There were a few surprises among this year’s nominees for Cinema Eye Honors, which were announced this evening in New York City. The first thing to catch me off guard was the addition of a new category for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Films Made for Television, which is a nice way of distinguishing certain titles from the more cinematic releases while giving extra space to spotlight popular (and arguably more traditional) docs like The Crash Reel, Gideon’s Army and Alex Gibney’s Mea Maxima Culpa, which can’t compete with the fresh sorts that usually go up for the main honors.
Among those main honors, it was a nice surprise to see the wonderful Cutie and the Boxer lead the bunch with six nominations, including the CEH equivalent of a Best Picture nod, as well as appearance in the cinematography, music score, graphic design/animation, debut feature and audience choice categories. I was also happy to see the stunning yet little talked about Expedition to the End of the World contending for three honors, including those for production, cinematography and music score. It won’t win any, but it’s nice that more people will hear about it now.
A few more unexpected smiles came from the following: Tinatin Gurchiani up for the director honor for The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear as well as for best debut (the film is also nominated in the editing category); Janice D’avila, Will Etchebehere and Miguel Vassy up for the best cinematography for their work in Petra Costa’s Elena; and two of my favorite underrated docs of the year, Far Out Isn’t Far Enough and The Fruit Hunters, getting recognition at least in the graphic design and animation group.
Many of the year’s more notable docs are heavily represented. But if some of the nominees were predictable, the winners sure won’t be. How they’re going to choose a favorite for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking between The Act of Killing, After Tiller, Leviathan, Stories We Tell and Cutie is beyond me.
Meanwhile, there are now a whole bunch of docs added to the pile I still need to see this year (especially if I’m invited to vote again), namely all of the Spotlight nominees save for Valentine Road, a few of the made for TV selections and as usual all the shorts, plus some I admit I’ve never even heard of, such as Teenage and Sofia’s Last Ambulance.
Congrats to all of this year’s distinguished class. Find the full list of nominees for the 7th Annual Cinema Eye Honors, which will be presented in January 2014, below.
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
The Act of Killing
Directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer
Produced by: Signe Byrge Sørensen
After Tiller
Directed by: Martha Shane and Lana Wilson
Produced by: Martha Shane and Lana Wilson
Cutie and the Boxer
Directed by: Zachary Heinzerling
Produced by: Lydia Dean Pilcher, Mark Steele
Leviathan
Directed by: Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel
Produced by: Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel
Stories We Tell
Directed by: Sarah Polley
Produced by: Anita Lee
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
The Act of Killing
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
After Tiller
Directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson
First Cousin Once Removed
Directed by Alan Berliner
Leviathan
Directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel
The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear
Directed by Tinatin Gurchiani
Stories We Tell
Directed by Sarah Polley
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
The Act of Killing
Edited by Janus Billeskov Jansen
First Cousin Once Removed
Edited by Alan Berliner
Let the Fire Burn
Edited by Nels Bangerter
Leviathan
Edited by Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel
Our Nixon
Edited by Francisco Bello
Outstanding Achievement in Production
The Act of Killing
Signe Byrge Sørensen
After Tiller
Martha Shane and Lana Wilson
Dirty Wars
Anthony Arnove, Brenda Coughlin and Jeremy Scahill
Expedition to the End of the World
Michael Haslund-Christensen
The Square
Karim Amer
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
12 O’Clock Boys
Cinematography by Lotfy Nathan
Cutie and the Boxer
Cinematography by Zachary Heinzerling
Dirty Wars
Cinematography by Richard Rowley
Elena
Cinematography by Janice D’avila, Will Etchebehere and Miguel Vassy
Expedition to the End of the World
Cinematography by Martin Munch
Leviathan
Cinematography by Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Films Made for Television
The Crash Reel
Directed by Lucy Walker
Produced by Julian Cautherley and Lucy Walker
For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins; Supervising Producer Sara Bernstein
Gideon’s Army
Directed by Dawn Porter
Produced by Dawn Porter and Julie Goldman
For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins; Senior Producer Nancy Abraham
Homegoings
Directed by Christine Turner
Produced by Christine Turner
For PBS/POV: Executive Producer Simon Kilmurry
Inventing David Geffen
Directed by Susan Lacy
Produced by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin
For PBS/American Masters: Executive Producer Susan Lacy
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
Directed by Alex Gibney
Produced by Alex Gibney, Alexandra Johnes, Jedd Wider, Todd Wider and Kristen Vaurio
For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins; Supervising Producer Sara Bernstein
Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington
Directed by Sebastian Junger
Produced by Nick Quested and James Brabazon
For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins; Supervising Producer Sara Bernstein
Audience Choice Prize
20 Feet From Stardom
Directed by Morgan Neville
The Act of Killing
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
Blackfish
Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite
The Crash Reel
Directed by Lucy Walker
Cutie and the Boxer
Directed by Zachary Heinzerling
Muscle Shoals
Directed by Greg ‘Freddy’ Camalier
Rafea: Solar Mama
Directed by Mona Eldaief & Jehane Noujaim
Sound City
Directed by Dave Grohl
The Square
Directed by Jehane Noujaim
Stories We Tell
Directed by Sarah Polley
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
12 O’Clock Boys
Directed by Lotfy Nathan
After Tiller
Directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson
Cutie and the Boxer
Directed by Zachary Heinzerling
Let the Fire Burn
Directed by Jason Osder
The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear
Directed by Tinatin Gurchiani
Sofia’s Last Ambulance
Directed by Ilian Metev
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
A Band Called Death
Score by Sam Retzer & Tim Boland
Blackfish
Score by Jeff Beal
Cutie and the Boxer
Score by Yasuaki Shimizu
Expedition to the End of the World
Score by Mads Heldtberg
Narco Cultura
Score by Jeremy Turner
Teenage
Score by Bradford Cox
Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation
Cutie and the Boxer
Graphics by Art Jail
Far Out Isn’t Far Enough
Graphics by Rick Cikowski & Brandon Dumlao
The Fruit Hunters
Graphics by Brandon Blommaert & Fred Casia
Inequality for All
Graphics by Brian Oakes
Maidentrip
Graphics by Margot Tsakiri-Scanatovits & Daniel Chester
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
Graphics by Maryanne Butler & Marc Smith
Spotlight Award
Bending Steel
Directed by Dave Carroll
Fuck for Forest
Directed by Michal Marczak
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
Directed by Sophie Huber
The Last Station
Directed by Cristian Soto and Catalina Vergara
The Search for Emak Bakia
Directed by Oskar Algeria
Valentine Road
Directed by Marta Cunningham
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
Da Vinci
Director: Yuri Ancarani
Death of a Prisoner
Director: Laura Poitras
Outlawed in Pakistan
Director: Habiba Nosheen, Hilke Schellmann
Reindeer
Director: Eva Weber
SLOMO
Director: Josh Izenberg
A Story for the Modlins
Director: Sergio Oksman
