City So Real, Steve James’ five-part series on race, politics and the pandemic in Chicago, and David Byrne’s American Utopia, a filmed portrait of the Broadway show by director Spike Lee, led the Broadcast Nominations with three nods apiece. American Utopia is one of five films up for Outstanding Broadcast Film, while City So Real joins five other series in the Nonfiction Series category. Both projects were nominated for Outstanding Broadcast Editing and Cinematography.
“It is notable that both of this year’s most nominated Broadcast entries are part of the creative legacy of Diane Weyermann,” said Cinema Eye Founding Director AJ Schnack about the longtime documentary veteran who died last week and was an Executive Producer on both City So Real and American Utopia. “Many acclaimed films in Cinema Eye history were guided and supported by Diane through her roles at Participant and, earlier, at the Sundance Documentary Fund. These nominations make clear that we will be celebrating Diane’s work at this year’s Cinema Eye and likely for many years to come.”
With his three nominations (including shared nods for Broadcast Cinematography and Broadcast Editing), Steve James continues his run as the most nominated filmmaker in Cinema Eye history, now with 13 total nominations. It’s the first ever Cinema Eye nomination for Oscar winner Spike Lee, and the third for his cinematographer, Ellen Kuras, who was previously nominated for her film, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon).
For the first time, Cinema Eye is presenting an award for Anthology Series, recognizing episodic nonfiction. Among the inaugural nominees are Martin Scorsese and Fran Lebowitz for Pretend It’s a City, Nathan Fielder and John Wilson for How to with John Wilson, Fabienne Toback, Karis Jagger and Roger Ross Williams for High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Changed America and Padma Lakshmi for Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi.
HBO led all networks and platforms with 14 nominations, including two for How to with John Wilson, and Broadcast Film nominations for Nanfu Wang’s In the Same Breath and Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s Tina. Wang, Lindsay and Martin are all previous Cinema Eye nominees and Wang won the Outstanding Debut Feature award in 2017 for Hooligan Sparrow. Disclosure, Sam Feder’s film about the importance of transgender representation in media, and the Stacey Abrams documentary, All In: The Fight for Democracy, round out the Broadcast Film nominees. Veteran filmmaker Liz Garbus, one of the directors of All In along with Lisa Cortés, was the Nonfiction Series winner earlier this year for her HBO series I’ll Be Gone in the Dark.
In addition to Steve James, work from numerous Cinema Eye alums is nominated in the Nonfiction Series category. Asif Kapadia, nominated previously for his films Senna and Amy, returns to Cinema Eye with his Apple Original series 1971: The Year that Music Changed Everything. Raoul Peck, who was nominated for his film I Am Not Your Negro, is up for his HBO series Exterminate All the Brutes. Greg Whiteley, nominated in this category previously for Last Chance U: Season 4, is nominated this year for Last Chance U: Basketball. The Lady and the Dale and Philly D.A. round out the Nonfiction Series nominees.
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
How to with John Wilson
Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman, Clark Reinking and John Wilson, Executive Producers | HBO
High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Fabienne Toback, Karis Jagger and Roger Ross Williams, Executive Producers | Netflix
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
