Critics Choice Documentary Awards Nominations Unveiled

The Critics Choice Association (CCA) has announced the nominees for the sixth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards (CCDA).

For this year’s event, which has as its presenting sponsor National Geographic Documentary Films, the CCA will again honor the best achievements in documentaries released in theaters, on TV and on major digital platforms. Determined by the voting of qualified CCA members, the winners will be revealed at a gala event on November 14 at BRIC in Brooklyn, New York.

Features by two first-time documentarians, Ascension and Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), lead this year’s nominations with six each. Ascension is nominated for Best Documentary Feature, Jessica Kingdon for Best Director, Best First Documentary Feature, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Score. Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), meanwhile, is nominated for Best Documentary Feature, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for Best Director, Best First Documentary Feature, Best Editing, Best Archival Documentary and Best Music Documentary.

Recognized with five nominations each are Becoming Cousteau and The Rescue. The nominations for Becoming Cousteau include Best Documentary Feature, Liz Garbus for Best Director, Best Narration, Best Archival Documentary and Best Science/Nature Documentary. The Rescue is nominated for Best Documentary Feature, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Score.

Christopher Campbell, president of the Critics Choice Association documentary branch, said: “This has been and continues to be a fantastic year for documentary storytelling. And the number of first-time feature documentarians in the mix of nominees, alongside proven veterans, shows that nonfiction cinema continues to have a very bright future. Our world, from its most amazing wonders to its greatest challenges, is being reflected back on the screen so immediately and creatively by today’s filmmakers, and it’s a tremendous honor for us to recognize all of their achievements.”

The Pennebaker Award (formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award) will be presented to documentarian R.J. Cutler, whose Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry is nominated for Best Music Documentary.

Best Documentary Feature nominees are Ascension (MTV Documentary Films), Attica (Showtime), Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films), The Crime of the Century (HBO Documentary Films), A Crime on the Bayou (Augusta Films/Shout! Studios), Flee (Neon), Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+), The Lost Leonardo (Sony Pictures Classics), My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios), Procession (Netflix), The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films) and Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu).

Best Director nominees are Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin for The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films), Liz Garbus for Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films), Jessica Kingdon for Ascension (MTV Documentary Films), Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry for Attica (Showtime), Jonas Poher Rasmussen for Flee (Neon), Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu) and Edgar Wright for The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features).

Nominated in the Best First Documentary Feature category are Jessica Beshir for Faya Dayi (Janus Films), Rachel Fleit for Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+), Todd Haynes for The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+), Jessica Kingdon for Ascension (MTV Documentary Films), Kristine Stolakis for Pray Away (Netflix), Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu) and Edgar Wright for The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features).

Best Cinematography nominees are Jessica Beshir for Faya Dayi (Janus Films); Jonathan Griffith, Brett Lowell and Austin Siadak for The Alpinist (Roadside Attractions); David Katznelson, Ian Seabrook and Picha Srisansanee for The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films); Jessica Kingdon and Nathan Truesdell for Ascension (MTV Documentary Films); Nelson Hume and Alan Jacobsen for The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Bleecker Street Media); Emiliano Villanueva for A Cop Movie (Netflix) and Pete West for Puff: Wonders of the Reef (Netflix).

Best Editing nods have gone to Francisco Bello, Matthew Heineman, Gabriel Rhodes and David Zieff for The First Wave (National Geographic Documentary Films), Jeff Consiglio for LFG (HBO Max and CNN Films), Bob Eisenhardt for The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films), Affonso Gonçalves and Adam Kurnitz for The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+), Jessica Kingdon for Ascension (MTV Documentary Films), Joshua L. Pearson for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu) and Julian Quantrill for The Real Charlie Chaplin (Showtime).

Nominees for Best Narration are 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room (Apple TV+) with Jeff Daniels, Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films) with Vincent Cassel, The Crime of the Century (HBO Documentary Films) with Alex Gibney, The Neutral Ground (PBS) with CJ Hunt, The Real Charlie Chaplin (Showtime) with Pearl Mackie, Val (Amazon Studios) with Jack Kilmer and The Year Earth Changed (Apple TV+) with David Attenborough.

Best Score nominees are Jongnic Bontemps for My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios), Dan Deacon for Ascension (MTV Documentary Films), Alex Lasarenko and David Little for The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Bleecker Street Media), Cyrus Melchor for LFG (HBO/CNN), Daniel Pemberton for The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films), Rachel Portman for Julia (Sony Pictures Classics) and Dirac Sea for Final Account (Focus Features).

Up for Best Archival Documentary are Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films), The Real Charlie Chaplin (Showtime), The Real Right Stuff (Disney+), Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street (HBO Documentary Films), Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu), Val (Amazon Studios) and The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+).

Nominated for Best Historical or Biographical Documentary are Attica (Showtime), A Crime on the Bayou (Augusta Films/Shout! Studios), Fauci (Magnolia Pictures/National Geographic Documentary Films), Final Account (Focus Features), Julia (Sony Pictures Classics), My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios), No Ordinary Man (Oscilloscope) and Val (Amazon Studios).

Best Music Documentary nominees are Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry (Apple TV+), Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James (Showtime), Listening to Kenny G (HBO Documentary Films), The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features), Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures/Hulu), Tina (HBO Documentary Films) and The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+).

The Best Political Documentary category nominees are The Crime of the Century (HBO Documentary Films), Enemies of the State (IFC Films), Four Hours at the Capitol (HBO Documentary Films), Influence (StoryScope, EyeSteelFilm), Mayor Pete (Amazon Studios), Missing in Brooks County (Giant Pictures), Nasrin (Hulu) and Not Going Quietly (Greenwich Entertainment).

Nominated for Best Science/Nature Documentary are Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films), Fauci (National Geographic Documentary Films), The First Wave (National Geographic Documentary Films), The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Bleecker Street Media), Playing with Sharks (National Geographic Documentary Films), Puff: Wonders of the Reef (Netflix) and The Year Earth Changed (Apple TV+).

Up for Best Sports Documentary are The Alpinist (Roadside Attractions), Changing the Game (Hulu), The Day Sports Stood Still (HBO), Kevin Garnett: Anything is Possible (Showtime), LFG (HBO Max/CNN Films) and Tiger (HBO).

Best Short Documentary nominees are Audible (Netflix), Borat’s American Lockdown (Amazon Studios), Camp Confidential: America’s Secret Nazis (Netflix), Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol (The New York Times), The Doll (Jumping Ibex), The Last Cruise (HBO Documentary Films), The Queen of Basketball (The New York Times) and Snowy (TIME Studios).

Contenders for the Most Compelling Living Subjects of a Documentary honor include Ady Barkan in Not Going Quietly (Greenwich Entertainment), Selma Blair in Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+), Pete Buttigieg in Mayor Pete (Amazon Studios), Anthony Fauci in Fauci (Magnolia Pictures/National Geographic Documentary Films), Ben Fong-Torres in Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres (StudioLA.TV), Val Kilmer in Val (Amazon Studios), Ron and Russell Mael in The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features), Rita Moreno in Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It (Roadside Attractions) and Valerie Taylor in Playing with Sharks: The Valerie Taylor Story (Disney+).