Director Brett Morgen’s Jane took home the top honor as Best Documentary at the second annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards held this evening (11/2) at BRIC in Brooklyn. The National Geographic film sheds light on Jane Goodall and her groundbreaking work with chimpanzees.
The documentary awards competition was presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA). “We are so happy to be able to celebrate the supremely talented, leading voices in this golden age of documentary filmmaking and nonfiction television,” said BFCA president Joey Berlin. “It was another great night in Brooklyn in support of many of the most underappreciated artists in our business.”
Among the other highlights was a tie for Best Director between Evgeny Afineevsky for Cries from Syria and Frederick Wiseman for Ex Libris: The New York Public Library.
The award for Best First Documentary went to Kedi.
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail won for Best Political Documentary.
The Award for Best Sports Documentary went to Icarus.
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives took home took home Best Music Documentary.
There was a tie for Most Innovative Documentary between Dawson City: Frozen Time and Last Men in Aleppo.
The Best Song in a Documentary winner was “Jump” from Step, written by Raphael Saadiq, Taura Stinson and Laura Karpman, performed by Cynthia Erivo.
Best Documentary Series winner was The Vietnam War.
American Masters won the award for Best Ongoing Documentary Series.
Also during this year’s celebration, filmmaker Joe Berlinger was honored with the Critics’ Choice Impact Award and filmmaker Errol Morris was awarded the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award.
And the Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary honorees were: The Cats of Istanbul (in the doc. Kedi), Etty Ausch (One of Us), Al Gore (An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power), Laird Hamilton (Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton), Dolores Huerta (Dolores), Gigi Lazzarato (This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous), and The Sung Family (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail).
The second annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards honor the finest achievement in documentary features and nonfiction television. The awards were determined by BFCA and BTJA members with expertise in the documentary field. Penn Jillette hosted the awards ceremony.
Here’s a category-by-category rundown of winners:
Best Documentary
Jane – Director: Brett Morgen (National Geographic Documentary Films/National Geographic Studios, Public Road Productions)
Best Director (TIE)
Evgeny Afineevsky – Cries from Syria (HBO/Afineevsky –lmor Production, Cinepost Barrandov, Levy Entertainment Group, Studio Malibu)
and
Frederick Wiseman – Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (Zipporah Films)
Best First Documentary
Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red/Termite Films)
Best Political Documentary
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – Director: Steve James (PBS/Blue Ice Films, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Films Production)
Best Sports Documentary
Icarus – Director: Bryan Fogel (Netflix/Alex Productions, Diamond Docs, Impact Partners)
Best Music Documentary
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of our Lives – Director: Chris Perkel (Apple Music/IM Global, Scott Free Productions)
Best Song in a Documentary
“Jump” (from the doc Step) – written by Raphael Saadiq, Taura Stinson and Laura Karpman, performed by Cynthia Erivo (Fox Searchlight/Impact Partners, Stick Figure Productions)
Best Limited Documentary Series
The Vietnam War (PBS/Florentine Films, WETA-TV Washington)
Best Ongoing Documentary Series
American Masters (PBS/WNET New York City)
Most Innovative Documentary (TIE)
Dawson City: Frozen Time – Director: Bill Morrison (Kino Lorber/Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures)
and
Last Men in Aleppo – Director: Firas Fayyad, Co-Director: Steen Johannessen (Grasshopper Film/Aleppo Media Center, Larm Film)
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More