2019 Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards Winners: Full List

The winners of the fourth annual Critics' Choice Documentary Awards were unveiled Sunday night at a gala event.

Apollo 11 was named best documentary during the ceremony, which took place at BRIC in Brooklyn.

Overall, Apollo 11 also was the night's biggest winner, taking home a total of five awards — including best archival documentary, best science/nature doc, best editing and best score.

The award for best director resulted in a tie for Peter Jackson (They Shall Not Grow Old) and Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert (American Factory). They Shall Not Grow Old also was named most innovative documentary, while American Factory also won the award for best political documentary,

Among the other winners were Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am and Bruce Springsteen for his narration of Western Stars.

During the ceremony, filmmaker Frederick Wiseman was honored with with the D.A. Pennebaker Award. The prize, which was formerly known as the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award, is named after the legendary documentarian, who died in August.

In addition, acclaimed director Michael Apted received the Landmark Award for his work on the Up series. Apted recently added 63 Up to his filmography.

Property Brothers star Jonathan Scott served as host of the awards show.

A full list of winners follows.

Best Documentary

Image Credit: Courtesy of NEON

Apollo 11 (Neon) (WINNER)
American Factory (Netflix)
The Biggest Little Farm (Neon)
The Cave (National Geographic)
Honeyland (Neon)
The Kingmaker (Showtime)
Knock Down the House (Netflix)
Leaving Neverland (HBO)
Maiden (Sony Pictures Classics)
One Child Nation (Amazon Studios)
They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros.)
Best Director

Image Credit: Credit: Wingnut Films / IWM

Peter Jackson, They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros.) (WINNER)
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, American Factory (Netflix) (WINNER)
Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts, For Sama (PBS)
John Chester, The Biggest Little Farm (Neon)
Feras Fayyad, The Cave (National Geographic)
Todd Douglas Miller, Apollo 11 (Neon)
Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang, One Child Nation (Amazon Studios)
Best Archival Documentary

Apollo 11 (Neon) (WINNER)
Amazing Grace (Neon)
Maiden (Sony Pictures Classics)
Mike Wallace Is Here (Magnolia)
Pavarotti (CBS Films)
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (Netflix)
They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros.)
What's My Name: Muhammad Ali (HBO)
Most Innovative Documentary

Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros.) (WINNER)
Aquarela (Sony Pictures Classics)
Cold Case Hammarskjöld (Magnolia)
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (Netflix)
Screwball (Greenwich)
Serendipity (Cohen Media)
Best Sports Documentary

Image Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival

Maiden (Sony Pictures Classics) (WINNER)
Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable (Entertainment Studios)
Diego Maradona (HBO)
Rodman: For Better or Worse (ESPN)
The Spy Behind Home Plate (Ciesla Foundation)
What's My Name: Muhammad Ali (HBO)
Best Political Documentary

Image Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival

American Factory (Netflix) (WINNER)
The Edge of Democracy (Netflix)
Hail Satan? (Magnolia)
The Kingmaker (Showtime)
Knock Down the House (Netflix)
One Child Nation (Amazon Studios)
Best Biographical Documentary

Image Credit: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Magnolia) (WINNER)
David Crosby: Remember My Name (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Kingmaker (Showtime)
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (Greenwich)
Love, Antosha (Lurker Films)
Mike Wallace Is Here (Magnolia)
Pavarotti (CBS Films)
Best Science/Nature Documentary

Image Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival

Apollo 11 (Neon) (WINNER)
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (Kino Lorber)
Aquarela (Sony Pictures Classic)
The Biggest Little Farm (Neon)
The Elephant Queen (Apple)
Honeyland (Neon)
Penguins (Disney)
Sea of Shadows (National Geographic)
Best First Documentary Feature

Image Credit: Samir Ljuma

Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, Honeyland (Neon) (WINNER)
Midge Costin, Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (Matson Films)
A.J. Eaton, David Crosby: Remember My Name (Sony Pictures Classics)
Pamela B. Green, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (Kino Lorber/Zeitgeist Films)
Richard Miron, For the Birds (Dogwoof)
Garret Price, Love, Antosha (Lurker Films)
Best Cinematography

Image Credit: Courtesy of Neon

John Chester, The Biggest Little Farm (Neon) (WINNER)
Ben Bernhard and Viktor Kossakovsky, Aquarela (Sony Pictures Classics)
Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma, Honeyland (Neon)
Nicholas de Pencier, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (Kino Lorber)
Muhammed Khair Al Shami, Ammar Suleiman, and Mohammad Eyad, The Cave (National Geographic)
Richard Ladkani, Sea of Shadows (National Geographic)
Best Editing

Todd Douglas Miller, Apollo 11 (Neon) (WINNER)
Georg Michael Fischer and Verena Schönauer, Sea of Shadows (National Geographic)
Jabez Olssen, They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros.)
Amy Overbeck, The Biggest Little Farm (Neon)
Lindsay Utz, American Factory (Netflix)
Nanfu Wang, One Child Nation (Amazon Studios)
Best Short Documentary

Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Period. End of Sentence. (Netflix) (WINNER)
Director: Rayka Zehtabchi
Producers: Melissa Berton, Garrett K. Schiff, Lisa Taback

The Chapel at the Border (Atlantic Documentaries)
Director: Jeremy Raff
Producer: Jeremy Raff

Death Row Doctor (The New York Times Op-Docs)
Director: Lauren Knapp

In the Absence (Field of Vision)
Director: Yi Seung-Jun
Producer: Gary Byung-Seok Kam

Lost World
Director: Kalyanee Mam
Producers: Kalyanee Mam, Adam Loften, Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

Mack Wrestles (ESPN)
Directors: Taylor Hess, Erin Sanger
Producers: Taylor Hess, Erin Sanger, Erin Leyden, Gentry Kirby

The Polaroid Job (The New York Times Op-Docs)
Director: Mike Plante

Sam and the Plant Next Door (The Guardian)
Director: Ömer Sami
Producer: Ömer Sami

The Unconditional
Director Dave Adams
Producers: Dave Adams, Adam Soltis, Renee Woodruff Adams, Josie Swantek Heitz, Chris Tuss

The Waiting Room (The Guardian)
Director: Victoria Mapplebeck
Producer: Victoria Mapplebeck
Best Narration

Image Credit: Courtesy of TIFF

Western Stars (Warner Bros.) (WINNER)
Bruce Springsteen, narrator
Bruce Springsteen, writer

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (Kino Lorber)
Alicia Vikander, narrator
Jennifer Baichwal, writer

The Biggest Little Farm (Neon)
John Chester, Molly Chester, narrators
John Chester, writer

The Edge of Democracy (Netflix)
Petra Costa, narrator
Petra Costa, Carol Pires, David Barker, Moara Passoni, writers

The Elephant Queen (Apple)
Chiwetel Ejiofor, narrator
Mark Deeble, writer

For Sama (PBS)
Waad Al-Kateab, narrator
Waad Al-Kateab, writer

Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People (First Run)
Adam Driver, narrator
Oren Rudavsky, Bob Seidman, writers

One Child Nation (Amazon Studios)
Nanfu Wang, narrator
Nanfu Wang, writer
Best Music Documentary

Image Credit: Telluride Film Festival

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (Greenwich) (WINNER)
Amazing Grace (Neon)
David Crosby: Remember My Name (Sony Pictures Classics)
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (Abramorama)
Pavarotti (CBS Films)
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (Netflix)
Western Stars (Warner Bros.)
Best Score

Image Credit: Courtesy of NEON

Matt Morton, Apollo 11 (Neon) (WINNER)
Jeff Beal, The Biggest Little Farm (Neon)
Matthew Herbert, The Cave (National Geographic)
Plan 9, They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros.)
H. Scott Salinas, Sea of Shadows (National Geographic)
Eicca Toppinen, Aquarela (Sony Pictures Classics)
Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary

Image Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival

Dr. Amani Ballor – The Cave (National Geographic)
David Crosby – David Crosby: Remember My Name (Sony Pictures Classics)
Tracy Edwards – Maiden (Sony Pictures Classics)
Imelda Marcos – The Kingmaker (Showtime)
Hatidze Muratova – Honeyland (Neon)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin – Knock Down the House (Netflix)
Linda Ronstadt – Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (Greenwich)
Dr. Ruth Westheimer – Ask Dr. Ruth (Hulu)