Minding the Gap Tops Cinema Eye Nominations

Cinema Eye, a group that awards Documentary Feature, has announced its nominees for this year. Once again, we’re reminded that we are in the middle of a golden age of doc filmmaking. Every one of these films tells a powerful, original story. It is impossible to narrow down the list to five. The Academy really ought to have its own separate Academy Awards just for documentary filmmaking because the genre is exploding right now.

Minding the Gap, called “astonishing” by the New York Times, tops the list with a whopping 7 nominations. It currently sits with a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. You can see it on Hulu.

It is followed by Bisbee ‘17, Hale County This Morning, This Evening and Shirkers with 5, Free Solo and Won’t You Be My Neighbor? with 4.

As follows:

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

Bisbee ‘17
Directed by Robert Greene | Produced by Susan Bedusa, Bennett Elliot and Douglas Tirola

Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Directed by RaMell Ross | Produced by Joslyn Barnes, Su Kim and RaMell Ross

Minding the Gap
Directed by Bing Liu | Produced by Bing Liu and Diane Moy Quon

Of Fathers and Sons
Directed by Talal Derki | Produced by Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme, Tobias N. Siebert and Hans Robert Eisenhauer

Three Identical Strangers
Directed by Tim Wardle | Produced by Grace Hughes-Hallett and Becky Read

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Directed by Morgan Neville | Produced by Caryn Capotosto, Nicholas Ma and Morgan Neville

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

Robert Greene | Bisbee ‘17
RaMell Ross | Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Bing Liu | Minding the Gap
Talal Derki | Of Fathers and Sons
Sandi Tan | Shirkers

Outstanding Achievement in Production

Susan Bedusa, Bennett Elliot and Douglas Tirola | Bisbee ‘17
Stephen Maing, Ross Tuttle and Eric Daniel Metzgar | Crime + Punishment
Josh Lowell, Phillip Manderla and Peter Mortimer | The Dawn Wall
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill | Free Solo
Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme, Tobias N. Siebert and Hans Robert Eisenhauer | Of Fathers and Sons
Daniel McCabe, Geoff McLean and Alyse Ardell Spiegel | This is Congo

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

RaMell Ross | Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Julien Faraut | John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
Joshua Altman and Bing Liu | Minding the Gap
Michael Harte | Three Identical Strangers
Jeff Malmberg and Aaron Wickenden | Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

Jarred Alterman | Bisbee ‘17
Shevaun Mizrahi | Distant Constellation
Jimmy Chin, Clair Popkin and Mikey Schaeffer | Free Solo
RaMell Ross | Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Emmanuel Gras | Makala
Bing Liu | Minding the Gap

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score

Keegan DeWitt | Bisbee ‘17
Travis Wilkerson | Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
Marco Beltrami | Free Solo
Nathan Halpern and Chris Ruggiero | Minding the Gap
Ishai Adar | Shirkers
Dan Deacon | Time Trial

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation

Syd Garon, Anton Goddard and Chris Kirk | Bathtubs Over Broadway
Toby Cornish | Beuys
Patrick Mate | Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
Shofela Coker | Liyana
Lucas Cellar and Sandi Tan | Shirkers
Ariel Costa and Rodrigo Miguel Rangel | Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

América | Directed by Chase Whiteside and Erick Stoll
Distant Constellation | Directed by Shevaun Mizrahi
Hale County This Morning, This Evening | Directed by RaMell Ross
Minding the Gap | Directed by Bing Liu
Shirkers | Directed by Sandi Tan

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking

Baby Brother | Directed by Kamau Bilal
Concussion Protocol | Directed by Josh Begley
My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes | Directed by Charlie Tyrell
Skip Day | Directed by Patrick Bresnan and Ivete Lucas
Volte | Directed by Monika Kolecka and Karolina Poryzala

Spotlight Award

The Distant Barking of Dogs | Directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont
Island of Hungry Ghosts | Directed by Gabrielle Brady
The Other Side of Everything | Directed by Mila Turajlic
Roll Red Roll | Directed by Nancy Schwartzman
The Silence of Others | Directed by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar
A Woman Captured | Directed by Bernadett Tuza-Ritter

The following categories were previously announced on October 25:

Audience Choice Prize

Bathtubs Over Broadway | Directed by Dava Whisenant
Free Solo | Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. | Directed by Stephen Loveridge
Minding the Gap | Directed by Bing Liu
On Her Shoulders | Directed by Alexandria Bombach
Quincy | Directed by Rashida Jones and Al Hicks
RBG | Directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West
Shirkers | Directed by Sandi Tan
Three Identical Strangers | Directed by Tim Wardle
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? | Directed by Morgan Neville

Outstanding Achievement in a Nonfiction Film for Broadcast

Baltimore Rising | Directed by Sonja Sohn | HBO
Believer | Directed by Don Argott | HBO
The Final Year | Directed by Greg Barker | HBO
I Am Evidence | Directed by Trish Adlesic and Geeta Gandbhir | HBO
Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press | Directed by Brian Knappenberger | Netflix
This is Home: A Refugee Story | Directed by Alexandra Shiva | Epix

Outstanding Achievement in a Nonfiction Series for Broadcast

America to Me | Directed by Steve James | Starz
Evil Genius | Directed by Trey Borzilleri and Barbara Schroeder | Netflix
Flint Town | Directed by Zackary Canepari, Drea Cooper and Jessica Dimmock | Netflix
The Fourth Estate | Directed by Liz Garbus | Showtime
The Trade | Directed by Matthew Heineman | Showtime
Wild Wild Country | Directed by Chapman Way and Maclain Way | Netflix

Heterodox Award

American Animals | Directed by Bart Layton
Obscuro Barroco | Directed by Evangelia Kranioti
Skate Kitchen | Directed by Crystal Moselle
The Tale | Directed by Jennifer Fox
We the Animals | Directed by Jeremiah Zagar

Unforgettables
(non-competitive honor)

Annette Ontell | 306 Hollywood
América | América
Issei Sagawa | Caniba
Alex Honnold | Free Solo
Julita Salmerón | Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle
Nick Bollettieri | Love Means Zero
M.I.A. | Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.
Kiere Johnson, Bing Liu and Zack Mulligan | Minding the Gap
Abu Osama | Of Fathers and Sons
Nadia Murad | On Her Shoulders
Ruth Bader Ginsburg | RBG
Scotty Bowers | Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Georges Cardona, Jasmine Ng, Sophie Siddique and Sandi Tan | Shirkers
Edward Galland, David Kellman and Robert Shafran | Three Identical Strangers
Fred Rogers | Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Nominations By Film
Note: Number of Nominations does not include Unforgettables

7
Minding the Gap

5
Bisbee ‘17
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Shirkers

4
Free Solo
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

3
Of Fathers and Sons
Three Identical Strangers

2
Bathtubs Over Broadway
Distant Constellation

1
América
America to Me
American Animals
Baby Brother
Baltimore Rising
Believer
Beuys
Concussion Protocol
Crime + Punishment
The Dawn Wall
Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
The Distant Barking of Dogs
Evil Genius
The Final Year
Flint Town
The Fourth Estate
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
I Am Evidence
Island of the Hungry Ghosts
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
Liyana
Makala
My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes
Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press
Obscuro Barroco
On Her Shoulders
The Other Side of Everything
Quincy
RBG
Roll Red Roll
The Silence of Others
Skate Kitchen
Skip Day
The Tale
This is Congo
This is Home: A Refugee Story
Time Trial
The Trade
Volte
We the Animals
Wild Wild Country
A Woman Captured

Most Individual Nominations This Year

Bing Liu – 6 (also named as one of this year’s Unforgettables)

RaMell Ross – 5

Sandi Tan – 4 (also named as one of this year’s Unforgettables)

Jimmy Chin – 3

Susan Bedusa – 2
Hans Robert Eisenhauer – 2
Bennett Elliot – 2
Ansgar Frerich – 2
Robert Greene – 2
Eva Kemme – 2
Shevaun Mizrahi – 2
Morgan Neville – 2
Tobias N. Siebert – 2
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi – 2
Tim Wardle – 2