Cinema Eye Unveils Full Slate of Nominees for 14th Annual Nonfiction Honors

The Cinema Eye Honors, which recognize outstanding artistry and craft in nonfiction filmmaking, has announced its full slate of nominees for its 14th Annual Awards Ceremony, which will be held, virtually this year, on Tuesday, March 9, 2021.

Time, Garrett Bradley’s intimate portrait of a family’s struggle over years of incarceration, was nominated for six Cinema Eye Honors, including Outstanding Feature, Direction, Editing, Score and Debut. Alexander Nanau’s Collective and Victor Kossakovsky’s Gunda had four nominations and joined Time in being nominated for Feature, Direction and Editing.

Those three films were joined in the Outstanding Feature category by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ Boys State and Kirsten Johnson’s Dick Johnson is Dead. Johnson, Kossakovsky McBaine, Moss and Nanau are all previous Cinema Eye nominees, with Johnson winning two Honors in 2017 for her debut film Cameraperson, and Nanau winning the Spotlight Award in 2016 for Toto and His Sisters. Time is Bradley’s debut feature, but her short documentary The Earth is Humming was on the Cinema Eye Shorts List in 2019.

David France’s Welcome to Chechnya also received four nominations, including three in the Broadcast categories for Outstanding Film, Editing and Cinematography.

Boys State, Dick Johnson is Dead, Liz Garbus’ HBO series I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno and Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s The Truffle Hunters were each nominated for three awards. Rosi received his second consecutive nominations for Outstanding Direction and Cinematography. He was first nominated in 2017 for Fire at Sea.

It’s the second straight year that Kellen Quinn has been nominated for Outstanding Feature. Last year he was nominated as the producer of Midnight Family and he is up this year as one of the producers of Time. This marks the third time that Gunda director Kossakovsky was nominated for Outstanding Cinematography. He was a nominee last year for Aquarela and in 2013 for ¡Vivan las Antipodas!.

Marilyn Ness, a Cinema Eye winner for Cameraperson, is nominated again this year for Dick Johnson is Dead, along with producer Katy Chevigny, who was nominated for Outstanding Production for The E-Team in 2015. Boys State helmers McBaine and Moss were nominees in 2015 for their film, The Overnighters.

Legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman received his seventh Cinema Eye nomination for the editing on his latest film, City Hall. Filmmaker Bill Ross also received his seventh nod, this year in the Heterodox category for Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, his latest collaboration with brother Turner Ross, who received his fifth nomination. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets composer Casey Wayne McAllister was nominated for Original Score for the second time, his first being for the Ross Brothers’ Western.

Elizabeth Lo, who received the Outstanding Nonfiction Short Film Honor in 2016 for Hotel 22, is up for two awards this year for her first feature documentary, Stray: Outstanding Cinematography and Outstanding Debut. Filmmaker Dawn Porter, nominated in 2014 for Gideon’s Army, is an Audience Choice nominee this year for John Lewis: Good Trouble.

Heidi Ewing, who, with filmmaking partner Rachel Grady, received the Outstanding Direction Honor in 2013 for Detropia, is nominated for the Heterodox Award for her solo fiction debut, I Carry You With Me. It’s the second nomination for Ewing this year as she and Grady were previously named as nominees in the Broadcast Series category for Showtime’s, Love Fraud. Filmmaker Chloe Zhao received her second nomination for the Heterodox award for this year’s acclaimed fiction film, Nomadland. She was previously nominated in 2018 for The Rider.

In the category of Outstanding Graphic Design and Animation, Jeremy Landman is nominated for the third time, this year for My Psychedelic Love Story, his latest collaboration with director Errol Morris. He won the award in 2012 for Tabloid. Jeff Orlowski, a two-time winner for Cinematography (for Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral), returns to Cinema Eye with a nomination in the Audience Choice category for his latest, The Social Dilemma.

Other returning nominees include the Motto Pictures producing team of Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Carolyn Hepburn, nominated for Outstanding Feature last year for Nanfu Wang’s One Child Nation and up this year for Outstanding Production for Ramona S. Diaz’ A Thousand Cuts. Also in Production, Serge Lalou received his third nomination in the category for Notturno, having been previously nominated for Waltz With Bashir and Fire at Sea. Filmmaker Bryan Fogel, who won the Hell Yeah Prize in 2018 for Icarus, is also a Production nominee this year for his latest, The Dissident.

While many returning veterans appeared amongst this year’s nominees, more than 65% of the nominations went to first-timers. Women filmmakers and craftspersons made up 44% of today’s announcements, a record for Cinema Eye, and female directors scored more nominations overall than their male counterparts across all categories for the first time.

Netflix led all distributors/broadcasters with a total of 13 nominations, followed by HBO Documentary Films with 10 and Magnolia Pictures with 9.

Nominees for this year’s Broadcast Film and Series awards were announced on November 19, 2020, during the annual Cinema Eye Fall Lunch. Winners in all categories will be announced during the 2021 Awards Ceremony, to be held virtually on Tuesday, March 9, 2021.

Sponsors for the 14th Annual Cinema Eye Honors include Netflix, ESPN Films, Hulu, National Geographic and Vidiots. Additional sponsors will be announced in the coming months.

A full list of nominees follows:

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

• Boys State

  Directed and produced by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss

• Collective

  Directed and produced by Alexander Nanau
  Produced by Blanca Oana, Bernard Michaud and Hanna Kastelicová

• Dick Johnson is Dead

  Directed by Kirsten Johnson
  Produced by Katy Chevigny and Marilyn Ness

• Gunda

  Directed by Victor Kossakovsky
  Produced by Anita Rehoff Larsen

• Time

  Directed and Produced by Garrett Bradley
  Produced by Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

• Alexander Nanau

  For Collective

• Kirsten Johnson

  For Dick Johnson is Dead

• Victor Kossakovsky

  For Gunda

• Gianfranco Rosi

  For Notturno

• Garrett Bradley

  For Time

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

• Jeff Gilbert

  For Boys State

• Frederick Wiseman

  For City Hall

• Dana Bunescu, George Cragg and Alexander Nanau

  For Collective

• Victor Kossakovsky and Ainara Vera

  For Gunda

• Laura Tomaselli

  For MLK/FBI

• Gabriel Rhodes

  For Time

Outstanding Achievement in Production

• Hao Wu and Jean Tsien

  For 76 Days

• Alexander Nanau, Bianca Oana, Bernard Michaud and Hanna Lastelicová

  For Collective

• Bryan Fogel, Thor Halvorssen, Mark Monroe and Jake Swantko

  For The Dissident

• Donatella Palermo, Camille Laemmle, Serge Lalou, Orwa Nyrabia, Eva-Maria Weerts, Paolo Del Brocco, and Gianfranco Rosi

  For Notturno

• Ramona S. Diaz, Leah Marino, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, and Carolyn Hepburn

  For A Thousand Cuts

• David France, Alice Henty, Askold Kurov and Joy Tomchin

  For Welcome to Chechnya

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

• Egil Håskjold Larsen and Victor Kossokovsky

  For Gunda

• Roger Horrocks

  For My Octopus Teacher

• Gianfranco Rosi

  For Notturno

• Elizabeth Lo

  For Stray

• Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw

  For The Truffle Hunters

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score

• Casey Wayne McAllister

  For Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

• Troy Herion

  For Bulletproof

• Vincent Van Warmerdam

  For The Mole Agent

• Nainita Desai

  For The Reason I Jump

• Jamieson Shaw and Edwin Montgomery

  For Time

• Ed Côrtez

  For The Truffle Hunters

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation

• Zachary Ludescher and Alexandra Gilwit

  For Coded Bias

• Jenna Caravello and Arthur Jones

  For Feels Good Man

• Jeremy Landman

  For My Psychedelic Love Story

• Andy Cahill

  For Slay the Dragon

• Simon Barker, Matthew Poliquin, Matt Schultz and Shawna Schultz

  For The Social Dilemma

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

• Feels Good Man

  Directed by Arthur Jones

• Mr Soul!

  Directed by Melissa Haizlip

• Softie

  Directed by Sam Soko

• Some Kind of Heaven

  Directed by Lance Oppenheim

• Stray

  Directed by Elizabeth Lo

• Time

  Directed by Garrett Bradley

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking

• Huntsville Station

  Directed by Jamie Meltzer and Chris Filippone

• John Was Trying to Contact Aliens

  Directed by Matthew Killip

• A Love Song for Latasha

  Directed by Nahli Allison

• See You Next Time

  Directed by Crystal Kayiza

• Then Comes the Evening

  Directed by Maja Novakovic

Audience Choice

• Boys State

  Directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss
  

• Crip Camp

  Directed by James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham

• Dick Johnson is Dead

  Directed by Kirsten Johnson

• I Am Greta

  Directed by Nathan Grossman

• John Lewis: Good Trouble

  Directed by Dawn Porter

• The Mole Agent

  Directed by Maite Alberdi

• My Octopus Teacher

  Directed by James Reed and Pippa Ehrlich

• The Social Dilemma

  Directed by Jeff Orlowski

• Time

  Directed by Garrett Bradley

• The Truffle Hunters

  Directed by Michael Dweck and Greogry Kershaw

Spotlight Award

• Acasa, My Home

  Directed by Radu Ciorniciuc

• The Earth is Blue as an Orange

  Directed by Iryna Tsilyk

• Jacinta

  Directed by Jessica Earnshaw

• Landfall

  FDirected byor Cecilia Aldarondo

• Mayor

  Directed by David Osit

• Through the Night

  Directed by Loira Limbal

Heterodox Award

• Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

  Directed by Bill Ross and Turner Ross

• I Carry You With Me

  Directed by Heidi Ewing

• Never Rarely Sometimes Always

  Directed by Eliza Hittman

• Nomadland

  Directed by Chloe Zhao

• Ridge (Säsong)

  Directed by John Skoog

The Unforgettables (Non-Competitive Honor)

• Stephen Garza and Rene Otero

  For Boys State

• Cătălin Tolontan

  For Collective

• Judith Heymann

  For Crip Camp

• Dick Johnson

  For Dick Johnson is Dead

• Gunda

  For Gunda

• Greta Thunberg

  For I Am Greta

• John Lewis

  For John Lewis: Good Trouble

• Musa Hadid

  For Mayor

• Sergio Chamy

  For The Mole Agent

• Walter Mercado

  For Mucho Mucho Amor

• Boniface Mwangi

  For Softie

• Maria Ressa

  For A Thousand Cuts

• Delores “Nunu” Hogan

  For Through the Night

• Fox Richardson

  For Time

• Olga Baranova and David Isteev

  For Welcome to Chechnya

Outstanding Achievement in a Nonfiction Film for Broadcast

• Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn

  Directed by Ivy Meeropol
  For HBO

• Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)

  Directed by Carol Dysinger
  For A&E

• Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese

  Directed by Martin Scorsese
  For Netflix

• Sea of Shadows

  Directed by Richard Ladkani
  For National Geographic

• Welcome to Chechnya

  Directed David France
  For HBO

Outstanding Achievement in a Nonfiction Series for Broadcast

• Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children

  Directed by Joshua Bennett, Maro Chermayoff, Jeff Dupre and Sam Pollard
  For HBO

• Hillary

  Directed by Nanette Burstein
  For Hulu

• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

  Directed by Liz Garbus
  For HBO

• The Last Dance

  Directed by Jason Hehir
  For ESPN/Netflix

• Love Fraud

  Directed Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
  For Showtime

Outstanding Achievement in Editing in a Nonfiction Film or Series for Broadcast

• Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn

  Editing by Anne Alvergue and Adam Kurnitz
  For HBO

• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

  Editing by Erin Barnett, Jawad Metni and Alyse Ardell Spiegel
  For HBO

• The Last Dance

  Editing Chad Beck, Devin Concannon, Abhay Sofsky and Ben Sozanski
  For ESPN/Netflix

• Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese

  Editing by Damian Rodriguez and David Tedeschi
  For Netflix

• Welcome to Chechnya

  Editing by Tyler H. Walk
  For HBO

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Nonfiction Film or Series for Broadcast

• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

  Cinematography by Thorsten Thielow
  For HBO

• Night on Earth – Episode: Moonlit Plains

  Cinematography by Luke Barnett, Robin Cox, Kevin Flay and Jamie McPherson
  For Netflix

• Sea of Shadows

  Cinematography Richard Ladkani
  For National Geographic

• The Nightcrawlers

  Cinematography by Alexander A. Mora
  For National Geographic

• The Vow

  Cinematography by Ian Moubayed and Sam Price-Waldman
  For HBO

• Welcome to Chechnya

  Cinematography by Askold Kurov
  For HBO