Produced by Paula DuPré Pesman and Fisher Stevens

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

Agnès Varda
THE BEACHES OF AGNES

Outstanding Achievement in International Feature Filmmaking

BURMA VJ
Directed by Anders Østergaard
Produced by Lise-Lense Møller

Outstanding Achievement in Debut Feature Filmmaking

OCTOBER COUNTRY
Directed by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher

Outstanding Achievement in Production

Paula DuPré Pesman and Fisher Stevens
THE COVE

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

Brook Aitken
THE COVE

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

Janus Billeskov-Jansen and Thomas Papapetros
BURMA VJ

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score

Danny Grody, Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri, Ted Savarese and Kenric Taylor
OCTOBER COUNTRY

Original Music Score Jury: Natalia Almada, Laurie Anderson, Brendan Canty, T. Griffin and Craig Wedren

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation (tie)

Bigstar
FOOD, INC.
and
Francis Hanneman, Darren Pasemko, Kent Hugo, Omar Majeed, Brett Gaylor + The Open Source Cinema Community
RIP: A REMIX MANIFESTO

Spotlight Award

BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO
Directed by Jessica Oreck

Spotlight Jury: Pernille Rose Gronkjær, Jason Kohn, David Polonsky and Jennifer Venditti

Audience Choice Prize

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE
Directed by RJ Cutler

Legacy Award

SHERMAN’S MARCH
Directed by Ross McElwee

2010 Cinema Eye Honorees Press Release