Frequently Asked Questions

A full list of our rules and procedures, including film eligibility, can be found on our Rules page.

While the Cinema Eye team makes every effort to track festival screenings and theatrical receipts, it’s the responsibility of the filmmaker to make sure that Cinema Eye is aware of a film’s eligibility. The deadline for Cinema Eye eligibility for feature films is usually at the end of August. Deadlines for television entries will be in the spring. If you have questions, you can email contactATcinemaeyehonorsDOTcom.

Nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors nonfiction feature awards are determined in voting by the top documentary programmers from throughout the world. The 2026 Cinema Eye Feature Film Nominations Committee included Jonathan Ali, Larisa Apan, Beth Barrett, Cara Cusumano, Jessica Fairbanks, Tom Hall, Amir Labaki, Jaie Laplante, Artur Liebhart, Karen McMullen, Mads Mikkelsen, David Nugent, Veton Nurkollari, Janet Pierson, Thom Powers, Sydney Rodrguez, Rachel Rosen, Sky Sitney, Sadie Tillery and Basil Tsiokos.

Nominees for the 2026 Cinema Eye Honors short film award were selected by a nominations committee that included Opal Bennett, Megan Costello, Akili Davis, Angie Driscoll, Jack Feria, Laura Good, Brandon Harrison, Gail Kovatseff, Katelyn Liu, Cynthia “Tina” Morton, Jenn Murphy, Veton Nurkollari and Dan Nuxoll.

Nominees for the Broadcast Award were selected by two nominations committees of Cinema Eye alumni, critics and programmers.

More than 800 people comprise Cinema Eye’s voting membership and typically approximately 300-400 of those members cast their votes in a given year. Invitations to vote are sent to the following individuals:

1. All current and previous Cinema Eye nominees, winners, presenters, jury members, committee and board members.
2. Top filmmakers, distributors, commissioners, grantors, curators, programmers, writers, critics, sales agents and publicists who specialize in the nonfiction field.

We encourage voters to view all of the nominated films in a given category before voting for a winner in a particular category. To help voters view films, we ask filmmakers and distributors to supply password-protected links to allow voters to watch films online.

Some Cinema Eye categories are decided by juries. In 2026, these include the awards the Spotlight Award and the Heterodox Award.

Only team members that serve on various nominations committee are allowed to vote for nominations. All other core team members do not vote at any stage of the nominations but are allowed to vote for the winners.

Submissions for Cinema Eye’s Broadcast Honors usually open in early-May and close in late-May. Feature and Short Film submissions open in June. Short Film submissions close in late July and Feature Film submissions close in Late August.