The Cinema Eye Honors, recognizing outstanding artistry and craft in nonfiction filmmaking, today announced the full slate of nominees for its 15th Annual Awards Ceremony, which will be held on Thursday, January 13, 2022 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York.
The animated documentary Flee, from Danish/French filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen, was nominated for seven Cinema Eye Honors, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, Direction, Production and this year’s newly unveiled award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design. Joining Flee in that new category – as well as Outstanding Nonfiction Feature and Direction – is Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), the debut film from Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, which was nominated for six awards.
Two other debut features, Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension and Jessica Beshir’s Faya Dayi, were nominated for five awards, with both up for Nonfiction Feature, Direction, Cinematography and Debut. Along with Questlove, Beshir and Kingdon scored the most individual nominations this year, with 4 each.
Also up for five awards is The Rescue, the latest film from veteran filmmakers—and previous Cinema Eye winners—E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. The Rescue landed nominations for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, Production, Editing and Cinematography. The Velvet Underground, the debut documentary feature from acclaimed fiction director Todd Haynes, rounded out this year’s six Feature Film nominees. The Velvet Underground scored four nominations overall.
The latest nominations for Jimmy Chin and E. Chai Vasarhelyi marked a notable return for many of Cinema Eye’s most awarded filmmakers. Chin, who currently has the most Cinema Eye trophies with five, is up for two more awards this year. Filmmaker Laura Poitras, who has previously won four awards, including two Direction prizes for her films The Oath and Citizenfour, and producer Signe Byrge Sorensen, who has won four for her work on The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, are both back with nominations in 2022. Poitras received her 11th nomination this year. She is up for Outstanding Nonfiction Short for Terror Contagion. Sorensen has three nominations this year, two coming in the Production category for her work on both Flee and President.
Musician and composer Dan Deacon returns to Cinema Eye as a double nominee in the Original Score category, nominated for his work on both Ascension and Theo Anthony’s All Light, Everywhere. Deacon was previously nominated for Anthony’s debut, Rat Film.
In addition to Deacon and Sorensen, several of this year’s nominees are being recognized for their work on multiple projects, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Carolyn Hepburn received nominations for their work as Producers on two different films — Feature Film for The Velvet Underground and Outstanding Production for In the Same Breath. Liz Garbus, who won the 2021 award for Outstanding Nonfiction Series for I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, was nominated for the Audience Choice Prize for Becoming Cousteau and Outstanding Broadcast Film for All In: The Fight for Democracy.
Two Cinema Eye veterans join four newcomers in the Outstanding Direction category. Nanfu Wang, a Cinema Eye winner for Hooligan Sparrow, is nominated for her latest, In the Same Breath. It’s one of three nominations for Wang this year, who is also up for Production and Broadcast Film. Filmmaker Robert Greene received his fourth nomination in the Direction category, a Cinema Eye record, for Procession. He was previously nominated for his films Actress, Kate Plays Christine and Bisbee ‘17.
As was announced when Broadcast nominations were unveiled in October, filmmaker Steve James extended his run as the most nominated filmmaker in Cinema Eye history with 13, receiving three more this year for his National Geographic series City So Real.
British film director Johanna Hogg returns to Cinema Eye with The Souvenir Part II, two years after winning Cinema Eye’s Heterodox Award for the first installment. The Heterodox Award celebrates films that push the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction filmmaking. Also up in the category is comedian/musician Bo Burnham for his pandemic special, Bo Burnham: Inside. This year’s other nominees include A Cop Movie, The Inheritance and El Planeta.
In the Audience Choice category, which is open to the public and regularly sees tens of thousands of documentary fans from around the world vote for their favorite, Chin and Vasarhelyi have the possibility of a third victory, having previously won for both Meru and Free Solo. Another previous winner in the category is R.J. Cutler, who won in 2010 for The September Issue and is nominated this year for his work on Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry. They are joined by previous Audience Choice nominees Julie Cohen and Betsy West, nominated in 2019 for RBG and up this year for Julia, and Morgan Neville, who is up this year for Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain. This is Neville’s record fourth nomination in the category, having been previously nominated for 20 Feet From Stardom, The Best of Enemies and Won’t You Be My Neighbor.
While many returning veterans appeared amongst this year’s nominees, more than 65% of this year’s nominations went to first-time filmmakers and craftspersons. Among film directors, women make up 48% of today’s announcements while at least 57% of this year’s directors are filmmakers of color, which is a record for Cinema Eye.
Historically, films nominated for Cinema Eye will often go on to other nominations and critics prizes. Over the last five years, 96% of the Oscar nominees for Best Documentary Feature were also Cinema Eye nominees and 88% received multiple Cinema Eye nominations, including all of last year’s Oscar nominated documentaries.
HBO led all distributors/broadcasters with a total of 16 nominations, followed by Hulu with 12 and 11 nominations for both National Geographic Documentary Films and Neon/Super LTD.
Nominees for this year’s Broadcast Film and Series awards were announced on October 20, 2021, during the annual Cinema Eye Fall Lunch in Los Angeles. Also announced was the recipient of this year’s Legacy Award, Cheryl Dunye’s landmark Heterodox film The Watermelon Woman. Dunye and the film will be recognized at the Cinema Eye Awards Ceremony in January.
Premiere Sponsors for the 15th Annual Cinema Eye Honors include Apple TV+. HBO and National Geographic Documentary Films. Major sponsors are ESPN Films, Focus Features and Hulu, The Museum of the Moving Image is Cinema Eye’s Venue Partner. Additional sponsors will be announced in the coming months.
A full list of nominees follows.
2022 Cinema Eye Honors Nominations
Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
Ascension
Directed and Produced by Jessica Kingdon
Produced by Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
Faya Dayi
Directed and Produced by Jessica Beshir
Flee
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Produced by Monica Hellstrӧm, Signe Byrge Sørensen, and Charlotte De La Gournerie
The Rescue
Directed and Produced by E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
Produced by P.J. van Sandwjik, John Battsek, and Bob Eisenhardt
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Produced by Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein
The Velvet Underground
Directed and Produced by Todd Haynes
Produced by Christine Vachon, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn, and David Blackman
Outstanding Direction
Ascension
Jessica Kingdon
Faya Dayi
Jessica Beshir
Flee
Jonas Poher Rasmussen
In the Same Breath
Nanfu Wang
Procession
Robert Greene
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Outstanding Editing
Homeroom
Kristina Mohwani and Rebecca Adorno
The Rescue
Bob Eisenhardt
Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain
Eileen Meyer and Aaron Wickenden
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Joshua Pearson
The Velvet Underground
Affonso Gonçalves and Adam Kurnitz
Outstanding Production
The First Wave
Matthew Heineman, Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville
Flee
Monica Hellstrӧm,Signe Byrge Sørensen, and Charlotte De La Gournerie
In the Same Breath
Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Carolyn Hepburm
President
Signe Byrge Sorensen and Joslyn Barnes
The Rescue
E. Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, P.J. van Sandwijk, John Battsek, and Bob Eisenhardt
Outstanding Cinematography
All Light, Everywhere
Corey Hughes
Ascension
Jessica Kingdon and Nathan Truesdell
Cusp
Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill
Faya Dayi
Jessica Beshir
The Rescue
David Katznelson, Picha Srisansanee and Ian Seabrook
Outstanding Original Score
All Light, Everywhere
Dan Deacon
Ascension
Dan Deacon
Flee
Uno Helmersson
Julia
Rachel Portman
malni – towards the ocean, towards the shore
Thad Kellstadt
Procession
Keegan DeWitt and Dabney Morris
Outstanding Sound Design
All Light, Everywhere
Udit Duseja
Faya Dayi
Tom Efinger and Abigail Savage
Flee
Edward Björner and Tormod Ringnes
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Emily Strong, Paul Hsu, Rob Fernandez, and Paul Massey
The Velvet Underground
Leslie Shatz and Jahn Sood
Outstanding Graphic Design/Animation
Becoming Cousteau
Matthew Brunson-Cline and Daniel Rutledge
Flee
Kenneth Ladekjær and Jess Nicholls
Rebel Hearts
Una Lorenzen and Emma Berliner
The Sparks Brothers
Joseph Wallace and Greg McLeod
Wojnarowicz: Fck You Fggot F*cker
Grant Nellessen and Andrew Rose
Outstanding Debut
Ascension
Directed by Jessica Kingdon
A Cop Movie
Directed by Alfonso Ruizpalacios
Faya Dayi
Directed by Jessica Beshir
Jacinta
Directed by Jessica Earnshaw
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Outstanding Nonfiction Short
Águilas
Directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Maite Zubiaurre
A Broken House
Directed by Jimmy Goldblum
Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma
Directed by Topaz Jones and rubberband
Terror Contagion
Directed by Laura Poitras
Three Songs for Benazir
Directed by Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei
Audience Choice Prize
Becoming Cousteau
Directed by Liz Garbus
Billie Eilish – The World’s a Little Blurry
Directed by R.J. Cutler
Flee
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Homeroom
Directed by Peter Nicks
Julia
Directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West
Lily Topples the World
Directed by Jeremy Workman
Listening to Kenny G
Directed by Penny Lane
The Rescue
Directed by E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It
Directed by Mariem Pérez Riera
Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain
Directed by Morgan Neville
The Sparks Brothers
Directed by Edgar Wright
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Try Harder!
Directed by Debbie Lum
The Velvet Underground
Directed by Todd Haynes
Writing With Fire
Directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh
Spotlight
Fruits of Labor
Directed by Emily Cohen Ibañez
The Neutral Ground
Directed by CJ Hunt
North by Current
Directed by Angelo Madsen Minax
Socks on Fire
Directed by Bo McGuire
Two Gods
Directed by Zeshawn Ali
Heterodox
Bo Burnham: Inside
Directed by Bo Burnham
A Cop Movie
Directed by Alfonso Ruizpalacios
The Inheritance
Directed by Ephraim Asili
El Planeta
Directed by Amalia Ulman
The Souvenir Part II
Directed by Johanna Hogg
The Unforgettables (Non-Competitive Honor)
Flee
Amin
Homeroom
Denilson Garibo
Introducing, Selma Blair
Selma Blair
Jacinta
Jacinta Hunt
Lily Topples the World
Lily Hevesh
Listening to Kenny G
Kenny G
Mr. Bachmann and His Class
Mr. Bachmann
My Name is Pauli Murray
Pauli Murray
Not Going Quietly
Ady Barkan
Procession
Joe Eldred, Mike Foreman, Ed Gavagan, Dan Laurine, Michael Sandridge & Tom Viviano
The Rescue
Rick Stanton
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It
Rita Moreno
Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain
The Sparks Brothers
Ron Mael and Russell Mael
Writing With Fire
Meera Nevi
The following nominations were previously announced on Wednesday, October 20. 2021 during the annual Cinema Eye Fall Lunch in Los Angeles.
Broadcast Film
All In: The Fight for Democracy
Directed by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés | Amazon
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Directed by Spike Lee | HBO
Disclosure
Directed by Sam Feder | Netflix
In the Same Breath
Directed by Nanfu Wang | HBO
Tina
Directed by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin | HBO
Nonfiction Series
1971: The Year that Music Changed Everything
Directed by Asif Kapadia, Danielle Peck and James Rogan | Apple
City So Real
Directed by Steve James | National Geographic
Exterminate All the Brutes
Directed by Raoul Peck | HBO
The Lady and the Dale
Directed by Nick Cammilleri and Zackary Drucker | HBO
Last Chance U: Basketball
Directed by Greg Whiteley, Adam Leibowitz and Daniel George McDonald | Netflix
Philly D.A.
Directed by Yoni Brook, Ted Passon and Nicole Salazar | Independent Lens/PBS
Anthology Series
Earth at Night in Color
Alex Williamson, Executive Producer | Apple
Generation Hustle
Angie Day and Yon Motskin, Executive Producers | HBO Max
High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Fabienne Toback, Karis Jagger and Roger Ross Williams, Executive Producers | Netflix
How to with John Wilson
Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman, Clark Reinking and John Wilson, Executive Producers | HBO
Pretend It’s a City
Martin Scorsese, Fran Lebowitz, David Tedeschi, Ted Griffin, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Joshua Porter and Margaret Bodde, Executive Producers | Netflix
Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi, David Shadrack Smith and Sarina Roma, Executive Producers | Hulu
Broadcast Editing
Allen v Farrow
Mikaela Shwer, Parker Laramie and Sara Newens | HBO
City So Real
David E. Simpson and Steve James | National Geographic
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Adam Gough | HBO
Exterminate All the Brutes
Alexandra Strauss | HBO
How to with John Wilson
Adam Locke-Norton | HBO
Outstanding Broadcast Cinematography
100 Foot Wave
Nominees to be determined | HBO
City So Real
Jackson James and Steve James | National Geographic
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Ellen Kuras | HBO
Earth at Night in Color
Nominees to be determined | Apple
High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Jerry Henry | Netflix
Shorts List Films
Elena
Directed by Michèle Stephenson
Jobs for all!
Directed by Axel Danielson & Maximilien Van Aertryck
The Last Cruise
Directed by Hannah Olson
Takeover
Directed by Emma Francis-Snyder
We Were There to Be There
Directed by Mike Plante and Jason Willis
Your Street
Directed by Güzin Kar
Legacy Award
The Watermelon Woman
Written and Directed by Cheryl Dunye
Produced by Alexandra Juhasz and Barry Swimar
Edited by Annie Taylor
Cinematography Michelle Crenshaw
Original Score Paul Shapiro