Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” has been named the best documentary of 2018 at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, which were handed out on Saturday evening at Bric in Brooklyn, New York.
The film about “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” star Fred Rogers won in a category whose other nominees were “Crime + Punishment,” “Dark Money,” “Free Solo,” “Hal,” “Hitler’s Hollywood,” “Minding the Gap,” “RBG,” “Three Identical Strangers,” “Wild Wild Country.”
Michael Moore received a lifetime achievement award from Robert De Niro, who called him “an American hero.” Moore new film, “Fahrenheit 11/9,” was not nominated in the Best Documentary category, instead receiving a mention only in Best Political Documentary, where it lost to “RBG.”
“Quincy” won the award for best music documentary, while “Free Solo” won for best sports documentary and most innovative documentary.
Neville also won the Best Director award for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” while the Best First Time Director category resulted in a tie between Bing Liu for “Minding the Gap” and Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster for “Science Fair.”
In the craft categories, “Free Solo” won for cinematography and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” won for editing.
The two television categories, Best Limited Documentary Series and Best Ongoing Documentary Series, went to Judd Apatow’s “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling” and the late Anthony Bourdain’s “Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown,” respectively.
Eight different people who served as the subjects of nonfiction films, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John McEnroe, Quincy Jones, Joan Jett, rock climber Alex Honnold and Stanley Kubrick aide Leon Vitali, were honored in the Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary category, which did not bestow a single award but instead paid tribute to everyone in the category.
Stanley Nelson, the director of “Freedom Rider,” “The Murder of Emmett Till” and “Black Panthers: The Vanguard of a Revolution,” received the Critics’ Choice Impact Award.
Television host Bill Nye hosted the ceremony.
In 2016, the first year of the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards’ existence, the top prize went to “O.J.: Made in America,” which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Last year, the CCDA winner was Brett Morgen’s “Jane,” which was not nominated for the Oscar.
The Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards are voted on by members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and Broadcast Television Journalists Association, which are made up of film and television critics and journalists for television, radio and online outlets. The organization will present its Critics’ Choice Awards on Sunday, Jan. 13.
The complete list of Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards winners:
Best Documentary: “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” – Director: Morgan Neville
Best Limited Documentary Series: “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling”
Best Ongoing Documentary Series: “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown”
Best Director: Morgan Neville – “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Best First-Time Director: (TIE) Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster, “Science Fair” and Bing Liu – “Minding the Gap”
Best Political Documentary: “RBG” – Directors: Julie Cohen, Betsy West
Best Sports Documentary: “Free Solo” – Directors: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin
Best Music Documentary: “Quincy” – Directors: Alan Hicks, Rashida Jones
Most Innovative Documentary: “Free Solo” – Directors: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin
Best Cinematography: “Free Solo” – Cinematographers: Jimmy Chin, Clair Popkin, Mikey Schaefer
Best Editing: “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” – Editors: Jeff Malmberg, Aaron Wickenden
Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary:
(No winner – all subjects were honored at the ceremony)
Scotty Bowers – “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg – “RBG”
Alex Honnold – “Free Solo”
Joan Jett – “Bad Reputation”
Quincy Jones – “Quincy”
David Kellman and Bobby Shafran – “Three Identical Strangers”
John McEnroe – “John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection”
Leon Vitali – “Filmworker”