Yance Ford’s harrowing Netflix documentary about race and the justice system, “Strong Island,” took the two top awards, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking and Outstanding Achievement in Direction, at 11th Annual Cinema Eye Honors, which were announced on Thursday night in New York.
Brett Morgen’s feel-good Jane Goodall documentary “Jane,” from National Geographic and Abramorama, also racked up a pair of honors, with Philip Glass taking one award for his musical score and the film also winning the Audience Choice Prize. Read a full list of winners below.
Cinema Eye nominations are done by committees made up predominantly of film-festival programmers. The final vote is made by 200-300 filmmakers, distributors, programmers, grantors, writers, critics, sales agents and publicists who specialize in nonfiction film, along with past and current Cinema Eye nominees and jurors. (TheWrap’s Steve Pond is a voter.)
Since the first Cinema Eye ceremony in 2008, only three films have won the Best Documentary Oscar and also the Cinema Eye award: “Man on Wire,” “The Cove” and “Citizenfour.”
“Strong Island” and “Jane” are both on the Oscars 15-film shortlist in the documentary feature category. So are “Chasing Coral,” “Last Men in Aleppo” and “Long Strange Trip,” all of which also won Cinema Eye Honors.
In December, “Dina” won the top prize at the International Documentary Association’s IDA Documentary Awards, the other main honor given to nonfiction filmmaking. That film did not make the Oscar shortlist.
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
“City of Ghosts”
“Ex Libris: The New York Public Library”
“Faces Places”
“Last Men in Aleppo”
“Quest”
*WINNER “Strong Island”
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”
* WINNER Yance Ford, “Strong Island”
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
“Dawson City: Frozen Time”
“Jane”
“LA92”
“Long Strange Trip”
* WINNER “Quest”
“The Reagan Show”
Outstanding Achievement in Production
“Brimstone and Glory”
“City of Ghosts”
“Human Flow”
*WINNER “Last Men in Aleppo”
“Risk”
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
“Brimstone and Glory”
“The Challenge”
*WINNER “Chasing Coral”
“Human Flow”
“Machines”
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
“Brimstone and Glory”
“The Challenge”
“Dawson City: Frozen Time”
* WINNER “Jane”
“Rat Film”
“Strong Island”
Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation
“78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene”
“Chasing Coral”
“Citizen Jane: Battle for the City”
“Let There Be Light”
*WINNER “Long Strange Trip”
Audience Choice Prize
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
“City of Ghosts”
“Chasing Coral”
“Faces Places”
*WINNER “Jane”
“Kedi”
“Quest”
“Step”
“Whose Streets?”
“The Work”
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
“Brimstone and Glory”
“Communion”
“Machines”
“Rat Film”
*WINNER “Strong Island”
Outstanding Achievement in Broadcast Nonfiction Filmmaking
“13th”
“Abortion: Stories Women Tell”
“Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds”
“Five Came Back”
*WINNER “The Keepers”
“Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison”
Spotlight Award
“Donkeyote”
“An Insignificant Man”
*WINNER “Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle”
“Plastic China”
“Stranger in Paradise”
“Taste of Cement”
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
“Edith+Eddie”
“Heroin(e)”
“Little Potato”
“Polonaise”
* WINNER “The Rabbit Hunt”
“Ten Meter Tower”
The Unforgettables | Non-competitive Honor: The year’s most notable and significant nonfiction film subjects
Chanterelle Sung, Hwei Lin Sung, Jill Sung, Thomas Sung & Vera Sung, “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
Bobbi Jene Smith, “Bobbi Jene”
Abdalaziz Alhamza, Hamoud Almousa and Mohamad Almusari, “City of Ghosts”
Ola Kaczanowska, “Communion”
Dolores Huerta, “Dolores”
Dina Buno and Scott Levin, “Dina”
Agnès Varda, “Faces Places”
Daje Shelton, “For Ahkeem”
Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, “Icarus”
Dr. Jane Goodall, “Jane”
Jim Carrey, “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond”
Christine’a Rainey, Christopher “Quest” Rainey, PJ Rainey and William Withers, “Quest”
Yance Ford, “Strong Island”
Jennifer Brea, “Unrest”
Brian, Charles, Chris, Dark Cloud, Kiki and Vegas, “The Work”
Steve Pond contributed to this report.