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  • Originally published on
  • Monday, Oct. 15, 2018
Michael Moore will be honored with the Critics' Choice Lifetime Achievement Award
"Free Solo," "Minding the Gap," "Wild Wild Country" Top Nominations For Critics' Choice Documentary Awards
LOS ANGELES --

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) have announced the nominees for the third annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards. The winners will be presented their awards at a gala event, hosted by science educator and television personality Bill Nye, on Saturday, November 10 at BRIC in Brooklyn, New York. 

Free Solo leads this year’s field with six nominations and one honor, including Best Documentary, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi for Best Directors, Best Sports Documentary,  Most Innovative Documentary, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and a Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary honor for Alex Honnold.

Recognized with five nominations each are Minding the Gap and Wild Wild Country.

The nominations for Minding the Gap are Best Documentary, Best Sports Documentary, Bing Liu for Best Director and for Best First Time Director, and Best Cinematography. 

The nominations for Wild Wild Country are Best Documentary, Chapman Way and Maclain Way for Best First Time Directors, Most Innovative Documentary, Best Cinematography, and Best Limited Documentary Series.

Recognized with four nominations are Dark Money, Hitler’s Hollywood and Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
 
The nominations for Dark Money are Best Documentary, Kimberly Reed for Best Director, Best Political Documentary and Best Editing.

The nominations for Hitler’s Hollywood are Best Documentary, Best Political Documentary, Rüdiger Suchsland for Best Director, and Most Innovative Documentary.

The nominations for Won’t You Be My Neighbor? are Best Documentary, Morgan Neville for Best Director, Most Innovative Documentary and Best Editing.

Three Identical Strangers received three nominations and an honor, including Best Documentary, Tim Wardle for Best Director, Best Editing and an honor for David Kellman and Bobby Shafran for Most Compelling Living Subjects of a Documentary.

At the gala ceremony, filmmaker Stanley Nelson will be presented with the Critics’ Choice Impact Award.

As previously announced, multi award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore will be honored with the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award.

BFCA president Joey Berlin said, “The year 2018 has been called ‘The Year of the Documentary’ and we are so happy to give these films and shows the recognition and high praise that they deserve.”

The Critics’ Choice Awards are determined by qualified members of the BFCA and BTJA, and feature multiple categories across both television and film. Qualified members of BFCA and BTJA will choose the winners from amongst the nominees in voting from November 7-9.

The nominees for the third annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards are:

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Crime + Punishment – Director: Stephen Maing (Hulu)
Dark Money – Director: Kimberly Reed (PBS)
Free Solo – Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Hal – Director: Amy Scott (Oscilloscope)
Hitler’s Hollywood – Director: Rüdiger Suchsland (Kino Lorber)
Minding the Gap – Director: Bing Liu (Hulu)
RBG – Directors: Julie Cohen, Betsy West (Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media)
Three Identical Strangers – Director: Tim Wardle (Neon, CNN Films)
Wild Wild Country – Directors: Chapman Way, Maclain Way (Netflix)
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – Director: Morgan Neville (Focus Features)
 
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
America to Me (Starz)
Dirty Money (Netflix)
Elvis Presley: The Searcher (HBO Documentary Films, Sony Pictures Television)
Flint Town (Netflix)
One Strange Rock (National Geographic)
The Fourth Estate (Showtime Networks)
The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling (HBO)
Wild Wild Country (Netflix)
 
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
30 for 30 (ESPN)
American Masters (PBS)
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN)
Frontline (PBS)
Independent Lens (PBS)
Making a Murderer (Netflix)
POV (PBS)
The History of Comedy (CNN)

BEST DIRECTOR
Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi – Free Solo (National Geographic Documentary Film)
Bing Liu – Minding the Gap (Hulu)
Morgan Neville – Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Focus Features)
Kimberly Reed – Dark Money (PBS)
Rüdiger Suchsland – Hitler’s Hollywood (Kino Lorber)
Tim Wardle – Three Identical Strangers (Neon, CNN Films)
  
BEST FIRST TIME DIRECTOR
Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster – Science Fair (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Heather Lenz – Kusama – Infinity (Magnolia Pictures)
Bing Liu – Minding the Gap (Hulu)
Stephen Nomura Schible – Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (MUBI)
Rudy Valdez – The Sentence (HBO Documentary Films)
Chapman Way and Maclain Way – Wild Wild Country (Netflix)
 
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
RBG – Directors: Julie Cohen, Betsy West (Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media)
Dark Money – Director: Kimberly Reed (PBS)
Fahrenheit 11/9 – Director: Michael Moore (Briarcliff Entertainment)
Flint Town – Directors: Zackary Canepari, Drea Cooper, Jessica Dimmock (Netflix)
Hitler’s Hollywood – Director: Rüdiger Suchsland (Kino Lorber)
John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls – Directors: George Kunhardt, Peter W. Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt (HBO)
The Fourth Estate – Directors: Liz Garbus, Jenny Carchman (Showtime Networks)
 
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
Andre the Giant – Director: Jason Hehir (HBO)
Being Serena (HBO)
Free Solo – Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (National Geographic Documentary Film)
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection – Director: Julien Faraut (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Minding the Gap – Director: Bing Liu (Hulu)
The Workers Cup – Director: Adam Sobel (Passion River)
 
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Bad Reputation – Director: Kevin Kerslake (Magnolia Pictures)
David Bowie: The Last Five Years – Director: Francis Whately (HBO Documentary Films)
Elvis Presley: The Searcher – Director: Thom Zimny (HBO Documentary Films, Sony Pictures Television)
Lynyrd Skynyrd: If I Leave Here Tomorrow – Director: Stephen Kijak (Showtime Networks)
Quincy – Directors: Alan Hicks, Rashida Jones (Netflix)
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda – Director: Stephen Nomura Schible (MUBI)
Whitney – Director: Kevin Macdonald (Roadside Attractions, Miramax)
 
MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECT OF A DOCUMENTARY
(ALL LISTED IN THE CATEGORY WILL BE HONORED AT THE EVENT) 
Scotty Bowers – Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (Greenwich Entertainment, Kino Lorber, Starz!)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg – RBG (Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media)
Alex Honnold – Free Solo (National Geographic Documentary Film)
Joan Jett – Bad Reputation (Magnolia Pictures)
Quincy Jones – Quincy (Netflix)
David Kellman and Bobby Shafran – Three Identical Strangers (Neon, CNN Films)
John McEnroe – John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Leon Vitali – Filmworker (Kino Lorber)
 
MOST INNOVATIVE DOCUMENTARY
306 Hollywood – Directors: Elan Bogarin, Jonathan Bogarin (PBS, El Tigre)
Free Solo – Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (National Geographic Documentary Film)
Hitler’s Hollywood – Director: Rüdiger Suchsland (Kino Lorber)
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda – Director: Stephen Nomura Schible (MUBI)
Wild Wild Country – Directors: Chapman Way, Maclain Way (Netflix)
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – Director: Morgan Neville (Focus Features)
 
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
306 Hollywood – Cinematographers: Elan Bogarin, Jonathan Bogarin, Alejandro Mejía (PBS, El Tigre)
The Dawn Wall – Cinematographer: Brett Lowell (The Orchard)
Free Solo – Cinematographers: Jimmy Chin, Clair Popkin, Mikey Schaefer (National Geographic Documentary Film)
Minding the Gap – Cinematographer: Bing Liu (Hulu)
Pandas – Cinematographer: David Douglas (Warner Brothers)
Wild Wild Country – Cinematographer: Adam Stone (Netflix)
 
BEST EDITING
Dark Money – Editor: Jay Arthur Sterrenberg (PBS)
Filmworker – Editor: Tony Zierra (Kino Lorber)
Free Solo – Editor: Bob Eisenhardt (National Geographic Documentary Film)
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection – Editor: Julien Faraut (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Three Identical Strangers – Editor: Michael Harte (Neon, CNN Films)
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – Editors: Jeff Malmberg, Aaron Wickenden (Focus Features)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Michael Moore, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, was born in Flint, Michigan. He became an Eagle Scout, attended the seminary for the Catholic priesthood, and at age 18 became the youngest elected official in the country. At 22, he founded the Flint Voice, a nationally-recognized alternative newspaper. In 1989, Michael made his first film, the ground-breaking Roger and Me, which gave birth to the modern-day documentary movement. Moore went on to break the documentary box office record two more times with his 2002 Oscar-winning film, Bowling for Columbine and the Palme d’Or-winning Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore’s 2018 American political documentary, Fahrenheit 11/9, had its world premiere at The Toronto International Film Festival. Other notable films include the Oscar-nominated Sicko, Capitalism: A Love Story, and Where To Invade Next.  Moore won the Emmy Award for his primetime NBC series TV Nation and is one of America’s top-selling nonfiction authors, with such books as "Stupid White Men," "Dude, Where’s My Country?" and "Here Comes Trouble." Moore lives in Traverse City, Michigan, where he founded the Traverse City Film Festival and two art house movie palaces, the State Theatre and the Bijou by the Bay. He has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

IMPACT AWARD
Stanley Nelson, recipient of the Critics’ Choice Impact Award, is one of the foremost chroniclers of the African American experience working in nonfiction film today. His films, many of which have aired on PBS, combine compelling narratives with rich and deeply researched historical detail, shining new light on both familiar and under-explored aspects of the American past. Nelson, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, has received numerous honors over the course of his career, including five Primetime Emmy Awards and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Emmys, the Peabodys, and IDA; as well as Honorary Degrees from Duke University and Marymount Manhattan College. In 2013, Nelson received the National Medal in the Humanities from President Barack Obama. His latest film, Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, examines the impact HBCUs have had on American history, culture, and national identity. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2017, and aired nationally on the acclaimed PBS series, Independent Lens in early 2018. 

In 2000, Nelson, along with his wife, Marcia A. Smith, founded Firelight Media, a non-profit production company dedicated to using historical film to advance contemporary social justice causes, and to mentoring, inspiring and training a new generation of diverse filmmakers committed to advancing underrepresented stories.

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