Cinema Eye Honors: ‘O.J.: Made in America,’ ‘I Am Not Your Negro’ Score Most Doc Award Noms

On Wednesday afternoon, hot on the heels of the announcement of nominations for the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards and IDA Awards, and shortly before the start of voting for the Academy’s best documentary feature Oscar shortlist, nominations were announced for the 10th annual Cinema Eye Honors, which legendary documentarian Steve James will host at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image on Jan. 11.

Chosen by film festival programmers from around the world, the feature field was led by Ezra Edelman‘s O.J.: Made in America and Raoul Peck‘s I Am Not Your Negro, two unconventional films that deal with America’s history of racial strife, which got five noms each. Kirsten Johnson‘s Cameraperson and Gianfranco Rosi‘s Fire at Sea, which were close behind with four noms, and Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg‘s Weiner, which garnered three, joined those two films in the top category, which recognizes outstanding achievement in nonfiction feature filmmaking.

Rosi led all individuals with four nominations, recognizing his work in various capacities on Fire at Sea. Alex Gibney, meanwhile, received his seventh career CEH nom, for outstanding work in production on Zero Days, which is the record-setting sixth Gibney-directed film to receive a nom. HBO Documentary Films chief Sheila Nevins became the most nominated person in CEH history, scoring her ninth, tenth and 11th noms for Heroin: Cape Cod, USA; How to Dance in Ohio; and Mapplethorpe.

The most prominent docs that did not receive any nominations: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady‘s Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You (Music Box), Adam Irving‘s Off the Rails (The Film Collaborative), Andrew Rossi‘s The First Monday in May (Magnolia) and James Solomon‘s The Witness (FilmRise). Ava DuVernay‘s 13th (Netflix) and Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani‘s The Ivory Game were ineligible.

A total of 37 features and five shorts received nominations. A full list appears below.

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Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

Cameraperson — Directed by Kirsten Johnson | Produced by Kirsten Johnson and Marilyn Ness
Fire at Sea — Directed by Gianfranco Rosi | Produced by Donatello Palermo, Gianfranco Rosi, Serge Lalou and Camille Laemlé
I Am Not Your Negro — Directed by Raoul Peck | Produced by Rémi Grellety, Raoul Peck and Hébert Peck
O.J.: Made in America — Directed by Ezra Edelman | Produced by Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow
Weiner — Directed and Produced by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

Kirsten Johnson | Cameraperson
Gianfranco Rosi | Fire at Sea
Raoul Peck | I Am Not Your Negro
Robert Greene | Kate Plays Christine
Ezra Edelman | O.J.: Made in America

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

Nels Bangerter | Cameraperson
Clay Tweel | Gleason
Alexandra Strauss | I Am Not Your Negro
Bret Granato, Maya Mumma and Ben Sozanski | O.J.: Made in America
Eli Despres | Weiner

Outstanding Achievement in Production

Stacey Reiss, Sharon Chang and Otto Bell | The Eagle Huntress
Donatello Palermo, Gianfranco Rosi, Serge Lalou and Camille Laemmlé | Fire at Sea
Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow | O.J.: Made in America
Carthew Neal | Tickled
Marc Shmuger and Alex Gibney | Zero Days

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

Michal Marczak and Maciej Twardowski | All These Sleepless Nights
Kirsten Johnson | Cameraperson
Jarred Alterman | Contemporary Color
Simon Niblett | The Eagle Huntress
Gianfranco Rosi | Fire at Sea

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Films Made for Television

Happy Valley — Directed by Amir Bar-Lev | Produced by Jonathan Koch, Steve Michaels, John Battsek and Ken Dornstein | For A&E IndieFilms: Molly Thompson, Robert DeBitetto and David McKillop
Heroin: Cape Cod, USA — Directed and Produced by Steven Okazaki | For HBO Documentary Films: Sara Bernstein and Sheila Nevins
How to Dance in Ohio — Directed by Alexandra Shiva | Produced by Alexandra Shiva and Bari Pulman | For HBO Documentary Films: Nancy Abraham and Sheila Nevins
Making a Murderer — Directed and Produced by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos | For Netflix: Lisa Nishimura and Adam Del Deo
Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures— Directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato | Produced by Katharina Otto-Bernstein and Mona Card | For HBO Documentary Films: Sara Bernstein and Sheila Nevins
My Beautiful Broken Brain — Directed by Sophie Robinson and Lotje Sodderlan | Produced by Sophie Robinson | For Netflix: Lisa Nishimura and Adam Del Deo

Audience Choice Prize

Gleason | Directed by Clay Tweel
I Am Not Your Negro | Directed by Raoul Peck
Life, Animated | Directed by Roger Ross Williams
Miss Sharon Jones! | Directed by Barbara Kopple
Mr. Gaga | Directed by Tomer Heymann
Presenting Princess Shaw | Directed by Ido Haar
Sonita | Directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
Tickled | Directed by David Farrier and Dylan Reeve
Tower | Directed by Keith Maitland
Weiner | Directed by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

Craig Atkinson | Do Not Resist
Otto Bell | The Eagle Huntress
Jessica Edwards | Mavis!
Nanfu Wang | Hooligan Sparrow
David Farrier and Dylan Reeve | Tickled
Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel | When Two Worlds Collide

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score

Lubomir Grzelak | All These Sleepless Nights
Nominees to be Determined | Contemporary Color
Alexei Aigui | I Am Not Your Negro
Alex Lu | In the Pursuit of Silence
Gary Lionelli | O.J.: Made in America

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation

Chris Kirk and Syd Garon | Author: The JT Leroy Story
Philippe Sonrier and Suzie Cimato | Life, Animated
Nominees to be Determined | Nuts!
Craig Staggs and Keith Maitland | Tower
Nominees to be Determined | Zero Days

Spotlight Award

All this Panic | Directed by Jenny Gage
Among the Believers | Directed by Hemal Trivedi and Mohammed Ali Naqvi
Dead Slow Ahead | Directed by Mauro Herce
The Land of the Enlightened | Directed by Pieter-Jan De Pue
The Pearl | Directed by Jessica Dimmock and Christopher LaMarca
Les Sauteurs (Those Who Jump) | Directed by Estephan Wagner and Moritz Siebert

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking

Bacon and God’s Wrath | Directed by Sol Friedman
Extremis | Directed by Dan Krauss
La Laguna | Directed by Aaron Schock
My Aleppo | Directed by Melissa Langer
Peace in the Valley | Directed by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher

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

Michal Huszcza | All These Sleepless Nights
Audrie Pott and Daisy Coleman | Audrie and Daisy
Laura Albert | Author: The JT Leroy Story
Kirsten Johnson | Cameraperson
Aisholpan Nurgaiv | The Eagle Huntress
Samuela Pucillo | Fire at Sea
Steve Gleason and Michel Varisco | Gleason
Ye Haiyan | Hooligan Sparrow
Kate Shiel | Kate Plays Christine
Owen Suskind | Life, Animated
Sharon Jones | Miss Sharon Jones!
Peter Dunning | Peter and the Farm
Princess Shaw | Presenting Princess Shaw
Sonita Alidazeh | Sonita
Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner | Weiner

Short Film

Bacon and God’s Wrath
Extremis
La Laguna
My Aleppo
Peace in the Valley