It may be a simple thing to turn on a camera, but a rare few can capture the poetry and chaos of everyday life as it happens. Vertov said that the camera, the cinema eye (or kino-eye), was more powerful than the human eye. The camera is also the extension of the documentarian’s heart, in the moment, as they capture life unfolding. This award captures the great visual artists of our form. Previous winners in this category include Heloisa Passos for Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) (2008), Peter Zeitlinger for Encounters at the End of the World (2009), Brook Aitken for The Cove (2010), Lixin Fan for Last Train Home (2011), Danfung Dennis for Hell and Back Again (2012), Jeff Orlowski for Chasing Ice (2013), Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel for Leviathan (2014), Erik Wilson for 20,000 Days on Earth and Franklin Dow/Orlando von Einsiedel for Virguna (2015, tie) and Matthew Heineman/Matt Porwoll for Cartel Land and Jimmy Chin/Renan Ozturk for Meru (2016, tie).
