Nominees have been announced for the 2nd Annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards recognizing the best in documentary features and non-fiction television of 2017. Members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association* and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association* selected this year’s nominees, with winners set to be announced on November 2, 2017 in Brooklyn New York. Penn Jillette is returning to host the awards ceremony.
Kedi leads the 2017 nominees with four nominations including Best Documentary and Best First Documentary. California Typewriter, Chasing Coral, City of Ghosts, Cries From Syria, and Dawson City: Frozen Time each picked up three nominations. Abacus: Small Enough to Jail and An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power were recognized with two nominations.
“The inaugural event last year was such a fantastic night, we cannot wait to celebrate the leading lights in the doc world at our second annual event,” stated Broadcast Film Critics Association President Joey Berlin. “This is a golden age for documentary filmmaking and nonfiction television and we’re proud to help audiences find the best of the best.”
David Freedman, Chairperson of the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards Nominating Committees, explained a major change in the categories for the 2017 awards. “As our industry continues to grow and change, the nominating committees of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association came to the decision together that we needed our categories to better reflect the current way documentaries are released as well as how the audience consumes content. Therefore, the Best Documentary category, which last year was separated into Theatrical Releases and TV/Streaming releases, has been merged into a single category, and the same is also true for the Best Director and Best First Documentary categories.”
Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards Nominees:
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – Director: Steve James
Beware the Slenderman – Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky
Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds – Directors: Alexis Bloom, Fisher Stevens
California Typewriter – Director: Doug Nichol
Chasing Coral – Director: Jeff Orlowski
City of Ghosts – Director: Matthew Heineman
Cries From Syria – Director: Evgeny Afineevsky
Dawson City: Frozen Time – Director: Bill Morrison
Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis – Director: Colin Hanks
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library – Director: Frederick Wiseman
Faces Places – Directors: Agnès Varda & JR
Jane – Director: Brett Morgen
Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun
One of Us – Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady
Spettacolo – Directors: Jeff Malmberg, Chris Shellen
Strong Island – Director: Yance Ford
BEST DIRECTOR
Evgeny Afineevsky – Cries from Syria
Amir Bar-Lev – Long Strange Trip
Matthew Heineman – City of Ghosts
Bill Morrison – Dawson City: Frozen Time
Doug Nichol – California Typewriter
Jeff Orlowski – Chasing Coral
Irene Taylor Brodsky – Beware the Slenderman
Ceyda Torun – Kedi
Agnès Varda & JR – Faces Places
Frederick Wiseman – Ex Libris: The New York Public Library
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY
California Typewriter – Director: Doug Nichol
Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun
Nowhere to Hide – Director: Zaradasht Ahmed
Step – Director: Amanda Lipitz
Strong Island – Director: Yance Ford
Whose Streets? – Director: Sabaah Folayan, Co-Director: Damon Davis
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
11/8/16 – Directors: Duane Andersen, Don Argott & Sheena M. Joyce, Yung Chang, Garth Donovan, Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker, Vikram Gandhi, Raul Gasteazoro, Jamie Goncalves, Andrew Beck Grace, Alma Har’el, Daniel Junge, Alison Klayman, Ciara Lacy, Martha Shane, Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Bassam Tariq
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – Director: Steve James
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – Directors: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk
City of Ghosts – Director: Matthew Heineman
Dolores – Director: Peter Bratt
The Reagan Show – Directors: Sierra Pettengill, Pacho Velez
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
AlphaGo – Director: Greg Kohs
Disgraced – Director: Pat Kondelis
Icarus – Director: Bryan Fogel
Speed Sisters – Director: Amber Fares
Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton – Director: Rory Kennedy
Trophy – Directors: Christina Clusiau, Shaul Schwarz
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of our Lives – Director: Chris Perkel
Contemporary Color – Directors: Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross
Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis – Director: Colin Hanks
I Called Him Morgan – Director: Kasper Collin
Long Strange Trip – Director: Amir Bar-Lev
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World – Director: Catherine Bainbridge, Co-Director: Alfonso Maiorana
MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECT OF A DOCUMENTARY
The Cats of Istanbul – Kedi
Etty – One of Us
Al Gore – An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
Laird Hamilton – Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton
Dolores Huerta – Dolores
Gigi Lazzarato – This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous
The Sung Family – Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
MOST INNOVATIVE DOCUMENTARY
78/52 – Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
Casting JonBenet – Director: Kitty Green
Dawson City: Frozen Time – Director: Bill Morrison
Karl Marx City – Directors: Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker
Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun
Last Men in Aleppo – Director: Firas Fayyad, Co-Director: Steen Johannessen
BEST SONG IN A DOCUMENTARY
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – “Truth to Power” – OneRepublic
Chasing Coral – “Tell Me How Long” – Kristen Bell
Cries From Syria – “Prayers for This World” – Cher
Dina – “Best I Can” – Michael Cera featuring Sharon Van Etten
Served Like a Girl – “Dancing Through the Wreckage” – Pat Benatar
Step – “Jump” – Cynthia Erivo
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES (TV/STREAMING)
The Defiant Ones
Five Came Back
The Keepers
The Nineties
Planet Earth II
The Vietnam War
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES (TV/STREAMING)
30 for 30
American Masters
Frontline
Independent Lens
POV
VICE
* – Disclaimer: I’m a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and Broadcast Television Journalists Association
