The Cinema Eye Honors, recognizing outstanding artistry and craft in nonfiction filmmaking, today announced the full slate of nominees for its 15th Annual Awards Ceremony, which will be held on Thursday, January 13, 2022, at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York. Leading the pack of nominees are two Sundance premieres: Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated “Flee” (nominated for seven Cinema Eye Honors, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, Direction, Production and this year’s newly unveiled award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design) and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” which was nominated for six awards.
A trio of other lauded docs are nominated for five awards apiece, including Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension,” Jessica Beshir’s “Faya Dayi,” and E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “The Rescue.” Both Kingdon and Beshir are first-time feature filmmakers, while Vasarhelyi and Chin are long-time Cinema Eye faves, and Chin currently ranks as the most-winning Cinema Eye honoree in the event’s history, with five wins.
Historically, films nominated for Cinema Eye will often go on to other nominations and critics prizes. Over the last five years, 96 percent of the Oscar nominees for Best Documentary Feature were also Cinema Eye nominees and 88 percent of Oscar nominees received multiple Cinema Eye nominations, including all of last year’s Oscar-nominated documentaries.
A number of this year’s nominees have been recognized for their work on multiple projects, including Dan Deacon (nominated in Original Score for both “Ascension” and “All Light, Everywhere”); plus Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, and Carolyn Hepburn, who have received nominations for their work as producers on two different films (“The Velvet Underground” and “In the Same Breath”). Liz Garbus, who won the 2021 award for Outstanding Nonfiction Series for “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” was nominated for the Audience Choice Prize for “Becoming Cousteau” and Outstanding Broadcast Film for “All In: The Fight for Democracy.”
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“Faya Dayi” – Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
Courtesy Everett Collection
While many returning veterans are among this year’s nominees, more than 65 percent of this year’s nominations went to first-time filmmakers and craftspersons. Among film directors, women make up 48 percent of today’s announcements, while at least 57 percent of this year’s directors are filmmakers of color, which is a record for Cinema Eye.
HBO led all distributors/broadcasters with a total of 16 nominations, followed by Hulu with 12, and 11 nominations for both National Geographic Documentary Films and Neon/Super LTD.
Cinema Eye was founded in 2007 “to recognize excellence in artistry and craft in nonfiction filmmaking. Its mission is three-fold: to build the documentary community by creating spaces where practitioners of the artform can connect with one another; to celebrate the whole creative team that works to create a nonfiction film; and to encourage artistic boldness and risk-taking within the form.”
A full list of nominees follows.
Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
Ascension
Faya Dayi
Flee
The Rescue
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
The Velvet Underground
Outstanding Direction
Ascension
Faya Dayi
Flee
In the Same Breath
Procession
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Outstanding Editing
Homeroom
The Rescue
Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
The Velvet Underground
Outstanding Production
The First Wave
Flee
In the Same Breath
President
The Rescue
Outstanding Cinematography
All Light, Everywhere
Ascension
Cusp
Faya Dayi
The Rescue
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“The Rescue”
Outstanding Original Score
All Light, Everywhere
Ascension
Flee
Julia
maini – towards the ocean, towards the shore
Procession
Outstanding Sound Design
All Light, Everywhere
Faya Dayi
Flee
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
The Velvet Underground
Outstanding Graphic Design/Animation
Becoming Cousteau
Flee
Rebel Hearts
The Sparks Brothers
Wojnarowicz: F*ck You F*ggot F*cker
Outstanding Debut
Ascension
A Cop Movie
Faya Dayi
Jacinta
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Outstanding Nonfiction Short
Águilas
A Broken House
Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma
Terror Contagion
Three Songs for Benazir
© Sundance
“The Sparks Brothers” – Credit: Sundance
Sundance
Audience Choice Prize
Becoming Cousteau
Billie Eilish – The World’s a Little Blurry
Flee
Homeroom
Julia
Lily Topples the World
Listening to Kenny G
The Rescue
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It
Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain
The Sparks Brothers
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Try Harder!
The Velvet Underground
Writing With Fire
Spotlight
Fruits of Labor
The Neutral Ground
North by Current
Socks on Fire
Two Gods
Heterodox
Bo Burnham: Inside
A Cop Movie
The Inheritance
El Planeta
The Souvenir Part II
The Unforgettables (Non-Competitive Honor)
Flee, Amin
Homeroom, Denilson Garibo
Introducing, Selma Blair, Selma Blair
Jacinta, Jacinta Hunt
Lily Topples the World, Lily Hevesh
Listening to Kenny G, Kenny G
Mr. Bachmann and His Class, Mr. Bachmann
My Name is Pauli Murray, Pauli Murray
Not Going Quietly, Ady Barkan
Procession, Joe Eldred, Mike Foreman, Ed Gavagan, Dan Laurine, Michael Sandridge, & Tom Viviano
The Rescue, Rick Stanton
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, Rita Moreno
Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain, Anthony Bourdain
The Sparks Brothers, Ron Mael and Russell Mael
Writing With Fire, Meera Nevi
The following nominations were previously announced on Wednesday, October 20. 2021, during the annual Cinema Eye Fall Lunch in Los Angeles.
Broadcast Film
All In: The Fight for Democracy
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Disclosure
In the Same Breath
Tina
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“In the Same Breath”
Nonfiction Series
1971: The Year that Music Changed Everything
City So Real
Exterminate All the Brutes
The Lady and the Dale
Last Chance U: Basketball
Philly D.A.
Anthology Series
Earth at Night in Color
Generation Hustle
High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
How to with John Wilson
Pretend It’s a City
Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi
Broadcast Editing
Allen v Farrow
City So Real
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Exterminate All the Brutes
How to with John Wilson
Outstanding Broadcast Cinematography
100 Foot Wave
City So Real
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Earth at Night in Color
High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Shorts List Films
Elena
Jobs for all!
The Last Cruise
Takeover
We Were There to Be There
Your Street
Legacy Award
The Watermelon Woman
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