2016 marks the first year the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards will be held and today the nominations were announced, with 13th, 30 For 30: O.J: Made in America, and Gleason leading the pack of nominees. 13th, 30 For 30, and Gleason each received five nominations. The Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards were created to recognize the best in documentary features and non-fiction television. Winners will be announced during a ceremony to be held at BRIC in Brooklyn, New York, on November 3, 2016.
Members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association voted on this year’s nominees. “It is an amazing time for documentaries, with the ever-increasing number of platforms enabling producers to reach enthusiastic and growing audiences for non-fiction storytelling,” said BFCA and BTJA President Joey Berlin. “This is clearly demonstrated in the depth and quality of our inaugural nominees. We have a wealth of brilliant creators who are bringing to light some of the most entertaining and illuminating stories being told today. Indeed, documentary filmmaking is modern investigative journalism. We look forward to celebrating all these fine and important achievements at the first Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards gala on November 3rd.”
Special awards will be given honoring this year’s Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary at the first-ever event. The honorees include Danny Fields (Danny Says), Iggy Pop (Gimme Danger), Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson), Owen Suskind (Life, Animated), Sharon Jones (Miss Sharon Jones!), Steve Gleason (Gleason), and Theo Padnos (Theo Who Lived).
2016 Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards Nominees:
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
13th (Netflix/Kandoo Films)
30 For 30: O.J.: Made in America (ESPN/Laylow Films)
Cameraperson (Janus Films/Fork Films/Big Mouth Productions)
Fire at Sea (Kino Lorber/Stemal Entertainment/21 Unofilm/Cinecittà Luce/Rai Cinema/Les Films d’Ici/Arte France Cinéma)
Gleason (Open Road/Amazon/Exhibit A)
Life, Animated (A&E IndieFilms/The Orchard/Motto Pictures/Roger Ross Williams Productions)
Tickled (Magnolia/A Ticklish Tale/Fumes Production/Horseshoe Films)
Tower (Kino Lorber/ITVS/Meredith Vieira Productions/GTS Films/Diana DiMenna Film)
Weiner (Sundance Selects/Motto Pictures/Edgeline Films)
The Witness (FilmRise/Five More Minutes Productions)
BEST DIRECTION OF A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ezra Edelman – 30 For 30: O.J.: Made in America (ESPN/Laylow Films)
Ron Howard – The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years (Hulu/Imagine Entertainment/Apple Corps)
Kirsten Johnson – Cameraperson (Janus Films/Fork Films/Big Mouth Productions)
Keith Maitland – Tower (Kino Lorber/ITVS/Meredith Vieira Productions/GTS Films/Diana DiMenna Film)
Clay Tweel – Gleason (Open Road/Amazon/Exhibit A)
Roger Ross Williams – Life, Animated (A&E IndieFilms/The Orchard/Motto Pictures/Roger Ross Williams Productions)
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Otto Bell – The Eagle Huntress (Sony Pictures Classics/Kissaki Films/Stacey Reiss Productions)
David Farrier and Dylan Reeve – Tickled (Magnolia/A Ticklish Tale/Fumes Production/Horseshoe Films)
Adam Irving – Off the Rails (The Film Collaborative/Zipper Bros Films)
Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg – Weiner (Sundance Selects/Motto Pictures/Edgeline Films)
James D. Solomon – The Witness (FilmRise/Five More Minutes Productions)
Nanfu Wang – Hooligan Sparrow (The Film Collaborative/Little Horse Crossing the River)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
13th (Netflix/Kandoo Films)
30 For 30: O.J.: Made in America (ESPN/Laylow Films)
Audrie & Daisy (Netflix/Actual Films)
Newtown (Abramorama/Mile 22/Independent Television Service)
Weiner (Sundance Selects/Motto Pictures/Edgeline Films)
Zero Days (Magnolia/Jigsaw Productions/Participant Media)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE (TV/STREAMING)
13th (Netflix/Kandoo Films)
30 For 30: Fantastic Lies (ESPN)
Amanda Knox (Netflix/Plus Pictures)
Audrie & Daisy (Netflix/Actual Films)
Before the Flood (National Geographic/Appian Way/Insurgent Docs/RatPac Documentary Films)
Holy Hell (CNN/WRA Productions)
Into the Inferno (Netflix/Herzog-Film/Matter of Fact Media/Spring Films)
Jim: The James Foley Story (HBO/Kunhardt Films)
Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (HBO/Film Manufacturers/World of Wonder Productions)
Rats (Discovery Channel/Dakota Group/Submarine Entertainment/Warrior Poets)
BEST DIRECTOR (TV/STREAMING)
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato – Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (HBO/Film Manufacturers/World of Wonder Productions)
Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn – Amanda Knox (Netflix/Plus Pictures)
Ava DuVernay – 13th (Netflix/Kandoo Films)
Werner Herzog – Into the Inferno (Netflix/Herzog-Film/Matter of Fact Media/Spring Films)
Morgan Spurlock – Rats (Discovery Channel/Dakota Group/Submarine Entertainment/Warrior Poets)
Fisher Stevens – Before the Flood (National Geographic/Appian Way/Insurgent Docs/RatPac Documentary Films)
BEST FIRST FEATURE (TV/STREAMING)
Everything is Copy – Jacob Bernstein and Nick Hooker (HBO/Loveless)
Holy Hell – Will Allen (CNN/WRA Productions)
Mavis! – Jessica Edwards (HBO/Film First Co.)
My Beautiful Broken Brain – Sophie Robinson and Lotje Sodderland (Netflix)
Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four – Deborah Esquenazi (Investigation Discovery/Motto Pictures/Naked Edge Films)
Team Foxcatcher – Jon Greenhalgh (Netflix/Hattasan Productions/Madrose Productions)
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
30 For 30: O.J.: Made in America (ESPN/Laylow Films)
The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth (Showtime/Left/Right)
The Eighties (CNN)
The Hunt (BBC America/Silverback Films/NDR Naturfilm)
Jackie Robinson (PBS/Florentine Films)
Soundbreaking: Stories From the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music (PBS/Higher Ground/Show of Force)
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
30 for 30 (ESPN)
Frontline (PBS)
Last Chance U (Netflix)
Morgan Spurlock Inside Man (CNN)
POV (PBS)
This Is Life with Lisa Ling (CNN)
BEST SONG IN A DOCUMENTARY
“Angel by the Wings” – The Eagle Huntress – Written by Sia – Performed by Sia (Sony Pictures Classics/Kissaki Films/Stacey Reiss Productions)
“The Empty Chair” – Jim: The James Foley Story – Written by Sting and J. Ralph – Performed by Sting (HBO/Kunhardt Films)
“Flicker” – Audrie & Daisy – Written by Tori Amos – Performed by Tori Amos (Netflix/Actual Films)
“Hoping and Healing” – Gleason – Written by Mike McCready – Performed by Mike McCready (Open Road/Amazon/Exhibit A)
“I’m Still Here” – Miss Sharon Jones! – Written by Sharon Jones – Performed by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (Cabin Creek Films/Starz Digital Media)
“Letters to the Free” – 13th – Written by Common, Karriem Riggins and Robert Glasper – Performed by Common featuring Bilal (Netflix/Kandoo Films)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
30 For 30: Fantastic Lies (ESPN)
30 For 30: O.J.: Made in America (ESPN/Laylow Films)
Dark Horse (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Eagle Huntress (Sony Pictures Classics/Kissaki Films/Stacey Reiss Productions)
Gleason (Open Road/Amazon/Exhibit A)
Jackie Robinson (PBS/Florentine Films)
Keepers of the Game (Tribeca Digital Studios/Flatbush Pictures)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years (Hulu/Imagine Entertainment/Apple Corps)
Gimme Danger (Magnolia/Amazon)
Miss Sharon Jones! (Cabin Creek Films/Starz Digital Media)
The Music of Strangers (Participant Media/Tremolo Productions)
Presenting Princess Shaw (Magnolia)
We Are X (Drafthouse Films)
MOST INNOVATIVE DOCUMENTARY
Cameraperson (Janus Films/Fork Films/Big Mouth Productions)
Kate Plays Christine (Grasshopper Film/4th Row Films/Faliro House Productions/Prewar Cinema Productions)
Life, Animated (A&E IndieFilms/The Orchard/Motto Pictures/Roger Ross Williams Productions)
Nuts (Amazon/mTuckman Media/Cartuna/Gland Power Films)
Tower (Kino Lorber/ITVS/Meredith Vieira Productions/GTS Films/Diana DiMenna Film
Under The Sun (Icarus Films/Vertov Studio/Saxonia Entertainment/Hypermarket Film)
