Some of the just-announced Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards nominations are pasted below. Speaking as a BFCA voting member, my current preference for Best Documentary Feature is Ezra Edelman‘s O.J.: Made in America, and my Best Doc Director pick is Edelman. The Best First Doc award must go to Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg‘s Weiner. My Best Political Doc preference is Ava Duvernay‘s 13th. My preference for Best Documentary Feature (TV/streaming) is Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn‘s Amanda Knox. There are other categories but that’s as far as I’m willing to go right now.
Best Documentary Feature: 13th (Netflix/Kandoo Films); O.J.: Made in America (ESPN/Laylow Films); Cameraperson (Janus Films/Fork Films/Big Mouth Productions); Fire at Sea (Kino Lorber/Stemal Entertainment/21 Unofilm/Cinecittà Luce/Rai Cinema/Les Films d’Ici/Arte France Cinéma); Gleason (Open Road/Amazon/Exhibit A); Life, Animated (A&E IndieFilms/The Orchard/Motto Pictures/Roger Ross Williams Productions); Tickled (Magnolia/A Ticklish Tale/Fumes Production/Horseshoe Films); Tower (Kino Lorber/ITVS/Meredith Vieira Productions/GTS Films/Diana DiMenna Film); Weiner (Sundance Selects/Motto Pictures/Edgeline Films); The Witness (FilmRise/Five More Minutes Productions).
Best Direction of a Documentary Feature: Ezra Edelman, O.J.: Made in America (ESPN/Laylow Films); Ron Howard, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years (Hulu/Imagine Entertainment/Apple Corps); Kirsten Johnson, Cameraperson (Janus Films/Fork Films/Big Mouth Productions); Keith Maitland, Tower (Kino Lorber/ITVS/Meredith Vieira Productions/GTS Films/Diana DiMenna Film); Clay Tweel, Gleason (Open Road/Amazon/Exhibit A); Roger Ross Williams, Life, Animated (A&E IndieFilms/The Orchard/Motto Pictures/Roger Ross Williams Productions)
Best First Documentary Feature: Otto Bell, The Eagle Huntress (Sony Pictures Classics/Kissaki Films/Stacey Reiss Productions); David Farrier and Dylan Reeve, Tickled (Magnolia/A Ticklish Tale/Fumes Production/Horseshoe Films); Adam Irving, Off the Rails (The Film Collaborative/Zipper Bros Films); Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg, Weiner (Sundance Selects/Motto Pictures/Edgeline Films); James D. Solomon, The Witness (FilmRise/Five More Minutes Productions); Nanfu Wang, Hooligan Sparrow (The Film Collaborative/Little Horse Crossing the River).
And yaddah yaddah…too many names, too much coding…later. CCDA winners will be feted at a gala ceremony on Thursday, 11.3 at BRIC (647 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11217).
