“Sugarcane” led all films with eight nominations for the 2024 Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which announced its nominees on Monday morning.
The documentary by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie explores the network of boarding schools that existed for indigenous peoples in Canada and the abuse therein; it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically by National Geographic Documentary Films.
The films “Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story,” “Daughters” and “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” received six nominations each.
Other nominees in the Best Documentary Feature category are “The Greatest Night in Pop,” “Jim Henson Idea Man,” “Music by John Williams,” “Piece by Piece,” “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” and “Will and Harper.”
Nominees in the Best Director category are NoiseCat and Kassie for “Sugarcane,” Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui for “Super/Man,” Josh Greenbaum for “Will & Harper,” Ron Howard for “Jim Henson Idea Man,” Natalie Rae and Angela Patton for “Daughters” and Benjamin Ree” for “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin.”
Because the Critics Choice Documentary Awards do not separate film and television documentaries into different categories, the nominations are a mixture of nonfiction films that received theatrical releases and ones that went straight to broadcast or streaming platforms.
The nominations are made by committees of members from the Critics Choice Association. (Full disclosure: I am a member of the CCA but do not participate in nomination-round voting for the doc awards.) Over the eight years of the CCDA’s existence, 60% of the Oscar nominees for Best Documentary Feature have first received Critics Choice Documentary Award nominations for Best Documentary Feature, a modest level of agreement considering that the CCDA nominate between 10 and 16 films in its top category and the Oscars only nominate five.
If you compare the Critics Choice feature nominees with the Oscars’ 15-film documentary shortlists, a little less than half of the Critics Choice doc nominees go on to make the Oscar shortlist, and about a quarter of them become Oscar nominees.
The two groups have agreed on the year’s best doc twice, with “O.J.: Made in America” in 2016 and “Summer of Soul” in 2021.
The Critics Choice Documentary Awards will take place on Sunday, Nov. 10 at the Edison Ballroom in New York City. Actor Erich Bergen will host.
The full list of nominees:
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic)
Daughters (Netflix)
The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix)
Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+)
Music by John Williams (Walt Disney Studios)
Piece by Piece (Focus Features)
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
Will & Harper (Netflix)
BEST DIRECTOR
Ian Bonhôte & Peter Ettedgui – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros.Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
Josh Greenbaum – Will & Harper (Netflix)
Ron Howard – Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+)
Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie – Sugarcane (National Geographic)
Natalie Rae & Angela Patton – Daughters (Netflix)
Benjamin Ree – The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER(S)
Brendan Bellomo & Slava Leontyev – Porcelain War (Picturehouse)
Carla Gutiérrez – Frida (Amazon MGM Studios)
Charlie Hamilton James – Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic)
Sue Kim – The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie – Sugarcane (National Geographic)
Natalie Rae & Angela Patton – Daughters (Netflix)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Michael Cambio Fernandez – Daughters (Netflix)
Charlie Hamilton James, Johnny Rolt, Bertie Gregory – Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic)
Christopher LaMarca, Emily Kassie – Sugarcane (National Geographic)
Iris Ng, Eunsoo Cho, Justin Turkowski – The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
Zoë White – Will & Harper (Netflix)
Jessica Young – The Blue Angels (Amazon MGM Studios)
BEST EDITING
Otto Burnham – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
Rik Chaubet – Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Lorber)
Paul Crowder – Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+)
Troy Lewis, Adelina Bichiș – Daughters (Netflix)
Nathan Punwar, Maya Daisy Hawke – Sugarcane (National Geographic)
Robert Stengård – The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
BEST SCORE
Erland Cooper – Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic)
Ilan Eshkeri – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
Nathan Halpern – Will & Harper (Netflix)
Uno Helmersson – The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
Kelsey Lu – Daughters (Netflix)
Marc Shaiman – Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (HBO | Max)
BEST NARRATION
Bad River (50 Eggs Films)
Written by Mary Mazzio
Performed by Quannah ChasingHorse & Edward Norton
Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic)
Written by Charlie Hamilton James
Performed by Billy Mail & Susan Mail
Dahomey (Mubi)
Written by Makenzy Orcel
Performed by Lucrece Houegbelo, Parfait Viayinon, Didier Sedoha Nassegande, and Sabine Badjogoumin
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (Cohen Media Group)
Written and performed by Martin Scorsese
Queens (National Geographic)
Written by Chloë Sarosh
Performed by Angela Bassett
Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces (Apple TV+)
Written and performed by Steve Martin
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
Black Twitter: A People’s History (Hulu/Onyx Collective)
The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix)
Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+)
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (Cohen Media Group)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Lorber)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
Bad River (50 Eggs Films)
Dahomey (Mubi)
The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix)
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (Cohen Media Group)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Lorber)
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
Frida (Amazon MGM Studios)
I Am: Celine Dion (Amazon MGM Studios)
Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+)
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces (Apple TV+)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix)
I Am: Celine Dion (Amazon MGM Studios)
Music by John Williams (Walt Disney Studios)
Piece by Piece (Focus Features)
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (Hulu)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Lorber)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
Bad River (50 Eggs Films)
Girls State (Apple TV+)
Porcelain War (Picturehouse)
Stopping the Steal (HBO | Max)
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
The Truth vs. Alex Jones (HBO | Max)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
Apollo 13: Survival (Netflix)
Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic)
Blink (National Geographic)
The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
Secrets of the Octopus (National Geographic)
The Space Race (National Geographic)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
Copa 71 (New Black Films)
The Dynasty: New England Patriots (Apple TV+)
Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa (Netflix)
Mr. McMahon (Netflix)
Simone Biles Rising (Netflix)
The Turnaround (Netflix)
BEST TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY
American Nightmare (Netflix)
Black Box Diaries (MTV Documentary Films/Paramount+)
Incident (The New Yorker)
The Jinx – Part Two (HBO | Max)
Stopping the Steal (HBO | Max)
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
I Am Ready, Warden (MTV Documentary Films/Paramount+)
Incident (The New Yorker)
Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World (Netflix)
Once Upon a Time in Ukraine (Earle Mack Productions, Storyville Films, Goldcrest Films)
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Netflix)
The Turnaround (Netflix)
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (Netflix)
Black Twitter: A People’s History (Hulu/Onyx Collective)
Mr. McMahon (Netflix)
Ren Faire (HBO | Max)
Secrets of the Octopus (National Geographic)
Simone Biles Rising (Netflix)
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
30 for 30 (ESPN)
America’s Most Wanted (Fox Broadcasting Company)
The Food That Built America (History)
Independent Lens (PBS)
The Jinx – Part Two (HBO | Max)
POV (PBS)
