Cinema Eye Honors Announces Nominees for 6th Annual Nonfiction Film Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Imposter and Searching for Sugar Man Receive Five Nominations Each

Detropia, Only the Young, Room 237 and ¡Vivan las Antipodas! Net Four Nominations
5 Broken Cameras and Marina Abramović The Artist is Present Among Other Nominees for Top Award

Only the Young’s Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims Lead Individuals with Four Nominations

November 2, 2012, Los Angeles, Calif. – Thirty-one feature films and five shorts will vie for this year’s Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking as nominees were announced this afternoon in Los Angeles at an event hosted by AFI FEST.

For the second year in a row, six films are in the running for Cinema Eye’s top award, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking: Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi’s 5 Broken Cameras, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Detropia, Bart Layton’s The Imposter, Matthew Akers’ Marina Abramović The Artist is Present, Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims’ Only the Young and Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching for Sugar Man.  This marked the first year that nominees for this category were determined by votes from both the 25-person nominations committee as well as more than 60 directors of this year’s eligible films.

The Imposter and Searching for Sugar Man led all films with five nominations each.  Simon Chinn’s Red Box Films and John Battsek’s Passion Pictures were involved in the production of both titles, marking the first time in Cinema Eye history that two films from the same production company are nominated for Outstanding Feature.  Chinn also becomes the first person to be nominated for Outstanding Feature for three different films.  He was previously nominated for Project Nim (2012) and he won in the category forMan on Wire (2009).

Directing teams feature heavily In this year’s awards.  In addition to 5 Broken Camera’s Burnat and Davidi, Detropia’s Ewing and Grady and Only the Young’s Tippet and Mims, brothers Bill and Turner Ross were nominated Outstanding Direction forTchoupitoulas.  The Ross Brothers’ nomination marks the first time that filmmakers previously nominated for Outstanding Debut (45365, 2010) would go on to be nominated for Outstanding Direction.

Joining Ewing and Grady, Tippet and Mims and the Ross Brothers as nominees for Outstanding Direction are Ra’anan Alexandrowicz for The Law in These Parts, Seungjun Yi for Planet of Snail and Victor Kossakovsky for ¡Vivan las Antipodas!.

Winners of the 6th Annual Cinema Eye Honors will be announced on January 9, 2013 as Cinema Eye returns for a third year to New York City’s Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.

Ten contenders were named for Cinema Eye’s Audience Choice Prize, which features many of the most talked about and beloved documentaries of 2012, including Neil Berkeley’s Beauty is Embarrassing, Lee Hirsch’s Bully, David Gelb’s Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Vikram Gandhi’s Kumaré and Andrew Garrison’s Trash Dance.

And there was an especially close vote for Outstanding Debut, which resulted in seven nominees in the category (another Cinema Eye first).  In addition to Matthew Akers, Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims and Malik Bendjelloul, nominees include Alison Klayman for Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, David France for How to Survive a Plague, Rodney Ascher for Room 237 and Peter Nicks for The Waiting Room.

A full list of nominees with details on each category follows.

About the Cinema Eye Honors and the 2013 Awards

The Cinema Eye Honors were founded in 2007 to recognize excellence in artistry and craft in nonfiction filmmaking.  It was the first and 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.

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).

Nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors feature awards are determined in voting by the top documentary programmers from throughout the world.  This year’s nominations committee included Charlotte Cook (Hot Docs), David Courier (Sundance), Heather Croall (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Joanne Feinberg (Ashland Film Festival), Tine Fischer (CPH:DOX), Elena Fortes (Ambulante), Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Tom Hall (Sarasota Film Festival), Doug Jones (Los Angeles Film Festival), Amir Labaki (It’s All True, Brazil), Grit Lemke (DOK Liepzig), Caroline Libresco (Sundance Film Festival), Artur Liebhart (Planete Doc Review), David Nugent (Hamptons Film Festival), Veton Nurkollari (DokuFest Kosovo), Janet Pierson (SXSW), Thom Powers (Toronto International Film Festival, DOC NYC), Rachel Rosen (San Francisco), Charlotte Selb (RIDM Montreal), Sky Sitney (Silverdocs), Genna Terranova (Tribeca), Sadie Tillery (Full Frame), David Wilson (True/False) and Brit Withey (Denver).

Finalists for the Cinema Eye Honors short film awards were selected by a nominations committee that included Karen Cirillo (True/False), Charlotte Cook (Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival), Hussain Currimbhoy (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Claudette Godfrey (SXSW), Ted Mott (Full Frame), Veton Nurkollari (DokuFest Kosovo), Sky Sitney (Silverdocs) and Kim Yutani (Sundance).  Nominees were chosen from a list of 10 finalists by a jury that was composed of Shaz Bennett (filmmaker, writer and former programmer for AFI FEST), Laura Gabbert (director, No Impact Man), Jeff Malmberg (director, Marwencol), Anne Thompson (editor, Thompson on Hollywood and editor-at-large at Indiewire) and Jason Tippet (director,Only the Young).

The members of the Cinema Eye Filmmaker Advisory Board include Mila Aung-Thwin (producer, Last Train Home; Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Production, 2011), RJ Cutler (director, The September Issue; Cinema Eye winner for Audience Choice, 2010), Sam Green (director, Utopia in Four Movements; Cinema Eye Nominee for Outstanding Original Score (2011), Steve James (director, The Interrupters, Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Feature and Direction, 2012), Ellen Kuras (director, The Betrayal; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Debut, 2010), Audrey Marrs (producer, Inside Job; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Production, 2011), James Marsh (director, Man on Wire; Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Feature, 2009) and Morgan Spurlock (director, Where in the World is Osama bin Laden; Cinema Eye nominee for Outsanding Graphics, 2009) and Jennifer Venditti (director, Billy the Kid; Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Debut, 2008).

HBO Documentary Films is the Premiere Sponsor of the 2013 Cinema Eye Honors.  Venue partner for the 2013 Cinema Eye Honors is the Museum of the Moving Image.  Festival partners for Cinema Eye are AFI FEST, Camden International Film Festival and Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival.  Industry Sponsors include A&E IndieFilms.  Supporting sponsors include the LEF Foundation. Additional sponsors will be named in the coming weeks.

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

5 Broken Cameras

Directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi

Produced by Christine Camdessus, Serge Gordey, Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi

 

Detropia

Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

Produced by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady and Craig Atkinson

 

The Imposter

Directed by Bart Layton

Produced by Dimitri Doganis

 

Marina Abramović The Artist is Present

Directed by Matthew Akers

Produced by Jeff Dupre and Maro Chermayeff

 

Only the Young

Directed by Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims

Produced by Derek Waters

 

Searching for Sugar Man

Directed by Malik Bendjelloul

Produced by Simon Chinn

 

●      This is the first year that nominees for Outstanding Feature were determined both by votes from our 25-person Nominations Committee and by votes from this year’s eligible filmmakers.  More than 60 filmmakers submitted their choices for their favorite nonfiction features of the year.

●      With his nomination for Searching for Sugar Man, Simon Chinn becomes the first person in Cinema Eye history to be nominated three times in this category.  He previously won in this category for Man on Wire (2009) and was nominated last year for Project Nim (2012).

●      Simon Chinn’s Red Box Films and John Battsek’s Passion Pictures were involved in the productions of both Searching for Sugar Man and The Imposter.  It’s the first time that a production company had two nominees in this category in the same year.

●      Previous winners in this category are Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) (2008), Man on Wire (2009), The Cove (2010), Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011) and The Interrupters (2012).

 

 

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

 

Detropia

Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

 

The Law in These Parts

Ra’anan Alexandrowicz

 

Only the Young

Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims

 

Planet of Snail

Seungjun Yi

 

Tchoupitoulas

Bill Ross and Turner Ross

 

¡Vivan las Antipodas!

Victor Kossakovsky

 

●      Detropia’s Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady and Only the Young’s Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims are the only filmmakers to be nominated for both Outstanding Feature and Outstanding Direction.

●      Tippet and Mims lead all individuals with four nominations apiece for their work on Only the Young.  They are also nominated for Cinematography and Outstanding Debut.

●      Bill and Turner Ross are the first filmmakers in Cinema Eye history to be nominated for Outstanding Direction after previously being nominated for Outstanding Debut (45365, 2010).

●      Half of this year’s six nominees are directing duos.  Previously, only one directing team had ever been nominated for this award: Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher for October Country (2010).

●      Previous winners in this category include Alex Gibney for Taxi to the Dark Side (2008), Ari Folman for Waltz with Bashir (2009), Agnès Varda for The Beaches of Agnès (2010), Laura Poitras for The Oath (2011) and Steve James forThe Interrupters (2012).

●      In the past, both The Cove (2010) and Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011) won in the Outstanding Feature category without being nominated for Outstanding Director.

●      Nominations in this category for The Law in These Parts’ Ra’anan Alexandrowicz and Planet of Snail’s Seungjun Yi represent the only nominations for their films.  Previously, Alex Gibney won in this category when his was the only nomination for Taxi to the Dark Side (2008).

 

 

 

Outstanding Achievement in Production

 

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Alison Klayman and Adam Schlesinger

 

Big Boys Gone Bananas!*

Margarete Jangård

 

The Imposter

Dimitri Doganis

 

Searching for Sugar Man

Simon Chinn

 

¡Vivan las Antipodas!

Heino Deckert

 

 

●      Previous winners in this category include Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor and Mikael Rieks for Ghosts of Cite Soleil(2008), Simon Chinn for Man on Wire (2009), Paula DuPré Pesman and Fisher Stevens for The Cove (2010), Mila Aung-Thwin and Daniel Cross for Last Train Home (2011) and Gian-Piero Ringel and Wim Wenders for Pina (2012).

●      The nomination in this category for Big Boys Gone Bananas!* is the sole nomination for that film.  Last year, Pinawon in this category as the sole nomination for that film.

 

 

 

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

 

Chasing Ice

Jeffrey Orlowski

 

The Imposter

Erik Alexander Wilson and Lynda Hall

 

Only the Young

Jason Tippet & Elizabeth Mims

 

Samsara

Ron Fricke

 

¡Vivan las Antipodas!

Victor Kossakovsky

 

 

●      Jeff Orlowski, Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mim, Ron Fricke and Victor Kossakovsky all pulled double duty as Directors/Cinematographers.  It’s the first time in Cinema Eye history that so many of the nominees in this category were also their directors of their films.

●      Previous winners in this category include Heloisa Passos for Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) (2008), Peter Zeitlinger forEncounters at the End of the World (2009), Brook Aitken for The Cove (2009), Lixin Fan for Last Train Home (2011) and Danfung Dennis for Hell and Back Again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

 

5 Broken Cameras

Véronique Lagoarde-Ségot and Guy Davidi

 

Detropia

Enat Sidi

 

How to Survive a Plague

T. Woody Richman, Tyler H. Walk, Jonathan Oppenheim

 

Room 237

Rodney Ascher

 

Tchoupitoulas

Bill Ross

 

 

●      Bill Ross was previously nominated in this category for his work on 45365 (2010).  He’s the second person to be twice nominated in the editing category.  Chris King, who won in this category in back-to-back years for Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011) and Senna (2012), was the first.

●      Previous winners in this category include Doug Abel, Jenny Golden and Andy Grieve for Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)(2008), Jinx Godfrey for Man on Wire (2009), Janus Billeskov-Jansen and Thomas Papapetros for Burma VJ (2010), Chris King and Tom Fulford for Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011) and Gregers Sall and Chris King for Senna (2012).

 

 

 

Audience Choice Prize

 

5 Broken Cameras

Directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi

 

Beauty is Embarrassing

Directed by Neil Berkeley

 

Bully

Directed by Lee Hirsch

 

How to Survive a Plague

Directed by David France

 

The Imposter

Directed by Bart Layton

 

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Directed by David Gelb

 

Kumaré

Directed by Vikram Gandhi

 

Marina Abramović The Artist is Present

Directed by Matthew Akers

 

Searching for Sugar Man

Directed by Malik Bendjelloul

 

Trash Dance

Directed by Andrew Garrison

 

●      The Audience Choice Prize is a vote that is open to the general public.  In 2012, more than 10,000 people voted for this award.

●      Previous winners in this category include The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2008), Up the Yangtze (2009),The September Issue (2010),  Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2011) and Buck (2012).

●      Films need not be eligible in the other craft categories in order to be eligible for Audience Choice.

 

 

 

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

 

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Directed by Alison Klayman

 

How to Survive a Plague

Directed by David France

 

Marina Abramović The Artist is Present

Directed by Matthew Akers

 

Only the Young

Directed by Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims

 

Room 237

Directed by Rodney Ascher

 

Searching for Sugar Man

Directed by Malik Bendjelloul

 

The Waiting Room

Directed by Peter Nicks

 

 

●      This is the first time there have been seven nominees in the Debut category.  Categories with more than five nominees are the result of ties in the voting of the Nominations Committee.

●      Previous winners in this category include Jennifer Venditti for Billy the Kid (2008), Yung Chang for Up the Yangtze(2009), Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher for October Country (2010), Jeff Malmberg for Marwencol (2011) and Clio Barnard for The Arbor (2012).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score

 

Detropia

Dial.81

 

The Imposter

Anna Nikitin

 

Into the Abyss

Mark De Gli Antoni

 

Room 237

Jonathan Snipes, William Hutson, The Caretaker (James Kirby)

 

¡Vivan las Antipodas!

Alexander Popov

 

 

●      This category was introduced in 2009.

●      Previous winners in this category include Max Richter for Waltz with Bashir (2009), Danny Grody, Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri and Kenric Taylor for October Country (2010), Norbert Möslang for The Sound of Insects: Record of a Mummy (2011) and John Kusiak for Tabloid (2012)

●      The Original Music Score award is a juried prize.

 

 

 

 

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation

 

Beauty is Embarrassing

Neil Berkeley, Anthony Maiuri

 

Herman’s House

Nicolas Brault, Tom Hillman

 

Indie Game: The Movie

James Swirsky

 

Room 237

Carlos Ramos

 

Searching for Sugar Man

Oskar Gullstrand, Arvid Steen

 

Urbanized

Brooklyn Digital Foundry/John Szot

 

 

●      Previous winners in this category include Lewis Kofsky and Richard Winkler for Chicago 10 (2008), Yoni Goodman and David Polonsky for Waltz with Bashir (2009), Bigstar for Food, Inc. and Brett Gaylor & team for RIP: A Remix Manifesto(2010, tie), Juan Cardarelli and Alex Tyson for Gasland (2011) and Rob Feng and Jeremy Landman for Tabloid.

 

 

 

Spotlight Award

 

Argentinian Lesson

Directed by Wojciech Staroń

 

Bestiaire

Directed by Denis Côté

 

Downeast

Directed by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin

 

Meanwhile in Mamelodi

Directed by Benjamin Kahlmeyer

 

Vol Special (Special Flight)

Directed by Fernand Melgar

 

 

●      The Spotlight Award was introduced in 2010 and is a juried award.

●      Previous winners in this category include Jessica Oreck’s Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2010), Andrei Ujica’s The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (2011) and Tatiana Huezo Sánchez’ The Tiniest Place (2012)

●      Films need not be eligible in other categories to be eligible in this category.  The Nominations Committee submits films for nomination.

 

 

 

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking

 

Cutting Loose

directed by Finlay Pretsell and Adrian McDowall

 

Family Nightmare

directed by Dustin Guy Defa

 

Good Bye Mandima (Kwa Heri Mandima) 

directed by Robert-Jan Lacombe

 

Into the Middle of Nowhere

directed by Anna Francis Ewert

 

Paradise (Paraíso)

directed by Nadav Kurtz

 

 

●      The award for Nonfiction Short Filmmaking was introduced in 2011.

●      The previous winners of this award were Vance Malone’s The Poodle Trainer (2011) and Tim Hetherington’s Diary(2012).

●      This is a juried award.

 

 

 

 

 

Number of nominations by film

 

5

The Imposter

Searching for Sugar Man

 

4

Detropia

Only the Young

Room 237

¡Vivan las Antipodas!

 

3

5 Broken Cameras

How to Survive a Plague

Marina Abramović The Artist is Present

 

2

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Beauty is Embarassing

Tchoupitoulas

 

1

Argentinian Lesson

Bestiaire

Big Boys Gone Bananas!*

Bully

Chasing Ice

Cutting Loose

Downeast

Family Nightmare

Good Bye Mandima (Kwa Heri Mandima)

Herman’s House

Indie Game: The Movie

Into the Abyss

Into the Middle of Nowhere

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Kumaré

The Law in These Parts

Meanwhile in Mamelodi

Paradise (Paraiso)

Planet of Snail

Samsara

Trash Dance

Urbanized

Vol Special (Special Flight)

The Waiting Room