Cinema Eye Announces Nominees For Ninth Annual Nonfiction Film Awards

 

• Cartel Land and The Look of Silence Lead Nonfiction Film Nominees With Nods for Outstanding Feature, Direction, Production & Cinematography

• Amy, Democrats, Listen to Me Marlon and The Wolfpack Round Out List of Six Nonfiction Feature Film Nominees

• 4 Nominations for Meru; 3 Nominations each for Going Clear, Heart of a Dog and Kurt Cobain Montage of Heck

• 2 Nominations for the late Albert Maysles for his final films: In Transit and Iris

• Laurie Anderson, Joe Berlinger, Jimmy Chin, RJ Cutler, Kirby Dick, Liz Garbus, Alex Gibney, Cynthia Hill, Kim Longinotto, Michael Moore, Brett Morgen, Camilla Nielsson, Morgan Neville, Joshua Oppenheimer, J. Ralph, Bill & Turner Ross, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Chai Vasarhelyi and Frederick Wiseman among this year’s Nominated Filmmakers

 

November 11, 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark – Thirty-eight feature films and five shorts will vie for this year’s Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking as nominees were announced this evening at a party at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Winners will be announced at the 9th Annual Honors Ceremony on January 13, 2016 at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City.

 

Cartel Land, Matthew Heineman’s gripping account of violence and vigilantes on both sides of the US-Mexico border, led all films with five nominations, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature.  It is joined in the top category by Asif Kapadia’s Amy, Camilla Neilsson’s Democrats, Stevan Riley’s Listen to Me Marlon, Crystal Moselle’s The Wolfpack and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence.  The latter, which received four nominations, and Cartel Land were the only films nominated for Outstanding Feature, Direction, Production and Cinematography.

 

Oppenheimer’s nominations for The Look of Silence match those he received for his previous film about Indonesian war crimes, The Act of Killing, which won the top award at Cinema Eye in 2014.  Oppenheimer, The Look of Silence producer Signe Byrge Sørenson and Amy director Asif Kapadia join a small group of filmmakers who have been nominated twice in the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category.  Kapadia’s Senna was nominated for the top award in 2012.

 

Other films that received multiple nominations include Meru (4 nominations); Amy, Heart of a Dog, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and The Wolfpack (3 nominations); Best of Enemies, Democrats, Listen to Me Marlon, The Nightmare, Uncertain and Western (2 nominations).

 

The late Albert Maysles, who died in March, received two nominations: one for Outstanding Direction for his final film In Transit (Maysles shares the nomination with his co-directors Lynn True, Nelson Walker, David Usui and Ben Wu) and one for Audience Choice for his penultimate film, Iris.

 

In the Outstanding Direction category, Maysles, True, Walker, Usui and Wu are joined by Cartel Land’s Heineman, The Look of Silence’s Oppenheimer as well as Laurie Anderson (Heart of a Dog), Kim Longinotto (Dreamcatcher) and Frederick Wiseman (In Jackson Heights).  The nominations for Maysles and Wiseman mark the first time in Cinema Eye history that a previous recipient of the Cinema Eye Legacy Award was nominated for a subsequent work.  Maysles was recognized for Grey Gardens in 2011, Wiseman for Titicut Follies in 2012.

 

Receiving historic nominations this year were Bill Ross and Turner Ross, who were nominated in the Cinematography category for their film Western.  With the nod, they become the first filmmakers in Cinema Eye history to be nominated for each of their first three films.  They were previously nominated for 45365 (2010) and Tchoupitoulas (2013).

 

Chris King, who became the first person to win back-to-back awards when he was recognized for Outstanding Editing for both Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011) and Senna (2012), is nominated again in the category this year for Amy.  Syd Garon, who won the Graphics award last year for Jodorowsky’s Dune, is nominated in the same category this year for The Nightmare.

 

There were also historic nominations for Alex Gibney, who received three nods for Directing and Producing the Scientology expose Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.  As an individual, Gibney has now received six lifetime nominations, including winning for Outstanding Direction for Taxi to the Dark Side at Cinema Eye’s first ceremony in 2008.  All told, five different films directed by Gibney have received Cinema Eye nominations: Taxi to the Dark Side (2008), Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2009), Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2014), We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2014) and Going Clear (2015).

 

With three nods, Gibney is tied for most individual nominations this year with Heart of a Dog’s Laurie Anderson, Cartel Land’s Matthew Heineman and The Wolfpack’s Crystal Moselle.

 

Aaron Wickenden joined Albert Maysles in receiving two nominations for two different films.  He was nominated for his editing (along with Eileen Meyer) on Best of Enemies and is nominated for the Spotlight Award (along with co-director Dan Rybicky) for his directorial debut, Almost There.

 

Ten films were nominated for the annual Audience Choice Prize, which often includes many of the year’s most popular and talked about films, including Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon’s Best of Enemies, Kirby Dick’s The Hunting Ground, Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin’s Meru, Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, Liz Garbus’ What Happened, Miss Simone? and Michael Moore’s Where to Invade Next. Morgan Neville and Michael Moore were previously nominated in this category for 20 Feet From Stardom (2014) and Sicko (2008) respectively.

 

Winners of the 9th Annual Cinema Eye Honors will be announced Wednesday, January 13, 2016 in New York at the Museum of the Moving Image.  The Awards Ceremony is the culmination of Cinema Eye Week, an international celebration of the year’s best nonfiction artistry that includes screenings, parties, seminars and the 2nd Annual Honors Lunch, where this year’s Legacy Award and Heterodox prize will be presented and this year’s Unforgettable subjects will be saluted.

 

HBO Documentary Films is the premiere sponsor for Cinema Eye Week 2016. Major Sponsors are A&E IndieFilms, Camden International Film Festival, Field of Vision, Ford Foundation and Netflix. The Museum of the Moving Image is the Venue Partner for the 9th Annual Honors. The Murray Center for Documentary Journalism is the Institutional Partner.  CPH:DOX was the presenting sponsor of the Nominations Announcement Ceremony and is a Festival Partner, along with Hot Docs and True/False.  Additional sponsors for Cinema Eye Week 2016 will be announced in the coming weeks.

 

More details about this year’s event, including this year’s Heterodox nominees and this year’s Legacy Award recipient, will be announced in the weeks.

 

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

About Cinema Eye, Cinema Eye Week and the 2016 Cinema Eye Honors

 

Cinema Eye was 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 presents and produces the annual Cinema Eye Week and Honors Ceremony.

 

The Honors Ceremony is the centerpiece of Cinema Eye Week, a multi-day, multi-city celebration that acknowledges the best work in nonfiction film through screenings and events.  Last year, film screenings took place in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles.  The final four days of Cinema Eye Week culminated in New York City, where a series of celebratory events brought together many of the year’s most accomplished filmmakers.  This year’s dates are January 10-13, with awards presented at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens on the 13th.

 

A full list of Cinema Eye’s core team will be named in the coming weeks.  It was previously announced that Wendy Garrett and Nathan Truesdell will serve as Co-Chairs of Cinema Eye Week and that Will Lennon will serve as Lead Producer on behalf of Cinema Eye.  AJ Schnack is Cinema Eye’s Founding Director.

 

Nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors nonfiction feature awards are determined in voting by the top documentary programmers from throughout the world.  This year’s nominations committee included Claire Aguilar (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Nominations Committee Chair Charlotte Cook (Hot Docs), David Courier (Sundance), Cara Cusumano (Tribeca), Joanne Feinberg (Ashland Film Festival), Elena Fortes (Ambulante), Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Tom Hall (Montclair Film Festival), Sarah Harris (Dallas Film Festival), Lane Kneedler (AFI FEST), Jim Kolmar (SXSW), Amir Labaki (It’s All True, Brazil), Artur Liebhart (Planete Doc Review), David Nugent (Hamptons Film Festival), Veton Nurkollari (DokuFest Kosovo), Andrea Passafiume (AFI DOCS), Janet Pierson (SXSW), Thom Powers (Toronto International Film Festival), Rachel Rosen (San Francisco), Charlotte Selb (RIDM Montreal), Genna Terranova (Tribeca), Sadie Tillery (Full Frame), Basil Tsiokos (DOC NYC) and David Wilson (True/False).

 

Nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors short film awards were selected by a nominations committee that included Claire Aguilar (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Chris Boeckman (True/False), Nominations Committee Chair Charlotte Cook (Hot Docs), Cara Cusumano (Tribeca), Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Claudette Godfrey (SXSW), Doug Jones (Images Cinema), Ted Mott (Full Frame), Veton Nurkollari (DokuFest Kosovo), Dan Nuxoll (Rooftop Films), Andrea Passafiume (AFI DOCS), Mike Plante (Sundance), Rachel Rosen (San Francisco) and Kim Yutani (Sundance).

 

Nominees for the Television Award were selected in a two rounds of voting.  The first round consisted of programmers that included Nominations Committee Chair Charlotte Cook (Hot Docs), Joanne Feinberg (Ashland), Tom Hall (Montclair), Sarah Harris (Dallas), Doug Jones (Images Cinema), Lane Kneedler (AFI FEST), Jim Kolmar (SXSW) and Andrew Rodgers (RiverRun).  The second round included film critics and writers Steve Dollar, Bilge Ebiri, Eric Hynes, Liz Shannon Miller, Nick Pinkerton, Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman.

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

 

Amy

Directed by Asif Kapadia

Produced by James Gay-Rees

 

Cartel Land

Directed by Matthew Heineman

Produced by Tom Yellin

 

Democrats

Directed by Camilla Nielsson

Produced by Henrik Veileborg

 

Listen to Me Marlon

Directed by Stevan Riley

Produced by John Battsek, George Chignell and R.J. Cutler

 

The Look of Silence

Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer

Produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen

 

The Wolfpack

Directed by Crystal Moselle

Produced by Crystal Moselle and Izabella Tzenkova

 

• Nominees for Outstanding Feature were determined by votes from both our 25-person Nominations Committee and from this year’s eligible filmmakers.  More than 70 filmmakers submitted their choices for their favorite nonfiction features of the year.

• This is the second year in a row that a previous winner in this category has been nominated a second time.  Oppenheimer and Sørensen received the Outstanding Feature prize in 2014 for The Act of Killing and both are nominated again this year for the follow-up, The Look of Silence.  They would be the first filmmakers in Cinema Eye history to receive the Feature award twice if they win this year.

• In addition, Asif Kapadia joins Oppenheimer and Sørensen to become the 5th, 6th and 7th filmmakers to be nominated more than once in this category. Previous double nominees are Steve James (who won for The Interrupters in 2012 and was nominated in 2015 for Life Itself), Laura Poitras (who won last year for Citizenfour and was nominated in 2011 for The Oath), James Marsh and Simon Chinn (who won the award in 2009 for Man on Wire and were nominated again in 2012 for Project Nim). Chinn was also nominated in 2013 for Searching for Sugar Man.

• R.J. Cutler, nominated this year for producing Listen to Me Marlon, won the Cinema Eye Audience Choice Prize in 2010 for The September Issue.  He was also a producer on The War Room, which received Cinema Eye’s Legacy Award in 2013.

• This year’s nominations mark the first Cinema Eye nominations for everyone else in the category. Matthew Heineman is also nominated for Direction and Cinematography; Tom Yellin is also nominated for Production; Henrik Veileborg is also nominated for Production; Stevan Riley is nominated for Editing; and Crystal Moselle is nominated for Debut and Audience Choice.

• 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), The Interrupters (2012), 5 Broken Cameras (2013), The Act of Killing (2014) and Citizenfour (2015).

• The Cove (2010), Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011) and 5 Broken Cameras (2013) won in the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category without being nominated for Outstanding Director. A win for Amy, Democrats, Listen to Me Marlon or The Wolfpack would add them to that list.

 

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

 

Matthew Heineman

Cartel Land

 

Kim Longinotto

Dreamcatcher

 

Laurie Anderson

Heart of a Dog

 

Frederick Wiseman

In Jackson Heights

 

Albert Maysles, Lynn True, Nelson Walker, David Usui & Ben Wu

In Transit

 

Joshua Oppenheimer

The Look of Silence

 

• Joshua Oppenheimer and Frederick Wiseman are the 3rd and 4th individuals in Cinema Eye history to be nominated twice for Outstanding Achievement in Direction. Wiseman was nominated in 2011 for La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet while Oppenheimer was nominated in 2014 for The Act of Killing.  While neither won the award for Direction, Oppenheimer did receive the Cinema Eye for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature for The Act of Killing.

• Frederick Wiseman and Albert Maysles are the first nominees in this category who have previously been recognized with Cinema Eye’s Legacy Award.  Maysles accepted the Legacy Award in 2011 for Grey Gardens, Wiseman in 2012 for Titicut Follies.

• This year’s nods represent the first Cinema Eye nominations for Anderson (who is also nominated for Original Score and Graphic Design), Heineman (who is up for Feature and Cinematography), Longinotto, True, Walker, Usui and Wu.

• 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), Steve James for The Interrupters (2012), Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady for Detropia (2013), Sarah Polley for Stories We Tell (2014) and Laura Poitras for Citizenfour (2015).

• Steve James (The Interrupters) and Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) remain the only persons in Cinema Eye history to win for both Outstanding Direction and Feature Film.

 

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

 

Chris King

Amy

 

Aaron Wickenden and Eileen Meyer

Best of Enemies

 

James Scott

How to Change the World

 

Brett Morgen and Joe Neshenkovsky

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

 

Stevan Riley

Listen to Me Marlon

 

• Chris King has won this award two previous times: for Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011) and Senna (2012). This is his 3rd Cinema Eye nomination.

• Aside from Chris King, this year’s nominations represent the first Cinema Eye nods for everyone in the category.  Aaron Wickenden is also nominated in the Spotlight Award category for this directorial debut Almost There.  Brett Morgen is nominated for Audience Choice.  Stevan Riley is nominated in the Feature Film category.

• 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), Gregers Sall and Chris King for Senna (2012), T. Woody Richman and Tyler H. Walk for How to Survive a Plague (2013), Nels Bangerter for Let the Fire Burn (2014) and Mathilde Bonnefoy for Citizenfour (2015).

• If Brett Morgen or Stevan Riley were to win, they would become the first winner of the Editing award who were also the film’s director.

 

Outstanding Achievement in Production

 

Tom Yellin

Cartel Land

 

Henrik Veileborg

Democrats

 

Alex Gibney, Lawrence Wright and Kristen Vaurio

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

 

Signe Byrge Sørensen

The Look of Silence

 

Jimmy Chin, Chai Vasarhelyi and Shannon Etheridge

Meru

 

• Signe Byrge Sørensen received this award in 2014 for The Act of Killing.  She would become the first person to win the award twice if she were to receive the award this year for The Look of Silence.  She is also nominated this year for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, which she also won in 2014.

• Alex Gibney’s three nominations for Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief give him six nominations all-time for four different films: Taxi to the Dark Side (2008 – Winner for Direction), Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2009 – Audience Choice Nominee), Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2014 – Nominee for Television Nonfiction), We Steal Secrets: The Story of and Going Clear (2015 – Nominated for Production, Audience and Television).

• Aside from Gibney and Sørensen, this year’s nominations mark the first Cinema Eye nominations for everyone in the category. Tom Yellin is also nominated for Outstanding Feature.  Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi are also nominated in the Audience Choice category for Meru.  Gibney, Wright and Vaurio are nominated for the Television Nonfiction award.

• 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), Gian-Piero Ringel and Wim Wenders for Pina (2012), Dimitri Doganis for The Imposter (2013), Signe Byrge Sørensen for The Act of Killing (2014) and Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky for Citizenfour (2015).

 

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

 

Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll

Cartel Land

 

Lars Skree

The Look of Silence

 

Renan Ozturk

Meru

 

Ewan McNicol

Uncertain

 

Bill Ross and Turner Ross

Western

• This is the second nomination in this category for Lars Skree, who was previously nominated for Armadillo (2011).  It’s also the second nomination for Cinematography for Bill Ross and Turner Ross, who were nominated here for their debut feature, 45365 (2010).

• Bill Ross and Turner Ross have received nominations for each of their first three nonfiction features, the first time that has happened in Cinema Eye history. They were nominated for Outstanding Direction in 2013 for Tchoupitoulas.

• For everyone else in the category, this year’s nominations represent their first Cinema Eye nods.  Matthew Heineman is also nominated for Outstanding Feature and Direction.  Ewan McNicol is also nominated for Debut Feature.

• Previous winners in this category include Heloisa Passos for Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) (2008), Peter Zeitlinger for Encounters at the End of the World (2009), Brook Aitken for The Cove (2009), Lixin Fan for Last Train Home (2011), Danfung Dennis for Hell and Back Again (2012), Jeff Orlowski for Chasing Ice (2013), Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel for Leviathan (2014) and Erik Wilson for 20,000 Days on Earth & Franklin Dow and Orlando von Einsiedel for Virunga (tie-2015).

• In the last five years, at least one of the winners in this category have also been the director of their film. Heineman, McNicol or Ross & Ross could continue that streak.

 

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Films Made for Television

 

Deep Web

Directed by Alex Winter

Produced by Marc Schiller, Alex Winter and Glen Zipper

For EPIX: Executive Producers Jill Burkhart and Ross Bernard

 

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Directed by Alex Gibney

Produced by Alex Gibney, Kristen Vaurio and Lawrence Wright

For HBO Documentary Films: Supervising Producer Sara Bernstein and Executive Producer Sheila Nevins

 

Outbreak

Directed by Dan Edge

Produced by Dan Edge and Sasha Joelle Achilli

For Frontline/PBS: Coordinating Producer Carla Borras and Executive Producers Raney Aronson-Rath and David Fanning

 

Private Violence

Directed and Produced by Cynthia Hill

For HBO Documentary Films: Senior Producer Nancy Abraham and Executive Producer Sheila Nevins

 

Whitey: The United States of America vs. James J. Bulger

Directed by Joe Berlinger

Produced by Joe Berlinger and Caroline Suh

For CNN Films: Supervising Producer Courtney Sexton and Executive Producers Vinnie Malhotra and Amy Entelis

 

• These are the 7th and 8th nominations in this category for Sheila Nevins.  She previous nominations include Gideon’s Army, Mea Maxima Culpa, Which Way is the Front Line From Here? (2014), The Education of Muhammad Hussein and Six by Sondheim (2015) and she won in this category for The Crash Reel (2014). With these nominations she ties Steve James for second most all-time in Cinema Eye history.

• It’s the 5th nomination in this category for Sara Bernstein who won in 2014 for The Crash Reel and was nominated for Mea Maxima Culpa, Which Way is the Front Line From Here? (2014) and The Education of Muhammad Hussein (2015).  Nancy Abraham receives her third Television Nonfiction nomination, she was nominated for Gideon’s Army (2014) and Six by Sondheim (2015).

• Joe Berlinger received the Cinema Eye Hell Yeah Prize, along with longtime collaborator Bruce Sinofsky, for their Paradise Lost trilogy in 2012.

• Aside from Nevins, Bernstein, Abraham, Gibney and Berlinger, these represent the first Cinema Eye nominations for everyone else in the category.

• The previous winners in this category include The Crash Reel (2014) and The Price of Gold (2015).

 

Audience Choice Prize

 

Amy

Directed by Asif Kapadia

 

Best of Enemies

Directed by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon

 

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Directed by Alex Gibney

 

The Hunting Ground

Directed by Kirby Dick

 

Iris

Directed by Albert Maysles

 

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

Directed by Brett Morgen

 

Meru

Directed by Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi

 

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Directed by Liz Garbus

 

Where to Invade Next

Directed by Michael Moore

 

The Wolfpack

Directed by Crystal Moselle

 

• The Audience Choice Prize is a vote that is open to the general public.  In 2015, more than 7,000 people cast their choices in the final 36 hours of voting.

• Alex Gibney, Asif Kapadia, Morgan Neville and Michael Moore have all been nominated in this category previously.  Gibney was nominated in 2009 for Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson; Kapadia was nominated in 2012 for Senna, Neville in 2014 for 20 Feet From Stardom and Moore in 2009 for Sicko.

• Maysles is also nominated for Outstanding Direction for his final film, In Transit.  He previously was recognized with Cinema Eye’s Legacy Award for his classic film, Grey Gardens.

• This year marks the first Cinema Eye nominations for Robert Gordon, Kirby Dick, Brett Morgen, Jimmy Chin, Chai Vasarhelyi, Liz Garbus and Crystalle Moselle.  Morgen is also nominated for Outstanding Editing.  Chin and Vasarhelyi are up for Production.  Moselle is nominated for Feature and Debut.

• 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), Buck (2012), Bully (2013), Sound City (2014) and Keep On Keepin’ On (2015).

 

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

 

Kings of Nowhere

Directed by Betzabé Garcia

 

Peace Officer

Directed by Brad Barber and Scott Christopherson

 

Pervert Park

Directed by Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors

 

The Russian Woodpecker

Directed by Chad Gracia

 

Uncertain

Directed by Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands

 

The Wolfpack

Directed by Crystal Moselle

 

• This year’s nominations represent the first Cinema Eye nominations for everyone in the category.

• 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), Clio Barnard for The Arbor (2012), Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims for Only the Young (2013), Zachary Heinzerling for Cutie and the Boxer (2014) and John Maloof and Charlie Siskel for Finding Vivian Maier (2015).

 

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score

 

Jackson Greenberg and Scott Salinas

Cartel Land

 

Laurie Anderson

Heart of a Dog

 

J. Ralph

Meru

 

Jonathan Snipes

The Nightmare

 

Casey McAllister

Western

 

• J. Ralph and Jonathan Snipes have both been previously nominated in this category.  J. Ralph was nominated in 2010 for The Cove.  Jonathan Snipes was nominated in 2013 for Room 237.  This year marks  the first nominations for everyone else in the category.

• 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), John Kusiak for Tabloid (2012), Dial.81 for Detropia (2013) and Yasuaki Shimizu for Cutie and the Boxer (2014).

 

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation

 

Nominees TBD

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon

 

Laurie Anderson

Heart of a Dog

 

Stefan Nadelman and Hisko Hulsin

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

 

Syd Garon

The Nightmare

 

Ryan Green and Josh Larson

Thank You for Playing

 

• Syd Garon, a nominee this year for The Nightmare, was one of the winners of this award last year for his work on Jodorowsky’s Dune.  He’s the third individual to repeat in back-to-back years in the same category.  Chris King previously did it in Editing in 2011 and 2012 for Exit Through the Gift Shop and Senna.  T. Griffin did it in Original Score in 2011 and 2012 for Utopia in Four Movements and Dragonslayer.

• Aside from Garon, this year marks the first nominations for everyone else in the category.

• Laurie Anderson is the first person in Cinema Eye history to be nominated for both Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Graphic Design or Animation.

• Brett Morgen, who directed nominee in this category Kurt Cobain Montage of Heck, also directed Chicago 10, which was the first recipient of this award in 2008.

• 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, Eric M. Levy and Alex Tyson for Gasland (2011), Rob Feng and Jeremy Landman for Tabloid (2012), Oskar Gullstrand and Arvid Steen for Searching for Sugar Man (2013), Art Jail and Noriko Shinohara for Cutie and the Boxer (2014) and Syd Garon for Jodorowsky’s Dune & Heather Brantman and Tim Fisher for Particle Fever (tie-2015).

 

Spotlight Award

 

Almost There

Directed by Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden

 

Barge

Directed by Ben Powell

 

Field Niggas

Directed by Khalik Allah

 

Frame by Frame

Directed by Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli

 

(T)error

Directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe

 

Toto and His Sisters

Directed by Alexandre Nanău

 

• The Spotlight Award was introduced in 2010.  It intends to honors films that have not yet received proper attention and highlights filmmakers who are early in their career and from whom we’d like to see much more.

• This year marks the first Cinema Eye nominations for everyone in the category.

• Aaron Wickenden, nominated for Almost There with his co-director Dan Rybicky, is also nominated for Outstanding Editing for Best of Enemies.

• Previous winners in this category include Jessica Oreck’s Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2010), Andrei Ujica’s The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (2011), Tatiana Huezo Sánchez’ The Tiniest Place (2012), Wojciech Staron’s The Argentinian Lesson (2013), Christian Soto and Catalina Vergara’s The Last Station (2014) and Johanna Hamilton’s 1971 (2015).

• 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

 

The Breath

Directed by Fabian Kaiser

 

Buffalo Juggalos

Directed by Scott Cummings

 

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

Directed by Adam Benzine

 

The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul

Directed by Kitty Green

 

Hotel 22

Directed by Elizabeth Lo

 

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

• This is the first Cinema Eye nomination for everyone in the category.

• The previous winners of this award were Vance Malone’s The Poodle Trainer (2011), Tim Hetherington’s Diary (2012), Robert-Jan Lacombe’s Good Bye Mandima (Kwa Heri Mandima) (2013), Sergio Oksman’s A Story for the Modlins (2014) and Lucy Walker’s The Lion’s Mouth Opens (2015).

 

The Unforgettables

The year’s most notable and significant nonfiction film subjects (previously announced)

 

Peter Anton

Almost There

 

Amy Winehouse

Amy

 

Lizzie Velásquez

A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story

 

Jose Manuel Mireles

Cartel Land

 

Paul Mangwana

Democrats

 

Brenda Myers-Powell

Dreamcatcher

 

Shannon Whisnant

Finders Keepers

 

Iris Apfel

Iris

 

Adi Rukun

The Look of Silence

 

William “Dub” Lawrence

Peace Officer

 

Fedor Alexandrovich

The Russian Woodpecker

 

Seymour Bernstein

Seymour: An Introduction

 

Yula

Something Better to Come

 

Saeed “Shariff” Torres

(T)error

 

The Angulo Brothers

The Wolfpack

 

The Influentials

The 25 classic nonfiction films that most influenced this year’s eligible filmmakers as they were making their films (previously announced).

 

American Movie /  Chris Smith (1999)

Bowling for Columbine / Michael Moore (2002)

Burden of Dreams / Les Blank (1982)

Crumb / Terry Zwigoff (1994)

Don’t Look Back / D A Pennebaker (1967)

F for Fake / Orson Welles (1973)

Fog of War / Errol Morris (2003)

Gates of Heaven / Errol Morris (1978)

Gimme Shelter / Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin (1970)

The Gleaners and I / Agnès Varda (2000)

Grey Gardens / Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer (1975)

Grizzly Man / Werner Herzog (2005)

Harlan County, USA / Barbara Kopple (1976)

Hearts and Minds / Perer Davis (1974)

Hoop Dreams / Steve James (1994)

Paris is Burning / Jennie Livingston (1991)

Salesman / Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin (1968)

Sherman’s March / Ross McElwee (1985)

Six O’Clock News / Ross McElwee (1996)

Stevie / Steve James (2002)

The Thin Blue Line / Errol Morris (1988)

Titicut Follies / Frederick Wiseman (1967)

Tongues Untied / Marlon Riggs (1989)

Welfare / Frederick Wiseman (1975)

When We Were Kings / Leon Gast (1996)

 

Nominations By Film Totals

 

5

 

Cartel Land

 

4

 

The Look of Silence

Meru

 

3

 

Amy

Heart of a Dog

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Kurt Cobain Montage of Heck

The Wolfpack

 

2

 

Best of Enemies

Democrats

Listen to Me Marlon

The Nightmare

Uncertain

Western

 

1

 

Almost There

Barge

Deep Web

Dreamcatcher

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon

Field Niggas

Frame by Frame

How to Change the World

The Hunting Ground

In Jackson Heights

In Transit

Iris

Kings of Nowhere

Outbreak

Peace Officer

Pervert Park

Private Violence

The Russian Woodpecker

(T)error

Thank You For Playing

Toto and His Sisters

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Where to Invade Next

Whitey: The United States v. James J. Bulger

 

Short Film

 

The Breath

Buffalo Juggalos

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul

Hotel 22