2020 Cinema Eye Honors Weekend | January 4-6, 2020

11th Annual Cinema Eye (Highlights from the 2018 Cinema Eye Honors)

The 11th Cinema Eye Honors Awards Ceremony occurred on January 11, 2018 and saw Yance Ford’s STRONG ISLAND make history as the first film to win the awards for Outstanding Feature, Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Debut. The Editing prize went to Lindsay Utz for QUEST, with the team from LAST MEN IN ALEPPO winning Outstanding Production. Brett Morgen’s JANE won the Audience Choice Prize and also Outstanding Score for composer Philip Glass. At the Honors Lunch, Sean Baker’s THE FLORIDA PROJECT received the Heterodox Award and Leon Gast was presented the Legacy Award for WHEN WE WERE KINGS. The Awards Ceremony at the Museum of the Moving Image was hosted again by filmmaker Steve James, a 2018 nominee for ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL. Presenters included Sheila Nevins, Roger Ross Williams, Julie Goldman, Nanfu Wang, Kirsten Johnson, Liz Garbus, Marshall Curry and Nathan Truesdell.

Outstanding Achievement
in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

  • City of Ghosts

    Directed and Produced by Matthew Heineman

  • Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

    Directed and Produced by Frederick Wiseman

  • Faces Places

    Directed by Agnès Varda and JR (Director)
    Produced by Rosalie Varda

  • Last Men in Aleppo

    Directed by Feras Fayyadn
    Produced by Kareem Abeed, Stefan Kloos, and Søren Steen Jespersen

  • Quest

    Directed by Jonathan Olshefski
    Produced by Sabrina Schmidt Gordon

  • Winner

    Strong Island

    Directed by Yance Ford
    Produced by Joslyn Barnes and Yance Ford

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

  • Kitty Green

    For Casting JonBenet

  • Matthew Heineman

    For City of Ghosts

  • Yuri Ancarani

    For The Challenge

  • Frederick Wiseman

    For Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

  • Agnès Varda and JR

    For Faces Places

  • Winner

    Yance Ford

    For Strong Island

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

  • Bill Morrison

    For Dawson City: Frozen Time

  • Joe Beshenkovsky

    For Jane

  • TJ Martin

    For LA92

  • Keith Fraase and John Walter

    For Long Strange Trip

  • Winner

    Lindsay Utz

    For Quest

  • Francisco Bello, Daniel Garber, and David Barker

    For The Reagan Show

Outstanding Achievement in Production

  • Nominees to be Determined

    For Brimstone and Glory

  • Matthew Heineman

    For City of Ghosts

  • Heino Deckert, Ai Weiwei, and Chin-Chin Yap

    For Human Flow

  • Winner

    Kareem Abeed, Stefan Kloos, and Søren Steen Jespersen

    For Last Men in Aleppo

  • Brenda Coughlin, Yoni Golijov and Laura Poitras

    For Risk

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

  • Tobias von dem Borne

    For Brimstone and Glory

  • Yuri Ancarani, Luca Nervegna and Jonathan Ricquebourg

    For The Challenge

  • Winner

    Andrew Ackerman and Jeff Orlowski

    For Chasing Coral

  • Nominees to be Determined

    For Human Flow

  • Rodrigo Trejo Villanueva

    For Machines

Audience Choice

  • Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

    Directed by Steve James

  • City of Ghosts

    Directed by Matthew Heineman

  • Chasing Coral

    Directed by Jeff Orlowski

  • Faces Places

    Directed by Agnès Varda and JR

  • Winner

    Jane

    Directed by Brett Morgen

  • Kedi

    Directed by Ceyda Torun

  • Quest

    Directed by Jonathan Olshefski

  • Step

    Directed by Amanda Lipitz

  • Whose Streets?

    Directed by Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis

  • The Work

    Directed by Gethin Aldous and Jairus McLeary

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

  • Viktor Jakovleski

    For Brimstone and Glory

  • Anna Zamecka

    For Communion

  • Rahul Jain

    For Machines

  • Theo Anthony

    For Rat Film

  • Winner

    Yance Ford

    For Strong Island

  • Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel

    For When Two Worlds Collide

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score

  • Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin

    For Brimstone and Glory

  • Francesco Fantini and Lorenzo Senni

    For The Challenge

  • Alex Somers

    For Dawson City: Frozen Time

  • Philip Glass

    Winner

    For Jane

  • Dan Deacon

    For Rat Film

  • Hildur Gudnadóttir and Craig Sutherland

    For Strong Island

Outstanding Achievement
in Graphic Design or Animation

  • Chad Herschberger

    For 78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene

  • Matt Schultz and Shawna Schultz

    For Chasing Coral

  • Grant Nellessen

    For Citizen Jane: Battle for the City

  • Daniel Gies and Emily Paige

    For Let There Be Light

  • Winner

    Stefan Nadelman

    For Long Strange Trip

Spotlight Award

  • Donkeyote

    Directed by Chico Pereira

  • An Insignificant Man

    Directed by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla

  • Winner

    Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle

    Directed by Gustavo Salmerón

  • Plastic China

    Directed by Jiuliang Wang

  • Stranger in Paradise

    Directed by Guido Hendrikx

  • Taste of Cement

    Directed by Ziad Kalthoum

Outstanding Achievement
in Broadcast Nonfiction Filmmakiking

  • 13th

    Directed by Ava DuVernay
    Produced by Ava DuVernay and Howard Barish
    For Netflix: Executive Producers Ben Cotner, Adam Del Deo, and Lisa Nishimura

  • Abortion: Stories Women Tell

    Directed and Produced Tracy Droz Tragos
    For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, Senior Producer Sara Bernstein

  • Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds

    Directed by Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens
    Produced by Alexis Bloom, Fisher Stevens, Julie Nives and Todd Fisher
    For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, Senior Producer Nancy Abraham

  • Five Came Back

    Directed by Laurent Bouzereau
    Produced by John Battsek and Laurent Bouzereau
    For Netflix: Executive Producers Ben Cotner, Adam Del Deo, and Lisa Nishimura

  • Winner

    The Keepers

    Directed by Ryan White
    Produced by Jessica Hargrave
    For Netflix: Executive Producers Ben Cotner, Jason Springarn-Koff, and Lisa Nishimura

  • Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison

    Directed and Produced by Kristi Jacobson
    Produced by Katie Mitchell and Julie Goldman
    For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, Senior Producer Nancy Abraham

Outstanding Achievement
in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking

  • Edith+Eddie

    Directed by Laura Checkoway

  • Heroin(e)

    Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon

  • Little Potato

    Directed by Wes Hurley and Nathan M. Miller

  • Polonaise

    Directed by Agnieszka Elbanowska

  • Winner

    The Rabbit Hunt

    Directed by Patrick Bresnan

  • Ten Meter Tower

    Directed by Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson

Heterodox Award

  • Winner

    The Florida Project

    Directed by Sean Baker

  • Menashe

    Directed by Joshua Z Weinstein

  • The Rider

    Directed by Chloé Zhao

  • Stranger in Paradise

    Directed by Guido Hendrikx

  • You Have No Idea How Much I Love You

    Directed by Pawel Lozinski

Legacy Award

  • Winner

    When We Were Kings

    Directed by Leon Gast

Hell Yeah Prize

  • Winner

    Icarus

    Directed by Bryan Fogel

The Unforgettables

The year’s most notable and significant nonfiction film subjects (previously announced)

  • Chanterelle Sung, Hwei Lin Sung, Jill Sung, Thomas Sung, and Vera Sung

    For Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

  • Bobbi Jene Smith

    For Bobbi Jene

  • Abdalaziz Alhamza, Hamoud Almousa, and Mohamad Almusari

    For City of Ghosts

  • Ola Kaczanowska

    For Communion

  • Dolores Huerta

    For Dolores

  • Dina Buno and Scott Levin

    For Dina

  • Agnés Varda

    For Faces Places

  • Daje Shelton

    For For Ahkeem

  • Grigory Rodchenkov

    For Icarus

  • Jane Goodall

    For Jane

  • Jim Carrey

    For Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond

  • Christine’a Rainey, Christopher “Quest” Rainey, PJ Rainey, and William Withers

    For Quest

  • Yance Ford

    For Strong Island

  • Jennifer Brea

    For Unrest

  • Brian, Charles, Chris, Dark Cloud, Kiki, and Vegas

    For The Work