'Hale County This Morning, This Evening' Wins Top Award at Cinema Eye Honors

'Minding the Gap' and 'Free Solo' won the most awards at this year's big event honoring nonfiction filmmaking.

hale county doc
The Cinema Guild

The 12th annual Cinema Eye Honors were held Thursday night in New York City, where Hale County This Morning, This Evening was a surprise victor, winning the top prize for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking. Throughout the ceremony, which was hosted again by Hoop Dreams director Steve James, both Minding the Gap (which is executive produced by James) and Free Solo were racking up the awards, each of them recognized in three categories.

Netflix’s Shirkers, which like the other three aforementioned winners is on the Oscars shortlist, also won a couple awards, while fellow Oscar contender The Distant Barking of Dogs picked up one of the Cinema Eye Honors. Television category wins went to James’ own limited series America to Me and the HBO film Baltimore Rising. The quirky New York Times Op-Doc My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes, which is on the Oscars’ short doc shortlist,  took the prize for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking.

Here is the full list of the 2019 Cinema Eye Honors winners:

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Directed by RaMell Ross
Produced by Joslyn Barnes, Su Kim and RaMell Ross

Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Bing Liu
Minding the Gap

Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Joshua Altman and Bing Liu
Minding the Gap

Outstanding Achievement in Production
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill
Free Solo

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Jimmy Chin, Clair Popkin and Mikey Schaeffer
Free Solo

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
Ishai Adair
Shirkers

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation
Lucas Celler and Sandi Tan
Shirkers

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
Minding the Gap
Directed by Bing Liu

Audience Choice Prize
Free Solo
Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Film for Broadcast
Baltimore Rising
Directed by Sonja Sohn
HBO

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Film for Broadcast
America to Me
Directed by Steve James
STARZ

Spotlight Award
The Distant Barking of Dogs
Directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking<My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes
Directed by Charlie Tyrell

Heterodox Award
American Animals
Directed by Bart Layton

Legacy Award
Eyes On the Prize
Executive Producer Henry Hampton
Series Producer/Writer/Director Judith Vecchione Series Producer Jon Else
Director/Writer/Producers Orlando Bagwell, Sheila Curran Bernard, Callie Crossley, James A. DeVinney, Madison D. Lacy, Thomas Ott, Samuel D. Pollard, Terry Kay Rockefeller, Jacqueline Shearer and Paul Stekler

(Editor in Chief)

Christopher Campbell is the founding editor of Nonfics.