Critics' Choice Documentary Awards: 'Free Solo,' 'Minding the Gap,' 'Wild Wild Country' Lead Noms

9:00 AM 10/15/2018

by Kimberly Nordyke

The awards will be handed out Nov. 10 at a ceremony in New York.

'Wild Wild Country'
'Wild Wild Country'
Courtesy of Netflix

Free Solo leads the nominations for the third annual Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.

Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's doc — which follows rock climber Alex Honnold as he scales Yosemite's El Capitan without a rope — garnered a total of six noms, including best documentary, best directors, best sports documentary, most innovative documentary, best cinematography and best editing, along with a most compelling living subject of a documentary honor for Alex Honnold.

Bing Liu's Minding the Gap, which examines skateboarding and toxic masculinity, and Chapman Way and Maclain Way's Wild Wild Country, about a guru cult's Oregon expansion in the '80s, followed with five noms each, including best documentary for both.

Following with four noms each are Kimberly Reed's Dark Money, which examines the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials; Rüdiger Suchsland's Hitler’s Hollywood, which examines some of the more than 1,000 features the Nazis produced from 1933 to 1945; and Morgan Neville's Mr. Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Tim Wardle's Three Identical Strangers earned three noms and an honor.

The awards will be handed out by the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association at a gala event, hosted by science educator and television personality Bill Nye, on Nov. 10 at BRIC in Brooklyn.

At the ceremony, filmmaker Stanley Nelson will be presented with the Critics' Choice Impact Award. As previously announced, multiple award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore will be honored with the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award.

Robert De Niro will present Moore with his award, while Joe Berlinger will present Nelson's award. Other presenters will include Rashida Jones (Quincy), Matt Dillon, Natasha Lyonne, Pamela Adlon, Steve James (America to Me), David Kellman/Bobby Shafran (Three Identical Strangers), Ryan Fox/Anjali Chadha/Dr. Serena McCalla (Science Fair), Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi/Alex Honnold (Free Solo) and Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?).

For the first time, the Critics' Choice Documentary Awards has introduced the Catalyst Sponsorship, a program for industry leaders to support the event.

Said Broadcast Film Critics Association president Joey Berlin: "The year 2018 has been called 'The Year of the Documentary,' and we are so happy to give these films and shows the recognition and high praise that they deserve."

A full list of nominees follows.

Updated 10:35 a.m. Nov. 5: Added names of presenters.