October 26, 2011
For Immediate Release

London, UK – 33 Films from 12 countries will vie for this year’s Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking as nominees were announced tonight in London at an event hosted by Sheffield Doc/Fest.

For the first time, six films are in the running for Cinema Eye’s top award, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking: Clio Barnard’s The Arbor, Steve James’ The Interrupters, Patricio Guzmán’s Nostalgia for the Light, Leonard Retel Helmrich’ Position Among the Stars, James Marsh’s Project Nim and Asif Kapadia’s Senna.

The nominees for this year’s Cinema Eye Honors reflect the most international as well as the most even dispersement of nominations in Cinema Eye history.  Seven films received four nominations each, the highest tally for this year: The Arbor, Tristan Patterson’s Dragonslayer, Danfung Dennis’ Hell and Back Again, The Interrupters, Nostalgia for the Light, Position Among the Stars and Senna.

Winners of the 5th Annual Cinema Eye Honors will be announced on January 11, 2012 as Cinema Eye returns for a second year to New York City’s Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.

Steve James, who previous helmed the nonfiction classics Hoop Dreams and Stevie, leads all individuals by being included in all four nominations for The Interrupters.  James is among five nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Direction, where he is joined by Clio Barnard, Danfung Dennis, Patricio Guzmán and Leonard Retel Helmrich.

Ten contenders were named for Cinema Eye’s Audience Choice prize, which were, for the first time this year, the result of a direct vote by the Cinema Eye nominations committee.  They include some of the most beloved documentaries of 2011, including Cindy Meehl’s Buck, Richard Press’ Bill Cunningham New York, Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Errol Morris’ Tabloid and Jon M. Chu’s Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.
The late Tim Hetherington, who received two nominations in 2011 for co-directing and co-producing Restrepo, was nominated in the Nonfiction Short Filmmaking category for his autobiographical film, Diary.  He is joined in the category by Yuri Ancarani’s Il Capo (Italy), Davina Pardo’s Minka (USA), Jakub Stozek’s Out of Reach (Poland) and Andy Taylor Smith’s This Chair is Not Me (UK).

A full list of nominees with details on each category can be downloaded here.

About the Cinema Eye Honors and the 2012 Awards

The Cinema Eye Honors were founded in 2007 to recognize excellence in artistry and craft in nonfiction filmmaking.  It remains the only international nonfiction award to recognize the whole creative team, presenting annual craft awards in directing, producing, cinematography, editing, composing and graphic design/animation.

Cinema Eye is headed by a core team that includes Co-Chairs Esther Robinson (director, A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Debut, 2008) and AJ Schnack (director, Kurt Cobain About A Son and founder of Cinema Eye), Producer Nathan Truesdell (producer, Convention), Nominations Committee Chair Sean Farnel (Former Head of Programming, Hot Docs Film Festival), Advisory Board Chair Andrea Meditch (executive producer, Buck and Man on Wire) and Filmmaker Advisory Board Chair Laura Poitras (director, The Oath; Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Direction, 2011).

Nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors feature awards are determined in voting by the top documentary programmers from throughout the world.  This year’s nominations committee included Meira Blaustein (Woodstock Film Festival), Heather Croall (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Sean Farnel (Hot Docs Film Festival), Joanne Feinberg (Ashland Film Festival), Tine Fischer (CPH:DOX), Elena Fortes (Ambulante), Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Tom Hall (Sarasota Film Festival), Doug Jones (Los Angeles Film Festival), Amir Labaki (It’s All True, Brazil), Grit Lemke (DOK Liepzig), Caroline Libresco (Sundance Film Festival), Artur Liebhart (Planete Doc Review), David Nugent (Hamptons Film Festival), Veton Nurkollari (DokuFest Kosovo), Janet Pierson (SXSW), Thom Powers (Toronto International Film Festival, DOC NYC), Rachel Rosen (San Francisco), Charlotte Selb (RIDM Montreal), Sky Sitney (Silverdocs), Sadie Tillery (Full Frame), David Wilson (True/False) and Brit Withey (Denver).

Finalists for the Cinema Eye Honors short film awards were selected by a nominations committee that included Hussain Currimbhoy (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Sarafina DiFelice (Hot Docs Film Festival), Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Ted Mott (Full Frame), Veton Nurkollari (DokuFest Kosovo), Sky Sitney (Silverdocs) and Kim Yutani (Sundance).  Nominees were chosen from a list of 11 finalists by a jury that was composed of Peter Debruge (senior film critic, Variety), Audrey Marrs (producer, No End in Sight and Inside Job; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Feature, 2008 and Outstanding Production, 2011), Christine O’Malley (producer, Wordplay and I.O.U.S.A.), Chris Shellen (producer, Marwencol; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Feature, 2011) and Peter Van Steemburg, Director of Acquisitions, Magnolia Pictures.

The members of the Cinema Eye Filmmaker Advisory Board include Mila Aung-Thwin (producer, Last Train Home, Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Production, 2011), RJ Cutler (director, The September Issue, Cinema Eye winner for Audience Choice, 2010), Sam Green (director, The Weather Underground), Audrey Marrs (producer, Inside Job; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Production, 2011), James Marsh (director, Man on Wire; Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Feature, 2009) and Morgan Spurlock (director, POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold).

The members of the Cinema Eye Industry Advisory Board include Sara Bernstein (HBO Documentary Films), Heather Croall (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Matt Dentler (Cinetic Media), Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Ryan Harrington (Tribeca Film Institute), Molly Thompson (A&E IndieFilms) and Debra Zimmerman (Women Make Movies).

Key Partners of Cinema Eye are the Museum of the Moving Image, HBO Documentary Films, A&E IndieFilms, Sheffield Doc/Fest and Hot Docs.  Supporting sponsors include POV, the Camden International Film Festival, the Hudson Hotel, Frontline Club and Abel CineTech.  Additional sponsors will be named in the coming months.