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1st Annual Cinema Eye (2008)

The inaugural Cinema Eye Honors were held at New York City’s IFC Center on March 17, 2008, just four months after the event was conceived by filmmaker AJ Schnack. Working with Toronto International Film Festival documentary programmer Thom Powers, producers Pamela Cohn and Danielle DiGiacamo and with the support and backing of the online streaming service Indiepix, Cinema Eye announced its first nominees at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and held their first ceremony barely two months later.

Jason Kohn’s Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) received three awards that March evening, including Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, Cinematography and Editing. Alex Gibney followed up his Oscar win for Taxi to the Dark Side with the Cinema Eye for Outstanding Achievement in Direction. The first Debut Feature Award was presented to Jennifer Venditti for Billy the Kid and the Audience Choice Prize went to Seth Gordon’s King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Gibney also served as a presenter at the event, along with filmmakers Barbara Kopple, Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky, Molly Thompson, Sam Pollard, Alan Berliner, Ross Kauffman and Annie Sunderberg & Ricki Stern.

Writing about the initial event for IFC.com, Alison Willmore said: “One of the common themes of the evening, and one of the reasons the Cinema Eye Honors were created, was that nonfiction films deserve just as serious a consideration of their craftsmanship, of their art, as narratives.”

Outstanding Achievement
in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

  • Into Great Silence

    Directed by Philip Gröning
    Produced by Philip Gröning, Elda Guidinetti, Andres Pfaffli and Michael Weber

  • Lake of Fire

    Directed and Produced by Tony Kaye

  • Winner

    Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)

    Directed by Jason Kohn
    Produced by Joey Frank, Jared Goldman and Jason Kohn

  • The Monastery – Mr. Vig and the Nun

    Directed by Rose Grønkjær
    Produced by Sigrid Dyekjær

  • No End in Sight

    Directed by Charles Ferguson
    Produced by Jennie Amias, Charles Ferguson & Jessie Vogelson

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

  • Philip Gröning

    For Into Great Silence

  • Tony Kaye

    For Lake of Fire

  • Jason Kohn

    For Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)

  • Winner

    Alex Gibney

    For Taxi to the Dark Side

  • Robinson Devor

    For Zoo

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

  • David Zieff

    For Crazy Love

  • Niels Pagh Andersen

    For Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman

  • Adam Nielsen

    For Ghosts of Cite Sileil

  • Peter Goddard

    For Lake of Fire

  • Winner

    Doug Abel, Jenny Golden and Andy Grieve

    For Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)

  • Chad Beck and Cindy Lee

    For No End in Sight

Outstanding Achievement in Production

  • Sybil Robson Orr

    For Blindsight

  • Brett Morgan and Graydon Carter

    For Chicago 10

  • Winner

    Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor and Mikael Rieks

    For Ghosts of Cite Soleil

  • Philip Gröning, Elda Guidinetti, Andres Pfaffli and Michael Weber

    For Into Great Silence

  • Tony Kaye

    For Lake of Fire

  • Joey Frank, Jared Goldman and Jason Kohn

    For Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

  • Philip Gröning

    For Into Great Silence

  • Tony Kaye

    For Lake of Fire

  • Winner

    Heloisa Passos

    For Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)

  • Peter Mettler

    For Manufactured Landscapes

  • Sean Kirby

    For Zoo

Audience Choice

  • Deep Water

    Directed by Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell

  • In the Shadow of the Moon

    Directed by David Sington

  • Into Great Silence

    Directed by Philip Gröning

  • Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten

    Directed by Julien Temple

  • Winner

    The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

    Directed by Seth Gordon

  • Manufactured Landscapes

    Directed by Jennifer Baichwal

  • No End in Sight

    Directed by Charles Ferguson

  • Sicko

    Directed by Michael Moore

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

  • Winner

    Jennifer Venditti

    For Billy the Kid

  • Jason Kohn

    For Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)

  • Pernille Rose Gronkjær

    For The Monastery – Mr. Vig and the Nun

  • Charles Ferguson

    For No End in Sight

  • Esther B. Robinson

    For A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory

Outstanding Achievement
in Graphic Design or Animation

  • Winner

    Curious Pictures

    For Chicago 10

  • Trollbäck & Co.

    For Helvetica

  • Petra Epperlein

    For The Prisoner Or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair

  • Jeff Sewell

    For The Unforseen

  • David Quesnelle

    For Super Amigos

Outstanding Achievement
in International Feature Filmmaking

  • Ghosts of Cite Soleil

    Directed by Asger Leth
    Produced by Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor and Mikael Rieks

  • Into Great Silence

    Directed by Philip Gröning
    Produced by Philip Gröning, Elda Guidinetti, Andres Pfaffli and Michael Weber

  • Manufactured Landscapes

    Directed by Jennifer Baichwal
    Produced by Jennifer Baichwal, Daniel Iron and Nick de Pencier

  • Winner

    The Monastery – Mr. Vig and the Nun

    Directed by Pernille Rose Grønkjær
    Produced by Sigrid Dyekjær

  • Please Vote for Me

    Directed by Weijun Chen
    Produced by Don Edkins