The Critics Choice Association announced today the nominees for the 6th annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, recognizing the best nonfiction films of 2021. In full disclosure, I am the president of the CCA’s documentary branch and lead a committee to decide on the CCDA nominations. And I’m excited and honored to now reveal our picks for this year’s event.
Jessica Kingdon‘s Ascension and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson‘s Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) lead the 2021 contenders with six nominations apiece. And it’s amazing that both of these films are the feature documentary debuts of their respective directors. It’s Questlove’s first film entirely!
This year sees a lot of first doc features nominated for Critics Choice Documentary Awards, in fact, with three of the Best Director contenders — two of whom are Kingdon and Thompson — overlapping with the Best First Feature category. Another, Rachel Fleit‘s Introducing, Selma Blair, joins Ascension and Summer of Soul in the Best Documentary Feature category.
Also, Jessica Beshir‘s debut, Faya Dayi, received two nominations, including one for Best Cinematography. And Todd Haynes and Edgar Wright, both longtime narrative filmmakers, made their doc debuts with The Velvet Underground and The Sparks Brothers, respectively. Each has multiple noms and is competing against the other in the Best Music Documentary category as well as in Best First Feature Documentary.
Other first doc features with nominations include Adam Wishart‘s 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room, which is up for Best Narration, and Diana Neille and Richard Poplak‘s Influence, which can be found in the Best Political Documentary category. Plus, Val, by first-timers Ting Poo and Leo Scott, received three nominations as well as an honor for Val Kilmer being one of the Most Compelling Living SUbjects of the year.
My official statement to the press on this year’s nominations addresses the plethora of debuts:
“This has been and continues to be a fantastic year for documentary storytelling. And the number of first-time feature documentarians in the mix of nominees, alongside proven veterans, shows that nonfiction cinema continues to have a very bright future. Our world, from its most amazing wonders to its greatest challenges, is being reflected back on the screen so immediately and creatively by today’s filmmakers, and it’s a tremendous honor for us to recognize all of their achievements.”
As always, there are some glaring omissions (a.k.a. “snubs”), and I can only say that many favorites of mine also missed the cut. There are so many exceptional documentary features and shorts out this year, and I wish we could have recognized them all. I do want to put out a non-biased but notable congratulations to former Nonfics contributor Robert Greene, however, whose film Procession is up for Best Documentary Feature.
The 2021 Critics Choice Documentary Awards will be presented by National Geographic Documentary Films and held on November 14th in Brooklyn, New York, with a special career-achievement honor — the Pennebaker Award — going to RJ Cutler (his film Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry is also nominated for Best Music Documentary).
Here is the full list of nominees for the 2021 Critics Choice Documentary Awards plus the list of persons honored as the Most Compelling Living Subjects of the year.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Attica (Showtime)
Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
The Crime of the Century (HBO Documentary Films)
A Crime on the Bayou (Augusta Films/Shout! Studios)
Flee (Neon)
Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+)
The Lost Leonardo (Sony Pictures Classics)
My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios)
Procession (Netflix)
The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
BEST DIRECTOR
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin – The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Liz Garbus – Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
Jessica Kingdon – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry – Attica (Showtime)
Jonas Poher Rasmussen – Flee (Neon)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson – Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
(Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
Edgar Wright – The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features)
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Jessica Beshir – Faya Dayi (Janus Films)
Rachel Fleit – Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+)
Todd Haynes – The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+)
Jessica Kingdon – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Kristine Stolakis – Pray Away (Netflix)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson – Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
(Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
Edgar Wright – The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jessica Beshir – Faya Dayi (Janus Films)
Jonathan Griffith, Brett Lowell, and Austin Siadak – The Alpinist (Roadside Attractions)
David Katznelson, Ian Seabrook, and Picha Srisansanee – The Rescue
(National Geographic Documentary Films)
Jessica Kingdon and Nathan Truesdell – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Nelson Hume and Alan Jacobsen – The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Bleecker Street Media)
Emiliano Villanueva – A Cop Movie (Netflix)
Pete West – Puff: Wonders of the Reef (Netflix)
BEST EDITING
Francisco Bello, Matthew Heineman, Gabriel Rhodes, and David Zieff – The First Wave
(National Geographic Documentary Films)
Jeff Consiglio – LFG (HBO Max and CNN Films)
Bob Eisenhardt – The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Affonso Gonçalves and Adam Kurnitz – The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+)
Jessica Kingdon – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Joshua L. Pearson – Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
(Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
Julian Quantrill – The Real Charlie Chaplin (Showtime)
BEST NARRATION
9/11: Inside the President’s War Room (Apple TV+)
Jeff Daniels, Narrator
Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
Vincent Cassel, Narrator
Mark Monroe and Pax Wassermann, Writers
The Crime of the Century (HBO Documentary Films)
Alex Gibney, Narrator
Alex Gibney, Writer
The Neutral Ground (PBS)
CJ Hunt, Narrator
CJ Hunt, Writer
The Real Charlie Chaplin (Showtime)
Pearl Mackie, Narrator
Oliver Kindeberg, Peter Middleton, and James Spinney, Writers
Val (Amazon Studios)
Jack Kilmer, Narrator
Val Kilmer, Writer
The Year Earth Changed (Apple TV+)
David Attenborough, Narrator
BEST SCORE
Jongnic Bontemps – My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios)
Dan Deacon – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Alex Lasarenko and David Little – The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Bleecker Street Media)
Cyrus Melchor – LFG (HBO/CNN)
Daniel Pemberton – The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Rachel Portman – Julia (Sony Pictures Classics)
Dirac Sea – Final Account (Focus Features)
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
The Real Charlie Chaplin (Showtime)
The Real Right Stuff (Disney+)
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street (HBO Documentary Films)
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
Val (Amazon Studios)
The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+)
BEST HISTORICAL OR BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
Attica (Showtime)
A Crime on the Bayou (Augusta Films/Shout! Studios)
Fauci (Magnolia Pictures/National Geographic Documentary Films)
Final Account (Focus Features)
Julia (Sony Pictures Classics)
My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios)
No Ordinary Man (Oscilloscope)
Val (Amazon Studios)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry (Apple TV+)
Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James (Showtime)
Listening to Kenny G (HBO Documentary Films)
The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features)
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu)
Tina (HBO Documentary Films)
The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
The Crime of the Century (HBO Documentary Films)
Enemies of the State (IFC Films)
Four Hours at the Capitol (HBO Documentary Films)
Influence (StoryScope, EyeSteelFilm)
Mayor Pete (Amazon Studios)
Missing in Brooks County (Giant Pictures)
Nasrin (Hulu)
Not Going Quietly (Greenwich Entertainment)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
Fauci (National Geographic Documentary Films)
The First Wave (National Geographic Documentary Films)
The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Bleecker Street Media)
Playing with Sharks (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Puff: Wonders of the Reef (Netflix)
The Year Earth Changed (Apple TV+)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
The Alpinist (Roadside Attractions)
Changing the Game (Hulu)
The Day Sports Stood Still (HBO)
Kevin Garnett: Anything is Possible (Showtime)
LFG (HBO Max/CNN Films)
Tiger (HBO)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Audible (Netflix)
Borat’s American Lockdown (Amazon Studios)
Camp Confidential: America’s Secret Nazis (Netflix)
Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol (The New York Times)
The Doll (Jumping Ibex)
The Last Cruise (HBO Documentary Films)
The Queen of Basketball (The New York Times)
Snowy (TIME Studios)
MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECTS OF A DOCUMENTARY (HONOR)
Ady Barkan – Not Going Quietly (Greenwich Entertainment)
Selma Blair – Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+)
Pete Buttigieg – Mayor Pete (Amazon Studios)
Anthony Fauci – Fauci (Magnolia Pictures/National Geographic Documentary Films)
Ben Fong-Torres – Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres (StudioLA.TV)
Val Kilmer – Val (Amazon Studios)
Ron and Russell Mael – The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features)
Rita Moreno – Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It (Roadside Attractions)
Valerie Taylor – Playing With Sharks (Disney+)
