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The Rules

Please note: The following information has been updated to include the eligibility rules for the 2026 Cinema Eye Honors. 

If you have questions, please contact Cinema Eye via email.

Feature Film Eligibility

Updated for 2026

Films must be a minimum of 41 minutes long and become eligible by fulfilling one of four criteria:

  • Selected to screen at three or more international film festivals (listed alphabetically). Examples of international film festivals include (listed alphabetically): AFI FEST, Ambulante, Antenna, Ashland, Atlanta, Berlin, Big Sky, BlackStar, Camden, Cannes, Chicago, Cinéma du Réel, Cleveland, CPH:DOX, Dallas, DC/DOX, Denver, DocAviv, Doc Edge New Zealand, DOC NYC, Docs Against Gravity, DOK Leipzig, Dokufest Kosovo, DOXA Vancouver, Edinburgh, Guangzhou, Hamptons, Hot Docs, Hot Springs, IDFA, It’s All True, Jihlava, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, London, Melbourne, Miami, Mill Valley, MOMA Doc Fortnight, Montclair, New Directors/New Films, New York, Open City, Outfest, Overlook, Provincetown, RIDM, Rooftop Films Summer Series, Rotterdam, San Francisco, Sarasota, Savannah, Seattle, Sheffield, Slamdance, Sundance, SXSW, Telluride, Tide, Toronto, Traverse City, Tribeca, True/False, Venice, Visions du Réel or Yamagata.
  • An Oscar-qualifying theatrical release prior to the end of the year.
  • Reporting at least $25,000 in North American theatrical box office.
  • Has premiered or will premiere on a major broadcast or streaming platform between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025.

NOTE: Films may only submit once for Cinema Eye Feature Honors. For example, if you submitted for 2025 because you were eligible via a festival screening, you cannot submit again this year even if you are eligible via theatrical release.

NOTE: Films that had a public screening prior to January 1, 2024 are not eligible, even if they had not previously submitted and meet the other eligibility requirements.

  • In the Nonfiction Feature Film category, the named nominees will be the entire filmmaking team responsible for the nominated film, including the Director(s), Producer(s), Editor(s), Cinematographer(s), Composer(s), Sound Designer(s), Visual Designer(s) and Unforgettable(s)/Major On Camera Collaborator(s). See individual category rules below for determining maximum nominees per craft role and whether a craftsperson or on camera collaborator qualifies.
  • In the Direction category, the named nominees are the Director(s) with a Director or “Directed by” credit on the film. Co-Directors, Second Unit or Assistant Directors are not eligible for this award. This also pertains to categories such as Debut and Audience Choice where the Director(s) is/are the named nominee.
  • In the Production category, nominated producers must have had a day-to-day creative role in the production of the film and have been involved from pre-production through post. A “Produced by” credit in the main credits of the film and billing block on the film poster.is required to be nominated in the Production category. A maximum of five (5) producers may be nominated per film. It is the responsibility of the film team to designate the five producers in cases where the number of “Produced by” credits on the film exceed this maximum.
  • In the Editing category, the named nominees must have an Edited by or Editor credit in the main credits of the film and billing block on the film poster. Supervising Editor(s), Consulting Editor(s), Assistant and Additional Editor(s) are not eligible to be named nominees for this award. A maximum of three (3) editors may be nominated per film.
  • In the Cinematography category, the named nominees must have a Director of Photography, “Cinematography by” or Cinematographer in the main credits of the film and billing block on the film poster. Additional Cinematographers, Second Unit or Archival Cinematographers are not eligible for this award. A maximum of three (3) cinematographers may be nominated per film.
  • In the Original Score category, films are required to have at least 51% of their music original and composed specifically for the film in order to be eligible for the award. The named nominee must have a Composer, “Composed by”, “Original Score by” credit in the main credits of the film and billing block on the film poster. A maximum of two (2) composers may be nominated per film.
  • In the Sound Design category, films can submit up to three (3) individuals who made the biggest contributions to the film’s aural landscape. These may be on set sound recordists, sound mixers or sound designers. Composers are not eligible for this award.
  • In the Visual Design category, films can submit up to three (3) individuals who made the biggest non-cinematography contributions to the aesthetic look of the film. This can include animation, graphic design, motion-driven title design or art direction. There must be a minimum of two cumulative minutes of original visual design to be eligible for this award. Lower thirds, captions and text cards do not count toward the two minute minimum.
  • For a film to be eligible in the Debut category, it must be the first feature-length (longer than 50 minutes) nonfiction or fiction film for anyone credited as a Director on the film. In cases where there is a Directing team and it’s the first film for one Director and not for another Director, the film is not eligible in this category.
  • For the Unforgettables Honor, Onscreen participants/collaborators  must appear in at least 20% of the film’s running time in order to be considered for this recognition. 

NOTE: In all categories where the award goes to a specific craftsperson, the film must have (an) individual(s) credited with that specific role. This includes a credited director in the categories of Direction, Debut, Spotlight or Audience Choice. A film without a credited director may be nominated for Outstanding Feature and the nominees would be the rest of the film team.

Voting for Feature Film Categories

Updated for 2026
  • Nominations are determined by the votes of the Cinema Eye Feature Film Nominations Committee. The members are film programmers and curators from top film festivals/programs around the globe.
  • Nominations Committee members are asked to vote for their favorites in each category from the list of submitted films ranking films 1-5, with 1 being their favorite, except in the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category and the Audience Choice category where they rank ten films 1-10.  Films ranked first receive 5 points (10 points in Feature and Audience categories), second receive 4 points (9 in Feature and Audience) and so on.
  • Total points from the Nominations Committee are tallied. The top  point totals are named nominees. Five nominees is a minimum number of nominees in most categories, but we default toward six nominees unless there is a wide gap between the films in fifth and sixth position.
  • A seventh nominee is allowed in cases where there is no perceivable difference in scores between the films in the sixth and seventh position. There is currently no possibility for an eighth nominee.
  • Winners are chosen by votes of our general voting body, which consists of more than 1000 members of the documentary and filmmaking community. Some categories may be chosen by jury.
  • In the Audience Choice category, votes from the Nominations Committee will be tallied to come up with a Long List of between 15-20 films. This Long List will be revealed in advance of the full nominations announcement and voting will be opened to the public during an initial voting window. The 10 films with the highest vote total during this window will be later announced as the nominees in the category. There will be a second round of voting by the Cinema Eye voting body as well as opened to the general public to determine the winner from the 10 nominees.
  • All named Unforgettables are automatically Honorees (winners).  There will be a minimum of five Honorees in this category, although the rules for a sixth and possible seventh Honoree are the same as the other Feature Film category. There is currently no possibility for an eighth nominee.

Short Film Eligibility

Updated for 2026

Films must be 40 minutes or less and become eligible by fulfilling one of the following three requirements:

  1. Selected to screen at least one international film festival, no matter whether those film festivals were in person or virtual. Examples of international film festivals include: AFI FEST, Ambulante, Antenna, Ashland, Aspen, Berlin, Big Sky, BlackStar, Camden, Cannes, Chicago, Cinéma du Réel, Cleveland, CPH:DOX, Dallas, DC/DOX, Denver, DocAviv, Doc Edge New Zealand, DOC NYC, Docs Against Gravity, DOK Leipzig, Dokufest Kosovo, DOXA Vancouver, Edinburgh, Guangzhou, Hamptons, Hot Docs, Hot Springs, IDFA, It’s All True, Jihlava, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, London, Melbourne, Miami, Montclair, New Directors/New Films, New York, Open City, Outfest, Overlook, Palm Springs, Provincetown, RIDM, Rooftop Films Summer Series, Rotterdam, San Francisco, Sarasota, Seattle, Sheffield, Slamdance, Sundance, SXSW, Telluride, TIDE, Toronto, Traverse City, Tribeca, True/False, Venice, Visions du Réel or Yamagata.
  2. Has premiered or will premiere on a major streaming, broadcast or digital platform between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. (Examples include The New Yorker, Netflix, New York Times Op-Docs, POV, Vimeo Staff Pick).
  3. Has held or will hold public (non-festival) screenings in both New York and Los Angeles between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025.

NOTE: Films may only submit once for Cinema Eye Feature Honors. For example, if you submitted for the 2025 Honors because you were eligible via festival screenings, you cannot submit again this year even if you are eligible via theatrical release. If you premiered in 2024 but didn’t submit to Cinema Eye last year, you are eligible to submit for 2026.

Films that had a public screening prior to January 1, 2024 are not eligible, even if they had not previously submitted and meet the other eligibility requirements. 

NOTE: Films must have a credited director in order to be eligible for this award.

Voting for Short Film Categories

Updated for 2026
  • Nominations are determined by the votes of the Cinema Eye Short Film Nominations Committee. The members are film programmers and curators from top film festivals/programs around the globe.
  • Voting takes place over two rounds. In the final round, Short Film Nominations Committee members are asked to vote for their ten favorite films of the year from the list of submitted films, ranking films 1-10, with 1 being their favorite.  Films ranked first receive 10 points, second receive 9 points and so on.
  • Points from the nominations committee are totaled. The top ten films in point totals are named to our annual Shorts List, which is announced in the fall prior to the announcement of the 2026 Nominees.
  • Ten films are traditionally named to the Shorts List, although there may be as many as 11 or as few as 9 (see below). 
  • Films must receive votes from at least 30% of the members of the nominations committee in order to be named to the Shorts List and/or as a nominee.
  • If two films are tied in the 10th position, both would join the Shorts List.
  • If there is a points tie between three (or more) films in the 10th position, the two films with a higher vote total would be named to the Shorts List. If there was a tie between all three (or more) films in votes, the nominations committee would revote on their preferences for the three films.  The two highest scoring films would be included in the Shorts List. If another tie resulted, neither film would be added and there would be 9 films on the Shorts List.
  • As with the Feature Film categories, five nominees is the minimum number of nominees in this category, but we default toward six unless there is a wide points gap between the films in the fifth and sixth position. There currently cannot be a seventh nominee in the Shorts category.
  • The winner is chosen by votes of our Cinema Eye voting body.

Broadcast Film Eligibility

Updated for 2026

Films are eligible if they fulfill all of the following criteria:

  1. Can be broadcast/streamed in 1 or 2 parts.
  2. Must have a total running time of more than 41 minutes.
  3. Must be broadcast/streamed between June 1, 2024 and July 11, 2025.
  4. Must be broadcast/streamed no later than 12 months after the film’s first public screening.
  5. Cannot have been nominated for any Cinema Eye Honor (including being an Honoree for Unforgettables or on the Shorts List or Audience Choice Long List) in a previous year.

NOTE: Named nominees in this category will be the Director(s). The award will go to the Director(s). Films must have a credited director in order to be eligible. Co-Directors and Assistant or Second Unit Directors are not eligible for this award.

NOTE: Single episodes of a documentary series are typically not eligible for the Broadcast Film Award. Please contact Cinema Eye with any questions.

Nonfiction Series Eligibility

Updated for 2026

The Nonfiction Series Honor is for a one-off series or a single season of an ongoing series where the series has a contained narrative that spans multiple episodes (examples: The Jinx, Making a Murderer, America to Me).

Series are eligible if they fulfill all of the following criteria:
  1. Consists of 3 parts or more and has a single, contained narrative that must be watched in order.
  2. All episodes/parts must have a credited director(s).
  3. The first part/episode of the Series must have been broadcast/streamed between June 1, 2024 and July 11, 2025 and no later than 12 months after its first public screening.

NOTE: Named nominees in this category will be the Director(s). You must have a Directed by or Director credit on at least one of the episodes that was submitted for the committee to view. Co-Directors, Directors of non-submitted episodes or Assistant Directors are not eligible for this award.

Anthology Series Eligibility

Updated for 2026

The Anthology Series Honor is for a one-off series or a single season of an ongoing series where the series consists of individual thematic episodes that may be viewed individually or in any order (examples: Pretend It’s a City, The 1619 Project, How To with John Wilson).

Anthology Series are eligible if they fulfill all of the following criteria:

  1. Consists of 3 parts or more.
  2. All episodes/parts must be credited to the same production team.
  3. The first part/episode of the Series must have been broadcast/streamed between June 1, 2024 and July 11, 2025 and no later than 12 months after its first public screening.
  4. Individual parts/episodes may be of any length, but the complete Series must have a total run time of 60 minutes or more.

NOTE: Named nominees in this category will be the day-to-day Executive Producer(s)/Showrunner(s). Award will be presented to the Executive Producer(s)/Showrunner(s).

This award is intended to celebrate the creative and strategic minds behind Anthology Series. You should put forward Executive Producer(s)/Showrunner(s) who have an ongoing and day-to-day role in overseeing those aspects of the program. EP(s) who are primarily financial supporters should only be included if they also fulfill the creative oversight this award recognizes. Nominees per project are limited to six.

Broadcast Editing and Cinematography

Updated for 2026

  • For the Broadcast Editing Honor, you must have a credit on the film or episodes that have been submitted for the committee to view. You must have an Edited by, Editor or Supervising Editor credit (the latter only pertains in the case of a multi-part film or series). Assistant Editor(s), Consulting Editor(s) and Additional Editor(s) are not eligible to be named nominees for this award. Nominees per project are limited to four.
  • For the Broadcast Cinematography Honor, you must have a credit on the film or episodes that have been submitted for the committee to view. You must have a Director of Photography or Cinematographer credit. Second Unit or Additional Cinematography are not eligible to be named nominees for this award. Nominees per project are limited to five.

Broadcast Voting Rules

Updated for 2026
  • The Broadcast Nominations Committee (made up of filmmakers, film programmers and critics/writers) view the submissions and submit votes for nomination.  The voting takes place over two rounds. 
  • Total points from the nominations committees are tallied. The films/series/individuals with the top point totals are named nominees. Five nominees is a minimum number of nominees in most categories, but we default toward six nominees unless there is a wide points gap between the films/series in fifth and sixth position.
  • A seventh nominee is allowed in cases where there is no perceivable difference in scores between the films in the sixth and seventh position. There is currently no possibility for an eighth nominee.
  • The winner is the top points getter of the Broadcast nominations committee across both rounds. In case of a tie in points, a tie is declared in the category. Cinema Eye Core Team members do not vote.

NOTE: While films may be submitted for both the Broadcast and Feature Film Honors, they not be nominated in corresponding craft categories (for example, a film cannot be nominated for Broadcast Editing and Nonfiction Feature Editing). In the case where a film receives votes that would make it a possible nominee in both, the film will be nominated in the category where it has the most possible nominations, with deference to the Nonfiction Feature categories.

A film may be nominated in the Broadcast Film category and nominated in a Feature Film category that doesn’t have a corresponding Broadcast Honor. For example, a film may be nominated for Broadcast Film and for Outstanding Production, Visual Design or Audience Choice.

Heterodox and Spotlight

Updated for 2026
  • For the Heterodox Award, nominations committee members and other invited experts are asked to nominate primarily fiction films that use nonfiction means, style or modes of production or hybrid films where both fiction and nonfiction techniques are used. The named nominee is the Director and the Honoree is chosen by jury.
  • In the Spotlight category, Nominations Committee members are free to vote for films whether they have been submitted for other feature film categories or not. They are asked to vote for films that have yet to receive proper attention in North America, have not been widely released in theaters and are from filmmakers who are in the early part of their career, from whom they would like to see more. Nominees may not have previously been nominated for Cinema Eye. The named nominee is the Director(s) and the Honoree is chosen by jury.
  • In each category, the top six point totals will be the named nominees in the category, provided that nominees have met a minimum threshold of votes, in which case only those films will be named as nominees.

Legacy Award and Hell Yeah Prize

Updated for 2026
  • Nominations committee members and other invited experts are invited to nominate classic nonfiction films that continue to inspire the work of this year’s filmmakers for the Legacy Award as well as current/recent films that have had “significant, demonstrable real world impact” for recognition for the Hell Yeah Prize.
  • For the Legacy Award, films that have been released during the last 15 years are not eligible.
  • From this list, the Cinema Eye Core Team selects a recipient of the Legacy Award and, when appropriate, a recipient of the Hell Yeah Prize.
  • The honored film(s) and filmmaker(s) is/are announced in advance.

Recusal of Core Team, Nominations Committee and Advisory Board

Updated for 2026

NOTE: Recusal rules apply to all categories (i.e. Feature, Short, Broadcast, Heterodox)

If a member of the Cinema Eye Nominating Committees fulfills a key creative (Director, Producer, Executive Producer, Editor, Cinematographer, Composer, Graphic Designer) or distribution role on a film being submitted for a nomination, they must signal their conflict of interest in the corresponding categories (Feature, Short or Broadcast) and cannot have any role in overseeing or tabulating the voting process. 

Films directed by a member of the Cinema Eye Core Team are not eligible for Cinema Eye Honors in categories where the Core Team member is the named nominee. Films and Series are eligible if a member of the Cinema Eye Core Team fulfills a different creative role (e.g. Producer, Executive Producer, Editor), however the Cinema Eye Core Team member shall not be eligible for any awards they may be considered for (for example, if a Cinema Eye Core Team member was the sole editor on a film, that film is eligible in all categories aside from editing; if a Cinema Eye Core Team member is one of several editors on a film, that film is eligible in the editing category, but the Core Team member may not be a named nominee).

For background on who votes for Cinema Eye, you can find a full list of Nominations Committee Members for the 2023 Cinema Eye Honors on our About and FAQ page.

Shortcuts

Feature Film Eligibility

Feature Film Categories Voting

Short Film Eligibility

Short Film Categories Voting

Broadcast Film Eligibility

Nonfiction Series Eligibility

Anthology Series Eligibility

Broadcast Voting

Heterodox and Spotlight

Legacy Award and Hell Yeah Prize

Recusal

Information

Awards

Retrospective

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