OCTOBER 23, 2012 – LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – Nominations for the 6th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking will be announced on Friday, November 2, 2012 at a reception at AFI FEST at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. It is the first time that AFI FEST and Cinema Eye have partnered to announce Cinema Eye’s annual nominees for artistic excellence in documentary filmmaking and it also marks the first time that Cinema Eye has announced its nominees in Los Angeles.
At the reception, which will be held in the Blossom Ballroom, home to the first Academy Awards and the site of the 2012 AFI FEST Lounge, nominees will be announced in ten feature film categories as well as Outstanding Short Film.
In addition, Cinema Eye announced today that for the first time in its 6-year history, the organization has changed the way nominations for its top award, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, are determined.
This year, nominees for Outstanding Feature were determined both by votes from the Cinema Eye Nominations Committee (which consists of 25 top international film festival programmers who specialize in documentary) and votes from this year’s eligible filmmakers, who were asked to name their five favorite nonfiction films of the past year. More than 60 of this year’s eligible filmmakers submitted their choices.
Nominees in nine other categories – Direction, Production, Editing, Cinematography, Original Score, Graphic Design & Animation, Audience Choice, Spotlight and Debut – were once again determined by the tally of individual votes of the 25-person Nominations Committee.
“We’ve always been incredibly proud of our Nominations Committee and the list of films that they put forward, which is consistently the best reflection of the year in documentary film amongst any award for the nonfiction artform,” said Cinema Eye co-chair and founder AJ Schnack. “But we were immediately excited by the idea of engaging our filmmakers, who have spent the past year watching the work of their colleagues, and asking them, ‘which of this year’s films made you excited about what nonfiction can do?’ We’re thrilled that this year’s nominees for Outstanding Feature will reflect the passions of the larger documentary community.”
“While Cinema Eye remains a great New York City event, we’re excited to be able to celebrate this year’s nominees with the great documentary community in Los Angeles,” said Cinema Eye co-chair Esther Robinson. “And we’re so glad to be partnering with our friends at AFI FEST for the first time, and to include our esteemed West Coast colleagues.”
“AFI FEST is a great supporter of documentary filmmaking; this year we will be showcasing 16 feature-length and short documentary films from around the world across the program,” said Jacqueline Lyanga, Festival Director, AFI FEST. “AFI FEST’s year-end celebration of cinema is the perfect place for Cinema Eye to announce their nominations of some of the most significant documentaries of the year.”
Nominations for Cinema Eye’s Heterodox Award, which recognizes fiction films that “imaginatively incorporate nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production,” as well as the recipient of this year’s Cinema Eye Legacy Award, will be announced later in November.
The 6th Annual Cinema Eye Honors will be presented on January 9, 2013 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York. It’s the third year in a row that Cinema Eye and MoMI have partnered on the Cinema Eye ceremony. AFI FEST joins the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival and the Camden International Film Festival as Festival Partners for the 2013 Honors. A&E IndeFilms returns for the 6th year as sponsor of Cinema Eye. Additional sponsors and partners to be named in the coming week.
About the Cinema Eye Honors and the 2013 Awards
The Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking were founded in 2007 to recognize excellence in artistry and craft in nonfiction filmmaking. It remains the only international nonfiction award to recognize the whole creative team, presenting annual craft awards in directing, producing, cinematography, editing, composing and graphic design/animation. The 6th edition of the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking will be held January 9, 2013 at New York City’s Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. Nominees for the 2013 awards will be announced at AFI FEST in Los Angeles on November 2, 2012. A full list of nominees can be found at www.cinemaeyehonors.com.
Cinema Eye is headed by a core team that includes Co-Chairs Esther Robinson (director, A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Debut, 2008) and AJ Schnack (director, Kurt Cobain About A Son and founder of Cinema Eye), Producer Nathan Truesdell (producer, Caucus), Nominations Committee Chair Sean Farnel (Former Head of Programming, Hot Docs Film Festival), Advisory Board Chair Andrea Meditch (executive producer, Buck and Man on Wire) and Filmmaker Advisory Board Chair Laura Poitras (director, The Oath; Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Direction, 2011).
About AFI FEST presented by Audi
The American Film Institute’s annual celebration of artistic excellence, AFI FEST presented by Audi brings the audience and the entertainment community together to explore the year in global cinema through the new works of film masters, moving image icons and breakthrough talents, and it is the only film festival of its stature that is free to the public. AFI FEST mixes nightly red carpet galas of Hollywood films with new auteur works from around the world, ensuring that an extraordinary array of foreign filmmaker voices is heard. Launching awards season each year, AFI FEST offers a crucial avenue of exposure to the entertainment community, while providing audiences with the very best of global cinema, right in the center of the movie-making capital of the world.
Celebrating its 26th year as a program of the American Film Institute, the festival has paid tribute to numerous influential filmmakers and artists over the years, including Pedro Almodóvar and David Lynch as Guest Artistic Directors, and has screened scores of films that have produced Oscar® nominations and wins including, most recently, THE ARTIST and A SEPARATION.
AFI FEST 2012 presented by Audi will take place November 1 through 8 in the heart of Hollywood. AFI FEST is the only FIAPF-accredited film festival in the United States, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes AFI FEST as a qualifying festival for the Short Films category for the annual Academy Awards®.
Additional information about AFI FEST is available at AFI.com/AFIFEST. Connect with AFI FEST at facebook.com/AFIFEST, twitter.com/AFIFEST and youtube.com/AFIFEST.