Shaunak Sen’s Cannes-winning feature All That Breathes, which follows two brothers who run a bird hospital dedicated to rescuing injured black kites, took the top prize at the 16th annual Cinema Eye Honors, winning the award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking as well as the award for Cinematography.
Recognizing excellence in nonfiction filmmaking, the Cinema Eye Honors awards ceremony took place last night (1/12) at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, with winners being announced in 18 categories.
Fire of Love, Sara Dosa’s documentary about intrepid husband-and-wife volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft received three honors—the most of the evening won by any single film—for Outstanding Editing, Outstanding Visual Design (tied with Moonage Daydream) and Outstanding Original Score. The score was composed by Nicolas Godin of French electronic music duo Air.
Laura Poitras won Outstanding Direction for All The Beauty and the Bloodshed. The film, which follows the life and work of photographer and activist Nan Goldin, marks the third nomination and third win in this category for Poitras. She previously won the award for both The Oath (2010) and Citizenfour (2014). She is the only individual to have won the Directing award more than once.
In the Visual Design category, Stefan Nadelman also became a three-time winner on Thursday, taking home the trophy for Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream (tied with Fire of Love), which illuminates the life and genius of David Bowie. Nadelman previously won for Kurt Cobain Montage of Heck (2016) and Long Strange Trip (2018). Moonage Daydream took home two awards, with Samir Foco, John Warhurst and Nina Hartsone winning for Sound Design.
Also receiving two awards was Daniel Roher’s Navalny, a nonfiction film that follows the Russian opposition leader and former presidential candidate Alexei Navalny in real time as he recovers from an assassination attempt. Navalny‘s producing team won the Outstanding Achievement in Production award, and the film also took home the Audience Choice Prize, an award voted on by documentary fans around the world. This year, for the first time, voters from the general public selected this year’s Audience Choice Prize nominees from a 16-film Long List by Cinema Eye’s nominations committee, and they then voted for the winner. More than 50,000 votes were cast to determine this year’s award recipient.
All That Breathes, Fire of Love, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Moonage Daydream and Navalny are all on the Documentary Feature shortlist for the upcoming Academy Awards. Also shortlisted is Alex Pritz’ The Territory, which won the Award for Debut Feature. Nuisance Bear won for Outstanding Nonfiction Short and is also on the Academy shortlist in that category.
In Broadcast Honors, a notable win came in the Outstanding Anthology Series category. How To with John Wilson (Season Two) won the award. It previously won the Broadcast Editing award at last year’s ceremony, marking the second consecutive win for the Cinema Eye-nominated series.
This year’s ceremony opened with an emotional tribute to documentary pioneer Julia Reichert, a Cinema Eye winner and godmother of American independent documentary, Reichert died in December. Her husband and filmmaking partner, Steven Bognar, talked about Reichert’s passion for her beloved documentary community.
Whitney Museum curator Chrissie Iles announced this year’s Legacy Award, which was given to Terry Zwigoff for Crumb, his 1994 landmark portrait of artist Robert Crumb. Zwigoff thanked his team and the documentary filmmakers in attendance in video remarks from San Francisco. Zwigoff will be presented the Legacy Award trophy in Los Angeles at a screening of Crumb at Vidiot Foundation’s newly reopened Eagle Theatre later this year.
Brandy Burre, the centerpiece of Robert Greene’s previously nominated film Actress, spoke of the challenge many in the nonfiction filmmaking community are having in determining the role and title of those who are in front of the documentary camera. She also introduced videos celebrating this year’s Unforgettables, Cinema Eye’s category recognizing documentary subject/collaborators who have been particularly memorable this year.
In remarks later in the evening, Cinema Eye founding director AJ Schnack noted the continued imprisonment of filmmaker and Cinema Eye winner Jafar Panahi and encouraged those in attendance to be vigilant to attacks on filmmakers and journalists.
Kai Ryssdal and a number of reporters from American Public Media’s Marketplace radio program served as Cinema Eye’s “Voice of Goddess”, welcoming audience members and introducing categories. This year’s n-person presenters were documentary filmmakers Cecilia Aldarondo, Zeshawn Ali, Nels Bangerter, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Monica Hellström, Angelo Madsen Minax, Omar Mullick, Diane Quon, Jeff Reichert, Ondi Timoner, Caroline Waterlow and Simon Lehring Wilmont.
A full list of winners follows:
16h Annual Cinema Eye Honors Winners
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
All That Breathes
Directed and Produced by Shaunak Sen
Produced by Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Laura Poitras
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Fire of Love
Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
All That Breathes
Ben Bernhard and Riju Das
Outstanding Achievement in Production
Navalny
Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
Outstanding Achievement in Original Score
Fire of Love
Nicolas Godin
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Moonage Daydream
Samir Foco, John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design (tie)
Fire of Love
Lucy Munger, Kara Blake, and Rui Ting Ji
Moonage Daydream
Stefan Nadelman
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
The Territory
Directed by Alex Pritz
Audience Choice Prize
Navalny
Directed by Daniel Roher
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Film for Broadcast
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes
Directed by James Jones | HBO Documentary Films/HBO Max
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Series
Black and Missing
Directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Samantha Knowles | HBO Documentary Films/HBO Max
Outstanding Achievement in Anthology Series
How To with John Wilson (Season Two)
Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman, Clark Reinking and John Wilson, Executive Producers | HBO
Outstanding Achievement in Editing in a Nonfiction Film or Series for Broadcast
We Need to Talk About Cosby
Meg Ramsay | Showtime
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Nonfiction Film or Series for Broadcast
Playing With Sharks
Michael Taylor, Judd Overton, Nathan Barlow and Toby Ralph | Disney+
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
Nuisance Bear
Directed by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden
Legacy Award
Crumb
Directed by Terry Zwigoff
Heterodox Award
Aftersun
Directed by Charlotte Wells
Spotlight Award
Master of Light
Directed by Rosa Ruth Boesten
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More