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The 2026 Oscars race for the documentary categories is coming into focus. IndieWire can announce the 2025 Albie Awards honorees, which leads directly into the campaign for securing an Academy Award nod.

The Albie Awards are billed as being a key industry event, especially as they take place prior to the New York Film Festival and at the start of Academy Awards campaigning. The 2025 Albie Awards will be held on September 24 at Ginny’s Supper Club at the Red Rooster in Harlem, with an after-party at the Maysles Documentary Center.

The 2025 honorees for the Albie Awards are a trio of acclaimed festival documentaries. Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck’s “Orwell: 2+2=5,” which premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, is among the selections, along with Sundance award winners “The Perfect Neighbor” and “Seeds.”

“Orwell: 2+2=5” captures the life of “1984” author George Orwell. Peck previously directed “I Am Not Your Negro,” screened at the Maysles...

The film’s title sparks visions of distant orbits and intimate recollections, evoking both the vastness of space and the intricate layers of one life. The documentary crafts a portrait that captures the legacy of a revered poet and activist, whose words have lit paths in the cultural and political arena.

Directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson present a narrative that interlaces archival clips with modern interviews and recitations of stirring verses, creating a portrait that is both expansive and precise.

This work presents an opportunity to observe a figure whose art has long been a mirror for the human spirit, its cadence echoing through historic movements and personal tribulations alike. The film examines a personal odyssey of memory and myth, intertwining the timeless appeal of poetic expression with the reflective musings of a mind steeped in creative thought.

The unfolding narrative considers the lasting impact of a voice that...

No streaming service does a director retrospective like the Criterion Channel, and March offers two masters at opposite ends of exposure. On one side is Michael Mann, whose work from Thief through Collateral (minus The Keep) is given a spotlight; on the other is Alain Guiraudie, who (in advance of Misericordia opening on March 21) has five films arriving. (2001’s duet of That Old Dream That Moves and Sunshine for the Scoundrels have perhaps never streamed in the U.S. before.) Meanwhile, three noirs from Douglas Sirk are programmed alongside a Lee Chang-dong retrospective that features three new restorations.

Showcases will be staged for Dogme 95, Best Supporting Actor winners, and French Poetic Relaism. Welles’ The Trial gets a Criterion Edition alongside Demon Pond; Horace Ové’s newly restored Pressure makes a streaming premiere alongside spruced-up copies of Amadeus, Love Is the Devil, Port of Shadows, and Burning an Illusion, as...

The pairing of famous directors with famous subjects proved an unbeatable combo in the documentary categories at the Creative Arts Emmys.

Ron Howard’s Jim Henson Idea Man, about the late Muppets creator, won Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, one of the marquee doc categories. And the winning didn’t stop there for the Disney+ film. It claimed a total of four trophies on the night, including Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program, Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (original dramatic score), and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program.

L-r Actors Jude Law, Daniel Brühl, Ana de Armas, Sydney Sweeney, Vanessa Kirby and director Ron Howard of “Eden” at the Deadline Studio held at the Bisha Hotel during the Toronto International Film Festival 2024 on September 7, 2024 in Toronto, Canada.

It’s been a major weekend for Oscar winner Howard, who unveiled his latest narrative...

The 2024 Tribeca Festival jury has been announced with a star-studded filmmaker lineup.

This year, David O. Russell, Selma Blair, Asghar Farhadi, Kim Cattrall, Francesca Scorsese, and more will select the winning projects in the film, games, and audio storytelling sections across the 17 competition categories. In addition to the awards in competition categories, the Nora Ephron Award, created to honor the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer, will be presented.

The festival, presented by Okx, will take place from June 5 through 16.

“We are thrilled to once again welcome a diverse group of remarkable filmmakers, creatives and industry players as jurors for the 2024 Tribeca Festival,” executive vice president at Tribeca Enterprises Nancy Lefkowitz said. “We look forward to their wide-ranging perspectives across storytelling genres and mediums coming together to honor the extraordinary group of submissions this year.”

The winning films, projects, filmmakers, storytellers, and actors in each category will...

Sheffield DocFest has selected 50 projects for the 2024 edition of MeetMarket, its pitching event for documentary films at development, production and rough cut stage.

Titles in the selection include Rachel Close’s One Of Us, a Romanian film in co-production with the UK. The film sees UK-Romanian filmmaker Close travel to Romania to help a stranger search for her birth mother. The project is produced by Monica Lazurean-Gorgan, who previously produced Berlinale 2023 selection Between Revolutions, and Elena Martin.

Scroll down for the full list of projects

The five Rough Cut projects include Isabel Alcantara and Alfredo Alcantara’s Mexican title The Age Of Water,...

Sheffield DocFest has selected 50 projects for the 2024 edition of MeetMarket, its pitching event for documentary films at development, production and rough cut stage.

Titles in the selection include Rachel Close’s One Of Us, a Romanian film in co-production with the UK. The film sees UK-Romanian filmmaker Close travel to Romania to help a stranger search for her birth mother. The project is produced by Monica Lazurean-Gorgan, who previously produced Berlinale 2023 selection Between Revolutions, and Elena Martin.

Scroll down for the full list of projects

The five Rough Cut projects include Isabel Alcantara and Alfredo Alcantara’s Mexican title The Age Of Water,...

More than a week after this year’s Oscar nominees were unveiled, the documentary world is still reeling from this year’s selections and trying to figure out what they might mean for the struggling sector. Notably, all filmmakers were international and the majority lacked distribution by major streamers; presumed favorites backed by Netflix, Apple TV+ and Max all failed to score a slot on the final Oscar ballot.

Doc branch voters no longer seem impressed by the major streamers’ ability to spend millions during campaign season, documentary film leaders tell Variety, and in the view of several notables, could harbor resentment towards those who have benefited from big spending by streamers.

This year’s feature nominees are: Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol” (PBS), Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” (Kino Lorber), Nisha Pahuja’s “To Kill a Tiger”, Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory” (MTV Documentary Films...

Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction took home top honors at the 24th Annual Black Reel Awards.

Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut, based on novelist Percival Ellison’s Erasure, took home six Black Reel Awards including Outstanding Picture. Jefferson was the biggest single winner of the night. Jefferson nabbed awards on five nominations, marking the most wins in a single night in Black Reel Award history. Jefferson also became the first person to sweep all the directing and writing awards in the same year. To round out the total victories for Jefferson’s film, Jeffrey Wright secured the award for Outstanding Lead Performance bringing Fiction’s total to six on the night. Wright became the thirteenth actor to win awards for Lead and Supporting Performances in their career.

Oprah Winfrey’s production of the musical version of The Color Purple was awarded the most Black Reel Awards with a grand total...

In late 2023, Taraji P. Henson created headlines for her outspoken candor on the press tour for The Color Purple. In various conversations supporting the Warner Bros. film — a musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, previously adapted for film in 1985 by director Steven Spielberg — Henson has tearfully relayed her frustrations as a Black woman in Hollywood.

Despite an Oscar nomination and four Emmy nods, Henson has admitted that finding roles that represent her stature as a respected leading lady still proves difficult. “The industry had me thinking I was too edgy, I’m street, I’m this, I’m that, and I ain’t Hollywood pretty. But the fight in me and my purpose, once I understood I had a purpose in this thing, I was like, ‘Oh no,'” she told The Hollywood Reporter in December. “There’s a place for me because there’s a girl...

Sam Green‘s 32 Sounds took the top honor of Best Feature at the 2024 Cinema Eye Honors Awards. Will this acknowledgement help raise the film’s profile for next week’s Oscar voting? The doc which premiered at the 2022 edition of the Sundance Film Festival beat out Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol, Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, Davis Guggenheim’s Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters and D. Smith’s Kokomo City which had the most noms of all docs with six.…...

32 Sounds, the innovative documentary that explores the power of sonic experience, pulled off a shocker at the Cinema Eye Honors Friday night, winning Outstanding Nonfiction Feature over Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie and other prominent nominees.

The film directed by Sam Green won two other awards: Outstanding Sound Design, recognizing the work of Mark Mangini, and Outstanding Original Score, which went to composer J.D. Samson.

32 Sounds is one of 15 documentaries shortlisted for the Academy Awards, along with Still, Four Daughters, The Eternal Memory, and 20 Days in Mariupol, all of which took home prizes at the Cinema Eye Honors.

‘Four Daughters’

Outstanding Direction resulted in a tie between two filmmakers, Kaouther Ben Hania of Four Daughters, and Maite Alberdi, director of The Eternal Memory. Alberdi’s film explores the love story of two of Chile’s most prominent figures in the arts and media, Paulina Urrutia and Augusto Góngora,...

The Cinema Eye Honors announced the winners for its documentary films and series competition Friday in Manhattan, with “32 Sounds” taking the honor for outstanding nonfiction feature. Maite Alberdi won outstanding direction for “The Eternal Memory” together with Kaouther Ben Hania for “Four Daughters,” while “Paul T. Goldman” won outstanding nonfiction series.

See all the winners below:

—Outstanding Nonfiction Feature

32 Sounds

Directed by Sam Green

Produced by Josh Penn and Thomas O. Kriegsmann

—Outstanding Direction

Maite Alberdi

The Eternal Memory

Kaouther Ben Hania

Four Daughters

—Outstanding Editing

Michael Harte

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

—Outstanding Production

Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden and Vasilisa Stepanenko

20 Days in Mariupol

—Outstanding Cinematography

Ants Tammik

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood

—Outstanding Original Score

Jd Samson

32 Sounds

—Outstanding Sound Design

Mark Mangini

32 Sounds

—Outstanding Visual Design

Thomas Curtis and Sean Pierce

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

—Outstanding Debut

Kokomo...

And now, we wait. The bulk of precursor nominations have poured in, and Oscar voting is newly underway. Aside from the final BAFTA roster, most of what’s left is merely a swift march to January 23, nomination day. A couple of films in particular are making well-timed streaming premieres that function as end-of-the-road campaign strategies.

The contender to stream this week: “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”

This Oscar-shortlisted documentary co-directed by spouses Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, who also made 2013’s “American Promise,” follows the eponymous poet and activist through years of civil-rights evolutions. If Black women can withstand the hardships of Earth, Giovanni posits, maybe they can survive in space, too. “Going to Mars” is more experimental than the average biography, which makes sense for such an elusive figure. The film won a jury prize at Sundance and has an Independent Spirit Award nomination. It’s newly streaming on Max.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)

A harrowing, brave account of what it’s like to defect from North Korea, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia follows a heroic pastor and the people he helps. Perhaps most unforgettable is a multigenerational family whose escape is shown through furtive, horror-movie-like handheld camera and revealing interviews. As Gavin offers a rundown of North Korean politics, we see this family slowly reckon with their own brainwashing and realize the world outside North Korea is not what their upbringing taught them to believe. – Lena W.

Where to Stream: PBS

The Florida Project (Sean Baker)

How, exactly, did Sean Baker do it? How did the director of Tangerine make this story of a mother and daughter living at a rundown...

There are probably countless ways to tell a story. The most common one is going from point A to point B, where A is the beginning and B is the ending. Then there are times when you’re dropped in the middle of a story that keeps going back and forth. And then, there are stories like Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, which don’t follow any particular structure. That makes perfect sense, as for someone like Giovanni, it’s rather impossible to make a straightforward biopic that starts with childhood and ends at the twilight age. It would also be quite pointless, as it clearly wouldn’t justify her socio-political impact on American culture. The director duo of Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson certainly gets all that, which is pretty evident from their HBO documentary titled Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project. It wouldn’t be...

When it comes to predicting the Oscars, there are no categories that can be more difficult than the three short film categories. That goes double for trying to predict the nominees in those categories. But don’t worry Derbyites. With the recent release of the Academy’s shortlists, we’ve got descriptions of each of the pieces that made the runoff for Best Documentary Short, we got you covered on this! Below we have descriptions of each of the 15 short films that made this year’s list. We even included information and links on where you can currently view them.

Among the topics that are tackled in this year’s crop are book bans in Florida, a barber who runs a community bank, how abortion was legalized in New York in the 1970s, a group of people who fix musical instruments, and the healthcare crisis that’s affecting rural America.

Filmmaker Sam Pollard, one of the most prolific and important forces in contemporary documentary, will be honored by Black Public Media at its upcoming PitchBlack Awards in New York.

Pollard — who directed or co-directed four films and docuseries this year alone, including The League and Bill Russell: Legend — will receive the Bpm Trailblazer Award in a ceremony on April 25. The event is set to take place at the Stanley H. Kantor Penthouse of Manhattan’s Lincoln Center, capping the latest edition of Bpm’s PitchBLACK Forum, described as “the largest pitch competition of its kind in the United States for independent filmmakers and creative technologists who create Black content.”

“A multiple Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning producer-director-editor, Pollard is known for his work on a plethora of important works including: Eyes On The Prize, Maynard, MLK/FBI, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, and Mr. Soul!,” a release noted.

Bobi Wine: The People’s President won the top prize of best feature documentary at the 2023 International Documentary Awards on Tuesday night.

The film follows music star, activist and opposition leader Bobi Wine amid Uganda’s 2021 presidential election.

Accepting the award during the International Documentary Association’s virtual awards show, co-director Moses Bwayo said, “The awareness this film has brought to world audiences has arguably kept Bobi Wine alive and out of prison for now.”

Asmae El Moudir won best director for The Mother of All Lies, in which El Moudir creates a replica of the Casablanca neighborhood where she grew up, allowing her to reconnect with her past.

The Mother of All Lies was nominated for three awards, along with Milisuthando, while Apolonia, Apolonia had a leading four nominations.

Incident, which reconstructs a Chicago police shooting in 2018 from numerous viewpoints, won best short documentary award. Pov and Pov Shorts...

The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced the winners in 18 categories at the 39th annual IDA Awards Show on December 12, 2023, which live premiered on IDA’s YouTube channel. A record number of IDA members cast votes for this year’s Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary nominees. Independent judging committees selected winners in all other categories.

The Best Feature Documentary Award went to NatGeo’s “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” which follows Uganda’s 2021 presidential election and music star, activist, and opposition leader Bobi Wine. “The awareness this film has brought to world audiences,” said co-director Moses Bwayo, “has arguably kept Bobi Wine alive and out of prison for now.”

This year’s Best Director was Moroccan Asmae ElMoudir, who won for innovative hybrid documentary and Moroccan Oscar submission “The Mother of All Lies,” in which ElMoudir uses clay puppets fashioned by her father to recreate incidents from her family’s past in Casablanca.

After making “American Promise,” Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster were looking to create a very different type of documentary. The married co-directors had spent over a decade documenting their son and his best friend’s journey through Dalton, one of the most prestigious private schools in the country.

“That was 13 years of intense verité filmmaking,” said Stephenson, when she and Brewster were on IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast. “And I think as artists, we wanted to explore the medium and figure out what other kind of storytelling can we try.”

The filmmaking partners knew they were looking for a new project that would allow them to use archival footage to focus on an artist but push beyond a normal biography profile. Brewster, in particular, was focused on making a film about a musician. “Music is an entry to your soul,” said Brewster. “And so we thought that would be emotionally resonant...

Deadline on Tuesday launched the streaming site for Contenders Film: Documentary, its annual showcase of the year’s best nonfiction films that are in the running for the Documentary Feature Oscar.

Click here to launch the streaming site.

A total of nine buzzworthy films participated in panel discussions during Sunday’s virtual event, featuring movies from Amazon MGM Studios, Apple Original Films, HBO Documentary Films, National Geographic Documentary Films, Paramount+ and MTV Documentary Films, Sony Pictures Classics, and Telemark and Greenwich Entertainment.

Panelists who joined to discuss their projects included directors Davis Guggenheim (Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie), Peter Nicks (Stephen Curry: Underrated), Jesse Moss and Amanda McBain (The Mission), Christopher Sharp (Bobi Wine: The People’s President), Raoul Peck (Silver Dollar Road), Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal (They Shot the Piano Player), Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson (Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project), Jakub Piątek (Pianoforte) and...

"I remember what's important and I make up the rest. That's what storytelling's all about." HBO unveiled an official trailer for the acclaimed documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, made by the two doc filmmakers Joe Brewster & Michèle Stephenson. This premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the top Grand Jury prize in its documentary section. This award-winning film travels through time & space to reveal the enduring influence of Nikki Giovanni, one of America's greatest living artists & social commentators. It reckons with the inevitable passing of time in a collision of memories, moments in American history, live readings, and visually unique depictions of Giovanni's poetry. Narrated by Taraji P. Henson. "Brewster & Stephenson's approach is imaginative and dreamlike, akin to the way Giovanni’s words are hair-raising in their power to summon unrealized ways of seeing." I watched this at Sundance and was also wowed by it,...

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project centers on the poet, with Giovanni herself on screen. Co-director Joe Brewster said he did not want to do a traditional documentary or biopic, and drew inspiration from documentaries on James Baldwin and Kurt Cobain.

“We actually pitched it as I Am Not Your Negro meets Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,” Brewster said at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary.

Co-director Michèle Stephenson added that she wanted the film to center on Giovanni, rather than other talking heads reflecting on her impact.

“Some of our visual vision and story vision came out of a bit of frustration with watching certain biographical documentaries,” Stephenson said. “We wanted to center her and her work and see everything through her voice to get a sense of how the process, the artistic poetry-making process happened.”

Brewster and Stephenson also got creative when Giovanni’s memory was limited,...

By the time December rolls around, a frontrunner has typically emerged in the Oscar race for Best Documentary Feature. Not this year. The contest remains wide open, more so than in any year in recent memory.

For that reason alone, it’s essential to hear from the leading filmmakers in the mix. And that’s where Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary event comes in. Out essential guide featuring an awards-worthy slate of outstanding nonfiction films kicks off Saturday at 9 a.m. Pt featuring panels from nine of the year’s most buzzy titles.

Click here to sign up for and launch the livestream.

Among the all-star talent on hand is Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim, director of Apple Original Films’ Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, about the beloved Hollywood icon. Guggenheim’s film recently won five prizes at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, including Best Feature and Best Director.

Also...

Exclusive: New York-based Women Make Movies has acquired U.S. rights for Palestinian Oscar entry Bye Bye Tiberias by Lina Soualem.

The intimate work sees Soualem accompany her Palestinian-French actress mother Hiam Abbass back to the Arab village within Israeli borders, which she left in the 1980s to pursue her acting career in Europe.

There, they reflect on her past as well as the lives of Abbass’ mother and grandmother in a powerful work exploring themes of displacement, identity and survival across four generations of women.

Wmm executive director Debra Zimmerman said the film was a “perfect fit” for the label, which aims to put spotlight on the work of female filmmakers.

“It is a beautiful film about four generations of Palestinian women,” she said. “I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to have this film seen widely right now by the diverse audiences that need and deserve to see it.

One of 2023’s most awarded documentaries arrives on HBO next month. After winning the Grand Jury Prize for Best U.S. Documentary at Sundance, “Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” will premiers on the network and stream on Max on January 8.

Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2024

Here’s an official synopsis of Joe Brewster & Michéle Stephenson‘s doc, courtesy of HBO:

Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project travels through time and space to reveal the enduring influence of Nikki Giovanni, one of America’s greatest living poets and social commentators.

Continue reading ‘Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project’ Trailer: The Sundance Award-Winning Doc Arrives In January at The Playlist.

IndieWire’s longtime commitment to highlighting boundary-pushing documentary filmmaking reached new heights this fall during the inaugural Art of the Doc screening series. Presented in partnership with National Geographic, Art of the Doc showcased six of the best nonfiction films of 2023 at the Landmark Westwood in Los Angeles. Each screening featured in-person conversations with filmmakers and documentary subjects moderated by IndieWire editors.

“Our editors gave careful consideration in selecting these films for our inaugural screening series, Art of the Doc,” IndieWire senior VP and editor in chief Dana Harris-Bridson said in a statement announcing the series. “We’re excited to have the in-person opportunity to share IndieWire’s perspective with the work of great filmmakers.”

“We’re thrilled to be launching our first documentary screening series with our partner National Geographic,” said IndieWire senior VP and publisher James Israel. “Nat Geo’s support of the art of current documentary filmmaking...

Apolonia, Apolonia leads the 2023 International Documentary Awards nominations with four nods.

Other top nominees include The Mother of All Lies and Milisuthando, which earned three nominations apiece.

All three films are up for the top prize of best feature documentary, along with two-time nominees Against the Tide, ANHELL69, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project and Q.

All of this year’s best director nominees represent films nominated for best feature.

Other two-time nominees, not up for best feature or director, include Anselm (best cinematography and original music score), To Kill a Tiger (best original music score and best writing) and Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (best editing and cinematography).

Winners will be announced at the IDA’s virtual awards show, set for Dec. 12, which will take place at 8 p.m. Pt and stream on documentary.org and the IDA’s YouTube, Facebook and Instagram channels.

“In the wake of devastating events...

The International Documentary Association has announced nominations in 18 categories for its 39th awards, which will be awarded in a streaming ceremony on Dec. 12.

The nominees for best feature documentary are “Against the Tide,” “ANHELL69,” “Apolonia, Apolonia,” “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” “In the Rearview,” “Milisuthando,” Q,” “The Mother of All Lies” and “While We Watched.”

The awards will unspool at 8 p.m. Pt on documentary.org and on IDA’s YouTube, Facebook and Instagram channels.

“In the wake of devastating events unfolding in the world and the grief our staff, board, community, and humanity at large are experiencing, we have decided to forego an in-person party. We know that stories have the power to encourage compassion, understanding, and peace. We are committed to preserving space for stories to be shared. Our wish is to recognize and celebrate the nominees and winners together, as a global documentary community,...

The 2023 IDA Documentary Awards has officially unveiled its list of nominees.

The 39th annual awards ceremony for the International Documentary Association will take place virtually on December 12, streaming on documentary.org, as well as the IDA YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram channels. The awards recognize the top films and projects in the documentary genre.

Nominees include “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” about how a Ugandan pop star disrupted the national political landscape; “Pianoforte,” following the prestigious international piano competition; and HBO documentary “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.” The shortlist for the nominees was announced earlier this year

The decision to hold the 2023 IDA Documentary Awards virtually was in part due to the current geopolitical landscape, according to IDA Interim Executive Director Ken Ikeda.

“In the wake of devastating events unfolding in the world and the grief our staff, board, community, and humanity at large are experiencing, we have decided to forego an in-person party,...

Lea Glob’s documentary Apolonia, Apolonia earned a leading four nominations today as the IDA Documentary Awards revealed its nominees for the 39th edition of the prestigious event.

Following closely with three nominations apiece were The Mother of All Lies, directed by Asmae El Moudir, and Milisuthando, directed by Milisuthando Bongela.

Apolonia, Apolonia, a personal exploration into the life and work of French artist Apolonia Sokol filmed over the course of 13 years, will compete for Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Writing, and Best Editing. Glob’s film won the top prize at IDFA, where it debuted last November, going on to win awards at Cph:dox in Copenhagen, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Sofia International Film Festival, among others. Despite its many laurels, the film has yet to land a U.S. distributor.

‘The Mother of All Lies’

The Mother of All Lies earned nominations as Best Documentary Feature,...

Updated with details about the next and final screening, which is “Stamped from the Beginning” on November 20. Learn more here.

This Monday, November 20, the next and concluding screening in our Art of the Doc series will be of Roger Ross Williams’ acclaimed “Stamped from the Beginning” at the Landmark Westwood. Doors open at 6:30pm with a pre-reception featuring beer, wine, and conversations with other documentary fans. Then at 7:30, the screening will begin, after which there will be a Q&a moderated by IndieWire’s Marcus Jones with director Roger Ross Williams himself. The film, based on the book by Ibram X. Kendi about how racist tropes permeate American culture, debuted to extraordinary acclaim at TIFF in September, and IndieWire’s Anne Thompson considers it a frontrunner in the Best Documentary Feature race at the Oscars.

New to our Art of the Doc series? Well, IndieWire has celebrated the...

The 2024 Cinema Eye Honors has officially announced its full list of nominees, with D. Smith’s debut feature “Kokomo City” topping the awards contenders.

The Sundance breakout film about Black trans sex workers has six nominations for the 17th annual awards ceremony which spotlights achievements in nonfiction and documentary films and series. The 2024 Cinema Eye Honors will take place January 12 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem, New York.

Following “Kokomo City” are Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” Sam Green’s “32 Sounds,” and Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory,” each with five nominations. All four films are nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature with the respective directors all nominated for Outstanding Direction.

This year’s Cinema Eye Honors also marks a history-making first with directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson being the first filmmakers to be nominated for Nonfiction Feature and Nonfiction Short in the same year,...

The Cinema Eye Honors for achievement in nonfiction and documentary films and series has announced nominees for the 17th awards ceremony. “Kokomo City” from D. Smith led the nominees with six. “20 Days in Mariupol,” “32 Sounds” and “The Eternal Memory” each received five nominations. The nominees for outstanding fiction feature also include “Four Daughters,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”

Outstanding direction nominees include Maite Alberdi for “The Eternal Memory,” Sam Green for “32 Sounds,” Kaouther Ben Hania for “Four Daughters,” Smith for “Kokomo City,” Claire Simon for “Our Body” and Wim Wenders for “Anselm.”

The Cinema Eye 2024 Awards Ceremony takes place on Jan. 12 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem.

Full list of nominees follows.

2024 Cinema Eye Honors Nominations

Outstanding Nonfiction Feature

20 Days in Mariupol

Directed by Mstyslav Chernov

Produced by Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath...

Cinema Eye Honors announced its nominations today for the 17th annual awards ceremony, to be held on January 12, 2024 at the New York Academy of Medicine. As the press release notes, “Kokomo City, the debut feature from D. Smith led all nominees with six nominations. Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol, Sam Green’s 32 Sounds and Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory each received five nominations. All four films are nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, where they are joined by Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project and Davis Guggenheim’s […]

The post Cinema Eye Honors Announces 2024 Nominations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Cinema Eye Honors announced its nominations today for the 17th annual awards ceremony, to be held on January 12, 2024 at the New York Academy of Medicine. As the press release notes, “Kokomo City, the debut feature from D. Smith led all nominees with six nominations. Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol, Sam Green’s 32 Sounds and Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory each received five nominations. All four films are nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, where they are joined by Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project and Davis Guggenheim’s […]

The post Cinema Eye Honors Announces 2024 Nominations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

A24’s Priscilla by Sofia Coppola catapults from four screens to 1,300, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers from Focus Features expands to 60 from six and two new indies have wide debuts — What Happens Later from Bleecker Street, directed by and starring Meg Ryan, opens at 1,400 locations and Daisy Ridley-starring The Marsh King’s Daughter from Roadside Attractions at over 1,000.

What Happens Later moved here from its original Oct. 16 perch, avoiding The Eras Tour opening crush. The rom-com debut of Meg Ryan after a long hiatus co-stars David Duchovny. Based on the play Shooting Star by Steven Dietz, the pic follows a chance encounter between two ex-lovers, Willa and Bill, who are snowed in at a regional airport and indefinitely delayed. See Deadline review.

The Marsh King’s Daughter stars Daisy Ridley and Ben Mendelsohn in an adaptation of a bestselling 2017 thriller by Karen Dionne,...

Every year the race for the Oscar for best documentary feature gets more expensive and less inclusive.

The challenging doc marketplace favors a handful of big-name filmmakers commissioned to make one-off films or docuseries. During the last two years, directors of independently made docs, especially those tackling hard-hitting social issues, have been facing an uphill battle to secure distribution.

The major streaming services, who just a few years ago were spending millions to acquire indie fare, seem to no longer be interested in garnering titles out of festivals.

There have, of course, been exceptions. Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony” sold to Netflix immediately after the film’s Telluride premiere in September, and HBO Documentary Films/Max picked up Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize U.S. Documentary winner “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” eight months after it debuted in Park City. Netflix acquired Laura McGann...

The International Documentary Association announced its shortlists of features and shorts in the running for the 39th IDA Documentary Awards, a list as notable for what was left out as for what films made the cut.

A total of 17 feature docs earned a place on the shortlist, including Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, directed by Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster, National Geographic’s Bobi Wine: The People’s President, Cannes winner The Mother of All Lies, and the Ukraine-themed film In the Rearview.

Among notable films left off the list: The Errol Morris documentary The Pigeon Tunnel, Kokomo City, Sundance winner The Eternal Memory, Roger Ross Williams’ Stamped From the Beginning from Netflix, and another Netflix title, American Symphony — the Matthew Heineman documentary about musician Jon Batiste. Scroll for the full list of nominated films.

Up to 10 nominees in the feature and short documentary...

The International Documentary Association announced the 17 feature-length and 25 short documentaries included on the shortlists for the 39th IDA Documentary Awards, which will be held during the week of Dec. 11in Los Angeles.

The nominees will be announced on Nov. 21, and IDA members will vote for Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary until Dec. 5.

“The 39th IDA Documentary Awards continues the tradition of celebrating the best of international nonfiction media of the year,” said Ken Ikeda, IDA’s Interim Executive Director. “This year’s Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary shortlists reflect important work from twenty-one countries. We are excited to celebrate the work of our community and present winners this December in Los Angeles.”

The 2023 shortlists and nominees are selected by independent committees of 280 documentary makers, curators, critics and industry experts from 40 countries. IDA received 669 total submissions in all categories from 48 countries.

Best Feature Documentary Shortlist

Against the Tide...

The International Documentary Association (IDA) on Tuesday announced its best feature and short shortlists for the 2023 IDA Documentary Awards.

The ceremony will be held during the week of Dec. 11 in Los Angeles — venue information is set to follow. Starting Nov. 7, IDA members will be able to view each of the shortlisted films on IDA Virtual Cinema, and up to 10 nominees from each category will be selected. The nominees will be announced on Nov. 21.

“The 39th IDA Documentary Awards continues the tradition of celebrating the best of international nonfiction media of the year,” said Ken Ikeda, IDA’s interim executive director. “This year’s best feature documentary and best short documentary shortlists reflect important work from twenty-one countries. We are excited to celebrate the work of our community and present winners this December in Los Angeles.”

280 documentary filmmakers, curators, critics and industry experts from 40 countries selected the shortlists. IDA received 669 total submissions from 48 countries.

The 39th International Documentary Awards have announced their shortlists for the best nonfiction entries of the year, with a ceremony to take place during the week of Dec. 11 in Los Angeles in a venue to be named. The films were selected by independent committees comprised of 280 documentary makers, curators, critics, and industry experts from 40 countries. IDA received 669 total submissions in all categories from 48 countries.

New York Times Op-Docs dominated the Documentary Short category with seven mentions, including entries from the Netherlands (“Neighbour Abdi”), Mexico (“Victoria”) and Hungary (“Away”) among the shortlisted selections. The Documentary Feature category appeared to favor less-buzzy international titles this season.

What is surprising about the IDA shortlist is how many of the year’s presumed top contenders are not included. Of the 21 nonfiction films that have been nominated by the Critics Choice Documentary Awards or placed on the Doc NYC shortlist of likely awards titles, only...

The International Documentary Association has unveiled their shortlist for their 39th annual award ceremony, celebrating the best in documentary filmmaking.

17 feature-length documentaries — including “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” and “Anonymous Sister” — were selected for the shortlist, as were 25 short films. The films hail from over 20 countries, including Canada, India, Cambodia, Denmark, Uganda, France, and South Africa.

From the shortlist, up to 10 nominees in both the Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary categories will be selected by IDA members. In addition, awards will be given to additional films in the following categories: Best Curated Series, Best Episodic Series, Best Multi-Part Documentary, Best TV Feature Documentary or Mini-Series, Best Short Form Series, Best Stand-Alone Audio Documentary, Best Multi-Part Audio Documentary or Series, David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award, Best Music Documentary, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Writing, Best Music Score, ABC News VideoSource Award,...

The 2023 Cinema Eye Honors have unveiled the 20 titles for its Audience Choice Prize Long List, with voting now open.

The 17th annual awards ceremony also recognized the best nonfiction and documentary films and series across five Broadcast categories and a Shorts List with 10 of the year’s top documentary short films, as well as the 20 films in the running for the Audience Choice Prize Long List.

This year’s list includes films from Cinema Eye Honors alumni including “The Eternal Memory,” “American Symphony,” “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” “Stamped from the Beginning,” “32 Sounds,” “A Compassionate Spy,” “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” “The Mission,” “The Pigeon Tunnel,” and “Stephen Curry: Underrated.”

Hulu series “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead the Broadcast Film and Series nominations with three nods each. The “1619 Project,” adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work with The New...

The documentary festival Doc NYC has unveiled the full lineup for its 14th edition. It will be a total of 114 features and 129 short films. The festival runs in-person November 8-16 at IFC Center, Sva Theatre and Village East by Angelika and continues online through November 26 with films available to viewers across the U.S.

The Short Lists sections showcase a selection of nonfiction features and shorts that the festival’s programming team considers to be among the year’s strongest contenders for Oscars and other awards. The Winner’s Circle are films already feted at major international film events while Come As You Are section highlights films about people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities.

Short List: Features

20 Days In Mariupol

Director: Mstyslav Chernov

Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden

An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the...

PBS’ “20 Days in Mariupol,” IFC’s “The Disappearance of Shere Hite” and MTV’s “The Eternal Memory” are among Doc NYC’s 14th edition featuring 114 features and 129 short films.

The shortlist for Doc NYC, the largest documentary festival in the U.S., was launched in 2012 and has become a key indicator and predictor for the Academy Awards’ best documentary feature category. Ten out of the last 11 winners for documentary feature were screened at the festival. In addition, 12 of the 15 shortlisted docs from 2022 were among its lineup.

Some other notable inclusions are Julie Cohen’s moving “Every Body” about the generation of intersex people living among us, Lisa Cortés’ “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” an intimate look at the queer rock ‘n’ roll legend, and Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony,” an emotional look into the life of singer Jon Batiste as he prepares for his performance at Carnegie Hall.

The festival runs from Nov.

Doc NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, on Tuesday announced its lineup in the short and feature categories, as well as for its Winner’s Circle category and its new section for 2023 titled Come As You Are.

All shortlisted films will have theatrical screenings at the festival. With Tuesday’s announcement, Doc NYC will present a total of 114 features and 129 short films in its 14th year, including 33 world premieres and 29 U.S. premieres.

The festival will run this year Nov. 8-16 at IFC Center, Sva Theatre and Village East Angelika in New York, and will run online through Nov. 26.

The festival’s new Come As You Are section features films about “people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities,” according to the festival. The Doc NYC Short List for documentary features was launched in 2012. For 10 of the last 11 years, the festival has screened doc features...

Catherine Breillat to present Last Summer and do a Deep Focus Free Talk at the 61st New York Film Festival. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Paul B Preciado, director of Orlando, My Political Biography (Main Slate selection) will deliver the third annual Amos Vogel Lecture during the 61st New York Film Festival. In Deep Focus: Todd Haynes will present his Image Book, Nikki Giovanni (featured in Joe Brewster’s Spotlight selection Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Story) will participate in a discussion moderated by Edwidge Danticat, Sandra Hüller, star of two Main Slate selections (Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall and Jonathan Glazer’s brilliant Cannes Grand Prix winner The Zone Of Interest), and Catherine Breillat.

Sandra Hüller to present The Zone Of Interest with Jonathan Glazer and Christian Friedel and do a Deep Focus Free Talk Photo:...

Exclusive: The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival announced the lineup for the 32nd edition of North America’s longest-running all doc festival, a slate that includes several world premieres and a slew of Academy Award-contending films. In addition, Hot Springs announced Oscar-winning actress Mary Steenburgen, an Arkansas native, will serve as honorary chair of the event in the resort town located in the scenic Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas.

Filmmaker, artist and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Sky Hopinka will receive the Hsdff Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award at this year’s festival; Diane Becker and Shane Boris, two of the Oscar-winning producers of Navalny, will earn the Impact Award. The festival runs from Oct. 6-14.

Musician Kishi Bashi, aka Kaoru Ishibashi

Among the world premieres happening at Hsdff are A Song Film by Kishi Bashi: Omoiyari, directed by Justin Taylor Smith...