Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s directorial debut, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), emerged the big winner at the Sixth Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Summer of Soul won in all six of the categories in which it was nominated including Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, and Best Music Documentary. The documentary also picked up wins in the Best Editing, Best Archival Documentary, and Best First Documentary Feature categories.
Additional documentaries winning in multiple categories included The Rescue, which chronicled the incredibly dangerous rescue of a youth soccer team trapped in a cave, and Val featuring footage actor Val Kilmer shot over his lengthy career. The Rescue‘s Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin won Best Director (in a tie with Questlove) and the film topped the Best Cinematography and Best Score categories. Val won in the Best Narration and Best Historical or Biographical Documentary categories.
Winners were announced during a gala event hosted by Roy Wood Jr. and held at BRIC in Brooklyn, New York on November 14, 2021.
“We are proud to be able to recognize such outstanding work at this year’s awards gala, in our return to a live event,” stated Christopher Campbell, President of the Critics Choice Association Documentary Branch. “It was a wonderful night of showcasing and honoring the best of the best in documentary storytelling, with a mix of fresh faces and veteran talents lauded by our members. We are excited for our choices to inform the choices of film fans everywhere, as the CCDAs continue to support nonfiction filmmaking and influence the growing audience for documentaries.”
2021 Critics Choice Documentary Awards Nominees and Winners:
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Attica (Showtime)
Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
The Crime of the Century (HBO Documentary Films)
A Crime on the Bayou (Augusta Films/Shout! Studios)
Flee (Neon)
Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+)
The Lost Leonardo (Sony Pictures Classics)
My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios)
Procession (Netflix)
The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
WINNER: Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
BEST DIRECTOR
WINNER (Tie): Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin – The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Liz Garbus – Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
Jessica Kingdon – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry – Attica (Showtime)
Jonas Poher Rasmussen – Flee (Neon)
WINNER (Tie): Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson – Summer of Soul (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
Edgar Wright – The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features)
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Jessica Beshir – Faya Dayi (Janus Films)
Rachel Fleit – Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+)
Todd Haynes – The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+)
Jessica Kingdon – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Kristine Stolakis – Pray Away (Netflix)
WINNER: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson – Summer of Soul (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
Edgar Wright – The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jessica Beshir – Faya Dayi (Janus Films)
Jonathan Griffith, Brett Lowell and Austin Siadak – The Alpinist (Roadside Attractions)
WINNER: David Katznelson, Ian Seabrook and Picha Srisansanee – The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Jessica Kingdon and Nathan Truesdell – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Nelson Hume and Alan Jacobsen – The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Bleecker Street Media)
Emiliano Villanueva – A Cop Movie (Netflix)
Pete West – Puff: Wonders of the Reef (Netflix)
BEST EDITING
Francisco Bello, Matthew Heineman, Gabriel Rhodes and David Zieff – The First Wave (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Jeff Consiglio – LFG (HBO Max and CNN Films)
Bob Eisenhardt – The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Affonso Gonçalves and Adam Kurnitz – The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+)
Jessica Kingdon – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
WINNER: Joshua L. Pearson – Summer of Soul (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
Julian Quantrill – The Real Charlie Chaplin (Showtime)
BEST NARRATION
9/11: Inside the President’s War Room (Apple TV+)
– Jeff Daniels, Narrator
Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
– Vincent Cassel, Narrator
– Mark Monroe and Pax Wassermann, Writers
The Crime of the Century (HBO Documentary Films)
– Alex Gibney, Narrator
– Alex Gibney, Writer
The Neutral Ground (PBS)
– CJ Hunt, Narrator
– CJ Hunt, Writer
The Real Charlie Chaplin (Showtime)
– Pearl Mackie, Narrator
– Oliver Kindeberg, Peter Middleton and James Spinney, Writers
WINNER: Val (Amazon Studios)
– Jack Kilmer, Narrator
– Val Kilmer, Writer
The Year Earth Changed (Apple TV+)
– David Attenborough, Narrator
BEST SCORE
Jongnic Bontemps – My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios)
Dan Deacon – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Alex Lasarenko and David Little – The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Bleecker Street Media)
Cyrus Melchor – LFG (HBO/CNN)
WINNER: Daniel Pemberton – The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Rachel Portman – Julia (Sony Pictures Classics)
Dirac Sea – Final Account (Focus Features)
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
The Real Charlie Chaplin (Showtime)
The Real Right Stuff (Disney+)
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street (HBO Documentary Films)
WINNER: Summer of Soul (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
Val (Amazon Studios)
The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+)
BEST HISTORICAL OR BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
Attica (Showtime)
A Crime on the Bayou (Augusta Films/Shout! Studios)
Fauci (Magnolia Pictures/National Geographic Documentary Films)
Final Account (Focus Features)
Julia (Sony Pictures Classics)
My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios)
No Ordinary Man (Oscilloscope)
WINNER: Val (Amazon Studios)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry (Apple TV+)
Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James (Showtime)
Listening to Kenny G (HBO Documentary Films)
The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features)
WINNER: Summer of Soul (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
Tina (HBO Documentary Films)
The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
WINNER: The Crime of the Century (HBO Documentary Films)
Enemies of the State (IFC Films)
Four Hours at the Capitol (HBO Documentary Films)
Influence (StoryScope, EyeSteelFilm)
Mayor Pete (Amazon Studios)
Missing in Brooks County (Giant Pictures)
Nasrin (Hulu)
Not Going Quietly (Greenwich Entertainment)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
WINNER: Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
Fauci (National Geographic Documentary Films)
The First Wave (National Geographic Documentary Films)
The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Bleecker Street Media)
Playing with Sharks (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Puff: Wonders of the Reef (Netflix)
The Year Earth Changed (Apple TV+)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
WINNER: The Alpinist (Roadside Attractions)
Changing the Game (Hulu)
The Day Sports Stood Still (HBO)
Kevin Garnett: Anything is Possible (Showtime)
LFG (HBO Max/CNN Films)
Tiger (HBO)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Audible (Netflix)
Borat’s American Lockdown (Amazon Studios)
Camp Confidential: America’s Secret Nazis (Netflix)
Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol (The New York Times)
The Doll (Jumping Ibex)
The Last Cruise (HBO Documentary Films)
WINNER: The Queen of Basketball (The New York Times)
Snowy (TIME Studios)
MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECTS OF A DOCUMENTARY (HONOR)
Ady Barkan – Not Going Quietly (Greenwich Entertainment)
Selma Blair – Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+)
Pete Buttigieg – Mayor Pete (Amazon Studios)
Anthony Fauci – Fauci (Magnolia Pictures/National Geographic Documentary Films)
Ben Fong-Torres – Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres (StudioLA.TV)
Val Kilmer – Val (Amazon Studios)
Ron and Russell Mael – The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features)
Rita Moreno – Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It (Roadside Attractions)
Valerie Taylor – Playing With Sharks: The Valerie Taylor Story (Disney+)
 emerged the big winner at the Sixth Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards held Nov. 14, 2021.){kind=link}