Cinema Eye Honors Announces Nominees; ‘Strong Island,’ ‘City of Ghosts,’ ‘Brimstone & Glory’ Lead Pack
Nominees for the 2018 Cinema Eye Honors were unveiled this evening in San Francisco at a reception celebrating SFFILM’s 3rd Annual Doc Stories showcase. This nominations announcement officially launches the 11th edition of the Cinema Eye Honors, which celebrates outstanding artistry and craft in nonfiction film. As per tradition, the Awards Ceremony is the final event of Cinema Eye Week, a multi-day celebration that takes place in New York City each year. This year’s winners will be announced at the 2018 Honors Awards Ceremony on Thursday, January 11, 2018 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.
Three films — Viktor Jakovleski’s “Brimstone & Glory,” Matthew Heineman’s “City of Ghosts,” and Yance Ford’s “Strong Island” — lead the nominations with four nods a piece. Five other films each received three nominations, including Yuri Ancarani’s “The Challenge,” Jeff Orlowski’s “Chasing Coral,” Agnès Varda and JR’s “Faces Places,” Brett Morgen’s “Jane,” and Jonathan Olshefski’s “Quest.”
Ten films were nominated for the annual Audience Choice Prize, which includes many of the year’s most popular and talked about nonfiction films, including Brett Morgen’s “Jane,” Ceyda Torun’s “Kedi,” Amanda Lipitz’s’ “Step,” Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis’ “Whose Streets?,” and Gethin Aldous and Jairus McLeary’s “The Work.” The winner in this category is voted on by the general public.
The nominees for this year’s Heterodox Award — which recognizes work that blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction — as well as this year’s Legacy Award recipient will be announced in the coming weeks. Check out the full list of today’s nominees below.
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
“City of Ghosts,” Directed and Produced by Matthew Heineman
“Ex Libris: The New York Public Library,” Directed and Produced by Frederick Wiseman
“Faces Places,” Directed by Agnès Varda and JR (Director), Produced by Rosalie Varda
“Last Men in Aleppo,” Directed by Feras Fayyad, Produced by Kareem Abeed, Stefan Kloos and Søren Steen Jespersen
“Quest,” Directed by Jonathan Olshefski, Produced by Sabrina Schmidt Gordon
“Strong Island,” Directed by Yance Ford, Produced by Joslyn Barnes and Yance Ford
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Kitty Green, “Casting JonBenet”
Matthew Heineman, “City of Ghosts”
Yuri Ancarani, “The Challenge”
Frederick Wiseman, “Ex Libris: The New York Public Library”
Agnès Varda and JR, “Faces Places”
Yance Ford, “Strong Island”
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Bill Morrison, “Dawson City: Frozen Time”
Joe Beshenkovsky, “Jane”
TJ Martin, “LA92”
Keith Fraase and John Walter, “Long Strange Trip”
Lindsay Utz, “Quest”
Francisco Bello, Daniel Garber and David Barker, “The Reagan Show”
Outstanding Achievement in Production
Nominees to be Determined, “Brimstone and Glory”
Matthew Heineman, “City of Ghosts”
Heino Deckert, Ai Weiwei and Chin-Chin Yap, “Human Flow”
Kareem Abeed, Stefan Kloos and Søren Steen Jespersen, “Last Men in Aleppo”
Brenda Coughlin, Yoni Golijov and Laura Poitras, “Risk”
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Tobias von dem Borne, “Brimstone and Glory”
Yuri Ancarani, Luca Nervegna and Jonathan Ricquebourg, “The Challenge”
Andrew Ackerman and Jeff Orlowski, “Chasing Coral”
TBD, “Human Flow”
Rodrigo Trejo Villanueva, “Machines”
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin, “Brimstone and Glory”
Francesco Fantini and Lorenzo Senni, “The Challenge”
Alex Somers, “Dawson City: Frozen Time”
Philip Glass, “Jane”
Dan Deacon, “Rat Film”
Hildur Gudnadóttir and Craig Sutherland, “Strong Island”
Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation
Chad Herschberger, “78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene”
Matt Schultz and Shawna Schultz, “Chasing Coral”
Grant Nellessen, “Citizen Jane: Battle for the City”
Daniel Gies and Emily Paige, “Let There Be Light”
Stefan Nadelman, “Long Strange Trip”
Audience Choice Prize
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” Directed by Steve James
“City of Ghosts,” Directed by Matthew Heineman
“Chasing Coral,” Directed by Jeff Orlowski
“Faces Places,” Directed by Agnès Varda and JR
“Jane,” Directed by Brett Morgen
“Kedi,” Directed by Ceyda Torun
“Quest,” Directed by Jonathan Olshefski
“Step,” Directed by Amanda Lipitz
“Whose Streets?,” Directed by Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis
“The Work,” Directed by Gethin Aldous and Jairus McLeary
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
Viktor Jakovleski, “Brimstone and Glory”
Anna Zamecka, “Communion”
Rahul Jain, “Machines”
Theo Anthony, “Rat Film”
Yance Ford, “Strong Island”
Outstanding Achievement in Broadcast Nonfiction Filmmaking
“13th,” Directed by Ava DuVernay, Produced by Ava DuVernay & Howard Barish, For Netflix: Executive Producers Ben Cotner, Adam Del Deo and Lisa Nishimura
“Abortion: Stories Women Tell,” Directed and Produced by Tracy Droz Tragos, For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, Senior Producer Sara Bernstein
“Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds,” Directed by Alexis Bloom & Fisher Stevens, Produced by Alexis Bloom, Fisher Stevens, Julie Nives & Todd Fisher, For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, Senior Producer Nancy Abraham
“Five Came Back,” Directed by Laurent Bouzereau, Produced by John Battsek & Laurent Bouzereau, For Netflix: Executive Producers Ben Cotner, Adam Del Deo and Lisa Nishimura
“The Keepers,” Directed by Ryan White, For Netflix: Executive Producers Ben Cotner, Jason Springarn-Koff and Lisa Nishimura
“Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison,” Directed and Produced by Kristi Jacobson, Produced by Katie Mitchell and Julie Goldman, For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, Senior Producer Nancy Abraham
Spotlight Award
“Donkeyote,” Directed by Chico Pereira
“An Insignificant Man,” Directed by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla
“Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle,” Directed by Gustavo Salmerón
“Plastic China,” Directed by Jiuliang Wang
“Stranger in Paradise,” Directed by Guido Hendrikx
“Taste of Cement,” Directed by Ziad Kalthoum
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
“Edith+Eddie,” Directed by Laura Checkoway
“Heroin(e),” Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon
“Little Potato,” Directed by Wes Hurley and Nathan M. Miller
“Polonaise,” Directed by Agnieszka Elbanowska
“The Rabbit Hunt,” Directed by Patrick Bresnan
“Ten Meter Tower,” Directed by Maximilien Van Aertryck & Axel Danielson
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