2016 Cinema Eye Honors

2016 saw Cinema Eye returning to the Museum of the Moving Image for the fifth straight year. Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen became the first filmmakers to win a second Cinema Eye Honor for Outstanding Feature, following up their 2014 honor for The Act of Killing with the award for The Look of Silence. The film also received awards for Direction for Oppenheimer and Production for Sørensen, her second. Chris King won his third Cinema Eye Honor for Editing, following up wins for Exit Through the Gift Shop and Senna with this year’s award for his work on Amy. There was a tie for Cinematography honors between Cartel Land‘s Matt Heineman and Matt Porwoll and Meru‘s Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk. Laurie Anderson won the Original Score prize for Heart of a Dog; Crystal Moselle received Outstanding Debut for The Wolfpack. The Legacy Award went to Chris Smith’s American Movie. Filmmaker Steve James hosted the show and presenters included Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus, DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, Martha Shane and Lana Wilson.

Outstanding Achievement
in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

• Amy

  Directed by Asif Kapadia
  Produced by James Gay-Rees

• Cartel Land

  Directed by Matthew Heineman
  Produced by Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin

• Democrats

  Directed by Camilla Nielsson
  Produced by Henrik Veileborg

• Listen to Me Marlon

  Directed by Stevan Riley
  Produced by John Battsek, George Chignell and R.J. Cutler

• Winner

  The Look of Silence

  Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
  Produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen

• The Wolfpack

  Directed by Crystal Moselle
  Produced by Crystal Moselle and Izabella Tzenkova

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

• Matthew Heineman

  For Cartel Land

• Kim Longinotto

  For Dreamcatcher

• Laurie Anderson

  For Heart of a Dog

• Frederick Wiseman

  For In Jackson Heights

• Albert Maysles, Lynn True, Nelson Walker,
  David Usui and Ben Wu

  For In Transit

• Winner

  Joshua Oppenheimer

  For The Look of Silence

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

• Winner

  Chris King

  For Amy

• Aaron Wickenden and Eileen Meyer

  For Best of Enemies

• James Scott

  For How to Change the World

• Brett Morgen and Joe Beshenkovsky

  For Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

• Stevan Riley

  For Listen to Me Marlon

Outstanding Achievement in Production

• Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin

  For Cartel Land

• Henrik Veileborg

  For Democrats

• Alex Gibney, Lawrence Wright and Kristen Vaurio

  For Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

• Winner

  Signe Byrge Sørensen

  For The Look of Silence

• Jimmy Chin, Chai Vasarhelyi and Shannon Etheridge

  For Meru

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

• Winner

  Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll

  For Cartel Land

• Lars Skree

  For The Look of Silence

• Winner

  Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk

  For Meru

• Ewan McNicol

  For Uncertain

• Bill Ross and Turner Ross

  For Western

Audience Choice

• Amy

  Directed by Asif Kapadia

• Best of Enemies

  Directed by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon

• Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

  Directed by Alex Gibney

• The Hunting Ground

  Directed by Kirby Dick

• Iris

  Directed by Albert Maysles

• Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

  Directed by Brett Morgen

• Winner

  Meru

  Directed by Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi

• What Happened, Miss Simone?

  Directed by Liz Garbus

• Where to Invade Next

  Directed by Michael Moore

• The Wolfpack

  Directed by Crystal Moselle

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

• Betzabé Garcia

  For Kings of Nowhere

• Brad Barber and Scott Christopherson

  For Peace Officer

• Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors

  For Pervert Park

• Chad Gracia

  For The Russian Woodpecker

• Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands

  For Uncertain

• Winner

  Crystal Moselle

  For The Wolfpack

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score

• Jackson Greenberg and Scott Salinas

  For Cartel Land

• Winner

  Laurie Anderson

  For Heart of a Dog

• J. Ralph

  For Meru

• Jonathan Snipes

  For The Nightmare

• Casey McAllister

  For Western

Outstanding Achievement
in Graphic Design or Animation

• Flicker Lab

  For Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon

• Laurie Anderson

  For Heart of a Dog

• Winner

  Stefan Nadelman and Hisko Hulsing

  For Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

• Syd Garon

  For The Nightmare

• Ryan Green and Josh Larson

  For Thank You for Playing

Spotlight Award

• Almost There

  Directed by Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden

• Barge

  Directed by Ben Powell

• Field Niggas

  Directed by Khalik Allah

• Frame by Frame

  Directed by Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli

• (T)error

  Directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe

• Winner

  Toto and His Sisters

  Directed by Alexandre Nanău

Outstanding Achievement
in Nonfiction Films Made for Television

• Deep Web

  Directed by Alex Winter
  Produced by Marc Schiller, Alex Winter and Glen Zipper
  For EPIX: Executive Producers Jill Burkhart and Ross Bernard

• Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

  Directed by Alex Gibney
  Produced by Alex Gibney, Kristen Vaurio and Lawrence Wright
  For HBO Documentary Films: Supervising Producer Sara Bernstein and Executive Producer Sheila Nevins

• Outbreak

  Directed by Dan Edge
  Produced by Dan Edge and Sasha Joelle Achilli
  For Frontline/PBS: Coordinating Producer Carla Borras and Executive Producers Raney Aronson-Rath and David Fanning

• Winner

  Private Violence

  Directed and Produced by Cynthia Hill
  For HBO Documentary Films: Senior Producer Nancy Abraham and Executive Producer Sheila Nevins

• Whitey: The United States of America vs. James J. Bulger

  Directed by Joe Berlinger
  Produced by Joe Berlinger and Caroline Suh
  For CNN Films: Supervising Producer Courtney Sexton and Executive Producers Vinnie Malhotra and Amy Entelis

Outstanding Achievement
in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking

• The Breath

  Directed by Fabian Kaiser

• Winner

  Buffalo Juggalos

  Directed by Scott Cummings

• Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

  Directed by Adam Benzine

• The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul

  Directed by Kitty Green

• Winner

  Hotel 22

  Directed by Elizabeth Lo

Heterodox Award

• Arabian Nights: Volume One (The Restless One)

  Directed by Miguel Gomes

• God Bless the Child

  Directed by Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck

• Tangerine

  Directed by Sean Baker

• Winner

  Taxi

  Directed by Jafar Panahi

• The Tribe

  Directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy

Legacy Award

• Winner

  American Movie

  Directed by Chris Smith