Cinema Eye Non Fiction Film Nominations

The Cinema Eye nominations have been announced! Please note short film nomination for Tim Hetherington, the reporter/filmmaker who was killed in Libya.

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

The Arbor
Directed by Clio Barnard
Produced by Tracy O’Riordan

The Interrupters
Directed by Steve James
Produced by Alex Kotlowitz and Steve James

Nostalgia for the Light
Directed by Patricio Guzmán
Produced by Renate Sachse

Position Among the Stars
Directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich
Produced by Hetty Naaijkens-Retel Helmrich

Project Nim
Directed by James Marsh
Produced by Simon Chinn

Senna
Directed by Asif Kapadia
Produced by James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner

● This is the first time that six films have been nominated in the Outstanding Feature category.
● James Marsh and Simon Chinn were previously nominated and won in this category for Man on Wire (2009). This marks the first time that anyone has been nominated more than once in this category.
● Both The Arbor and Nostalgia for the Light were nominated for Cinema Eye’s Spotlight Award in 2011. The Spotlight Award is for films that have not yet received proper attention in North America and films in contention for the Spotlight Award need not be eligible for other awards.
● Previous winners in this category are Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) (2008), Man on Wire (2009), The Cove (2010) and Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011).
● Three out of the previous four years, the Outstanding Feature award has gone to a debut film, but that film has never also received the Debut Film award.

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

Clio Barnard
The Arbor

Danfung Dennis
Hell and Back Again

Steve James
The Interrupters

Patricio Guzmán
Nostalgia for the Light

Leonard Retel Helmrich
Position Among the Stars

● Previous winners in this category include Alex Gibney for Taxi to the Dark Side (2008), Ari Folman for Waltz with Bashir (2009), Agnès Varda for The Beaches of Agnès (2010) and Laura Poitras for The Oath (2011).
● Clio Barnard and Danfung Dennis are both also nominated in the Outstanding Debut category.
● Steve James is the most nominated individual this year with four nods for The Interrupters.

Outstanding Achievement in Production

Erik Nelson and Adrienne Ciuffo
Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Mike Lerner
Hell and Back Again

Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz
The Interrupters

Renate Sachse
Nostalgia for the Light

Gian-Piero Ringel and Wim Wenders
Pina

● Previous winners in this category include Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor and Mikael Rieks for Ghosts of Cite Soleil (2008), Simon Chinn for Man on Wire (2009), Paula DuPré Pesman and Fisher Stevens for The Cove (2010) & Mila Aung-Thwin and Daniel Cross for Last Train Home (2011).

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

Alma Har’el
Bombay Beach

Eric Koretz
Dragonslayer

Danfung Dennis
Hell and Back Again

Katell Dijan
Nostalgia for the Light

Leonard Retel Helmrich and Ismail Fahmi Lubish
Position Among the Stars

● Alma Har’el, Danfung Dennis and Leonard Retel Helmrich are also nominated in other categories: Dennis and Helmrich in the Outstanding Direction category, Har’el and Dennis in the Debut Feature category.
● Previous winners in this category include Heloisa Passos for Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) (2008), Peter Zeitlinger for Encounters at the End of the World (2009), Brook Aitken for The Cove (2009) and Lixin Fan for Last Train Home (2011).

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

Hanna Lejonqvist SFK & Göran Hugo Olsson
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975

Jennifer Tiexiera and Lizzy Calhoun
Dragonslayer

Joe Walker
Life in a Day

Jasper Naaijkens
Position Among the Stars

Gregers Sall and Chris King
Senna

● Chris King won this award last year for his work on Exit Through the Gift Shop. His nomination for Senna marks the second time that someone has been nominated in successive years in the same category that they won in the previous year. The first was Lise Lense-Møller, who won in the former International category for Burma VJ (2010) and was nominated the next year for Into Eternity (2011).
● Previous winners in this category include Doug Abel, Jenny Golden and Andy Grieve for Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), Jinx Godfrey for Man on Wire, Janus Billeskov-Jansen and Thomas Papapetros for Burma VJ and Chris King and Tom Fulford for Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Audience Choice Prize

Bill Cunningham New York
Directed by Richard Press

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Directed by Göran Hugo Olsson

Buck
Directed by Cindy Meehl

Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Directed by Werner Herzog

Give Up Tomorrow
Directed by Michael Collins

The Interrupters
Directed by Steve James

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
Directed by Jon M. Chu

Project Nim
Directed by James Marsh

Senna
Directed by Asif Kapadia

Tabloid
Directed by Errol Morris

● Werner Herzog, James Marsh and Errol Morris were all previously nominated in this category in 2009 in this category: Herzog for Encounters at the End of the World, Marsh for Man on Wire and Morris for Standard Operating Procedure.
● Justin Bieber: Never Say Never is the highest grossing nonfiction feature to score a Cinema Eye nomination in the award’s history.
● Previous winners in this category include The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2008), Up the Yangtze (2009), The September Issue (2010) and Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2011).
● The Audience Choice Prize is a vote that is open to the general public. In 2011, nearly 10,000 people voted for this award.
● This is the first year that the nominations committee has voted directly for nominees in this category. Previously, nominees were determined by a combination of votes in other categories and North American theatrical box office. Now films can become eligible either by having a successful theatrical release or by winning an Audience Award at a Cinema Eye qualifying film festival.

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

Clio Barnard
The Arbor

Michal Marczak
At the Edge of Russia

Alma Har’el
Bombay Beach

Tristan Patterson
Dragonslayer

Danfung Dennis
Hell and Back Again

● Previous winners in this category include Jennifer Venditti for Billy the Kid (2008), Yung Chang for Up the Yangtze (2009), Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher for October Country (2010) and Jeff Malmberg for Marwencol (2011).

Outstanding Achievement in an Original Music Score

Harry Escott and Molly Nyman
The Arbor

Ernst Reijseger
Cave of Forgotten Dreams

T. Griffin
Dragonslayer

Antonio Pinto
Senna

John Kusiak
Tabloid

● T. Griffin was nominated in this category in 2011 for his work on Utopia in Four Movements.
● This category was introduced in 2009.
● Previous winners in this category include Max Richter for Waltz with Bashir (2009), Danny Grody, Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri and Kenric Taylor for October Country (2010) and Norbert Möslang for The Sound of Insects: Record of a Mummy (2011).
● The Original Music Score award is a juried prize.

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation

Justin Barber and Ryland Jones
!Women Art Revolution

Mike Nicholson and Allison Moore
Better This World

Brent Green
Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then

Kinda Akash
Project Nim

Raynor Pettge
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure

Rob Feng and Jeremy Landman
Tabloid

● Previous winners in this category include Lewis Kofsky and Richard Winkler for Chicago 10 (2008), Yoni Goodman and David Polonsky for Waltz with Bashir (2009), Bigstar for Food, Inc. and Brett Gaylor & team for RIP: A Remix Manifesto (2010, tie) and Juan Cardarelli and Alex Tyson for Gasland (2011).

Spotlight Award

Family Instinct
Directed by Andris Gauja

Last Days Here
Directed by Don Argott and Demien Fenton

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth
Directed by Chad Friedrichs

Scenes of a Crime
Directed by Blue Hadaegh and Grover Babcock

The Tiniest Place
Directed by Tatiana Huezo Sánchez

● The Spotlight Award was introduced in 2010 and is a juried award.
● Previous winners in this category include Jessica Oreck’s Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2010) and Andrei Ujica’s The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (2011).
● Films need not be eligible in other categories to be eligible in this category.

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking

Il Capo
Directed by Yuri Ancarani

Diary
Directed by Tim Hetherington

Minka
Directed by Davina Pardo

Out of Reach
Directed by Jakub Stożek

This Chair Is Not Me
Directed by Andy Taylor Smth

● The award for Nonfiction Short Filmmaking was introduced in 2011.
● The previous winner of this award is Vance Malone’s The Poodle Trainer (2011).
● This is a juried award. Finalists for the Cinema Eye Honors short film awards were selected by a nominations committee that included Hussain Currimbhoy (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Sarafina DiFelice (Hot Docs Film Festival), Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Ted Mott (Full Frame), Veton Nurkollari (DokuFest Kosovo), Sky Sitney (Silverdocs) and Kim Yutani (Sundance). Nominees were chosen from a list of 11 finalists by a jury that was composed of Peter Debruge (senior film critic, Variety), Audrey Marrs (producer, No End in Sight and Inside Job; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Feature, 2008 and Outstanding Production, 2011), Christine O’Malley (producer, Wordplay and I.O.U.S.A.), Chris Shellen (producer, Marwencol; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Feature, 2011) and Peter Van Steemburg, Director of Acquisitions, Magnolia Pictures.