The ceremony will take place on Thursday, January 13 in New York City.
Flee, a Danish filmmaker’s animated documentary about an Afghan refugee, holds the pole position after the announcement of nominations for the fifteenth Cinema Eye Honors, an annual celebration of nonfiction filmmaking.
Jonas Poher Rasmussen‘s film landed seven mentions, including outstanding feature.
It will compete against Amir “Questlove” Thompson‘s Summer of Soul (six nominations total); five-time nominees Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi‘s The Rescue, Jessica Kingdon‘s Ascension and Jessica Beshir‘s Faya Dayi; and Todd Haynes‘ The Velvet Underground (four nods).
HBO leads all distributors with 16 nominations.
Chin, who currently has the most Cinema Eye trophies with five, is up for two more. Steve James, meanwhile, extended his run as the most nominated filmmaker in Cinema Eye history, adding three more this year for City So Real to bring his lifetime tally to 13. Questlove, Beshir and Kingdon scored the most individual nominations this year, with four each. And Liz Garbus, Dan Deacon, Signe Byrge Sorensen, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Carolyn Hepburn received nominations for multiple projects.
Over the last five years, 96 percent of the best documentary feature Oscar nominees were also Cinema Eye nominees.
A full list of this year’s nominees follows.
Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
Ascension
Directed and Produced by Jessica Kingdon
Produced by Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
Faya Dayi
Directed and Produced by Jessica Beshir
Flee
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Produced by Monica Hellström and Signe Byrge Sorensen
The Rescue
Directed and Produced by E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
Produced by P.J. van Sandwjik and John Battsek
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Produced by Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein
The Velvet Underground
Directed and Produced by Todd Haynes
Produced by Christine Vachon, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn
Outstanding Direction
Ascension
Jessica Kingdon
Faya Dayi
Jessica Beshir
Flee
Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Nanfu Wang
Procession
Robert Greene
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Outstanding Editing
Homeroom
Kristina Mohwani and Rebecca Adorno
The Rescue
Bob Eisenhardt
Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain
Eileen Meyer and Aaron Wickenden
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Joshua Pearson
The Velvet Underground
Affonso Gonçalves and Adam Kurnitz
Outstanding Production
The First Wave
Matthew Heineman, Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville
Flee
Monica Hellström and Signe Byrge Sorensen
In the Same Breath
Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Carolyn Hepburm
President
Signe Byrge Sorensen and Joslyn Barnes
The Rescue
Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, P.J. van Sandwijk and John Battsek
Outstanding Cinematography
All Light, Everywhere
Corey Hughes
Ascension
Jessica Kingdon and Nathan Truesdell
Cusp
Isabel Bethencourt
Faya Dayi
Jessica Beshir
The Rescue
David Katznelson, Picha Srisansanee and Ian Seabrook
Outstanding Original Score
All Light, Everywhere
Dan Deacon
Ascension
Dan Deacon
Flee
Uno Helmersson
Julia
Rachel Portman
maini – towards the ocean, towards the shore
Thad Kellstadt
Procession
Keegan DeWitt
Outstanding Sound Design
All Light, Everywhere
Udit Duseja
Faya Dayi
Tom Efinger and Abigail Savage
Flee
Edward Björner and Tormod Ringnes
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Jimmy Douglass and Paul Hsu
The Velvet Underground
Leslie Shatz and Jahn Sood
Outstanding Graphic Design/Animation
Becoming Cousteau
Daniel Rutledge
Flee
Kenneth Ladekjær
Rebel Hearts
Una Lorenzen and Emma Berliner
The Sparks Brothers
Joseph Wallace
Wojnarowicz: F*ck You F*ggot F*cker
Grant Nellessen and Andrew Rose
Outstanding Debut
Ascension
Directed by Jessica Kingdon
A Cop Movie
Directed by Alfonso Ruizpalacios
Faya Dayi
Directed by Jessica Beshir
Jacinta
Directed by Jessica Earnshaw
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Outstanding Nonfiction Short
Águilas
Directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Maite Zubiaurre
A Broken House
Directed by Jimmy Goldblum
Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma
Directed by Topaz Jones and rubberband
Terror Contagion
Directed by Laura Poitras
Three Songs for Benazir
Directed by Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei
Audience Choice Prize
Becoming Cousteau
Directed by Liz Garbus
Billie Eilish – The World’s a Little Blurry
Directed by R.J. Cutler
Flee
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Homeroom
Directed by Peter Nicks
Julia
Directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West
Lily Topples the World
Directed by Jeremy Workman
Listening to Kenny G
Directed by Penny Lane
The Rescue
Directed by E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It
Directed by Mariem Pérez Riera
Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain
Directed by Morgan Neville
The Sparks Brothers
Directed by Edgar Wright
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Try Harder!
Directed by Debbie Lum
The Velvet Underground
Directed by Todd Haynes
Writing With Fire
Directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh
Spotlight
Fruits of Labor
Directed by Emily Cohen Ibañez
The Neutral Ground
Directed by CJ Hunt
North by Current
Directed by Angelo Madsen Minax
Socks on Fire
Directed by Bo McGuire
Two Gods
Directed by Zeshawn Ali
Heterodox
Bo Burnham: Inside
Directed by Bo Burnham
A Cop Movie
Directed by Alfonso Ruizpalacios
The Inheritance
Directed by Ephraim Asili
El Planeta
Directed by Amalia Ulman
The Souvenir Part II
Directed by Johanna Hogg
The Unforgettables (Non-Competitive Honor)
Flee
Amin
Homeroom
Denilson Garibo
Introducing, Selma Blair
Selma Blair
Jacinta
Jacinta Hunt
Lily Topples the World
Lily Hevesh
Listening to Kenny G
Kenny G
Mr. Bachmann and His Class
Mr. Bachmann
My Name is Pauli Murray
Pauli Murray
Not Going Quietly
Ady Barkan
Procession
Joe Eldred, Mike Foreman, Ed Gavagan, Dan Laurine, Michael Sandridge, & Tom Viviano
The Rescue
Rick Stanton
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It
Rita Moreno
Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain
The Sparks Brothers
Ron Mael and Russell Mael
Writing With Fire
Meera Nevi
The following nominations were previously announced on Oct. 20, during the annual Cinema Eye Fall Lunch in Los Angeles:
Broadcast Film
All In: The Fight for Democracy
Directed by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés | Amazon
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Directed by Spike Lee | HBO
Disclosure
Directed by Sam Feder | Netflix
In the Same Breath
Directed by Nanfu Wang | HBO
Tina
Directed by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin | HBO
Nonfiction Series
1971: The Year that Music Changed Everything
Directed by Asif Kapadia, Danielle Peck and James Rogan | Apple
City So Real
Directed by Steve James | National Geographic
Exterminate All the Brutes
Directed by Raoul Peck | HBO
The Lady and the Dale
Directed by Zackary Drucker and Nick Cammilleri | HBO
Last Chance U: Basketball
Directed by Greg Whiteley, Adam Leibowitz and Daniel George McDonald | Netflix
Philly D.A.
Directed by Yoni Brook, Ted Passon and Nicole Salazar | Independent Lens/PBS
Anthology Series
Earth at Night in Color
Alex Williamson, Executive Producer | Apple
Generation Hustle
Angie Day and Yon Motskin, Executive Producers | HBO Max
High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Fabienne Toback, Karis Jagger and Roger Ross Williams, Executive Producers | Netflix
How to with John Wilson
Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman, Clark Reinking and John Wilson, Executive Producers | HBO
Pretend It’s a City
Martin Scorsese, Fran Liebowitz, David Tedeschi, Ted Griffin, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Joshua Porter and Margaret Bodde, Executive Producers | Netflix
Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi, David Shadrack Smith and Sarina Roma, Executive Producers | Hulu
Broadcast Editing
Allen v Farrow
Mikaela Shwer, Parker Laramie and Sara Newens | HBO
City So Real
David E. Simpson and Steve James | National Geographic
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Adam Gough | HBO
Exterminate All the Brutes
Alexandra Strauss | HBO
How to with John Wilson
Adam Locke-Norton | HBO
Outstanding Broadcast Cinematography
100 Foot Wave
Nominees to be determined | HBO
City So Real
Jackson James and Steve James | National Geographic
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Ellen Kuras | HBO
Earth at Night in Color
Nominees to be determined | Apple
High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Jerry Henry | Netflix
Shorts List Films
Elena
Directed by Michèle Stephenson
Jobs for all!
Directed by Axel Danielson & Maximilien Van Aertryck
The Last Cruise
Directed by Hannah Olson
Takeover
Directed by Emma Francis-Snyder
We Were There to Be There
Directed by Mike Plante and Jason Willis
Your Street
Directed by Güzin Kar
Legacy Award
The Watermelon Woman
Written and Directed by Cheryl Dunye
Produced by Alexandra Juhasz and Barry Swimar
Edited by Annie Taylor
Cinematography Michelle Crenshaw
Original Score Paul Shapiro
