Sugarcane, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, and Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story are the leading nomination vote getters for the Critics Choice Association’s Ninth Annual Documentary Awards with winners to be named in a ceremony at the Edison Ballroom in NYC on November 10, 2024. Full Disclosure: I am a CCA member and served on the Documentary selection committee again this year.
Sugarcane, a powerful film about an investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school and its effect on the nearby Sugarcane Reservation, received a leading 8 nominations, while Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story received 6 nominations for its remarkable and moving tale of a unique friendship between a man and an otter in remote Shetland Islands.
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The latter is the kind of wonderful unheralded film that could play exceptionally well with the Academy in the same way that My Octopus Teacher did as it went on to win the Oscar. Both Sugarcane and Billy & Molly come from National Geographic Films. Super/Man, from Warner Bros. which also received 6 nominations and like Sugarcane (Best Director Docu winner) debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, is the emotional and expertly told story of actor Christopher Reeve and his life-changing near-fatal horse riding accident that led him to become an activist for disability rights.
All three are nominated for the top award, Best Documentary Feature, along with four movies from Netflix, including another Sundance debut Will & Harper, Daughters, The Greatest Night In Pop, and The Remarkable Life Of Ibelin. Also up for Best Docu Feature are Focus Features’ inventive Pharrell Williams Lego doc Piece By Piece from Oscar winner Morgan Neville, Disney+’s Emmy-winning Jim Henson Idea Man from director Ron Howard, and Walt Disney Studios’ Music By John Williams, which is slated to open the AFI Film Festival in Hollywood next week.
One of the first stops in the season, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards are often a harbinger of the Oscars and certainly shine a light on many potential nominees.
The Critics Choice Documentary Awards will be live-streamed through YouTube, X and Facebook. Viewing links will be available on the Critics Choice Association website at 7:00 PM ET on Sunday, November 10.
Here is a complete list of the nominees:
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic)
Daughters (Netflix)
The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix)
Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+)
Music by John Williams (Walt Disney Studios)
Piece by Piece (Focus Features)
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
Will & Harper (Netflix)
BEST DIRECTOR
Ian Bonhôte & Peter Ettedgui – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
Josh Greenbaum – Will & Harper (Netflix)
Ron Howard – Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+)
Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie – Sugarcane (National Geographic)
Natalie Rae & Angela Patton – Daughters (Netflix)
Benjamin Ree – The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER(S)
Brendan Bellomo & Slava Leontyev – Porcelain War (Picturehouse)
Carla Gutiérrez – Frida (Amazon MGM Studios)
Charlie Hamilton James – Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic)
Sue Kim – The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie – Sugarcane (National Geographic)
Natalie Rae & Angela Patton – Daughters (Netflix)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Michael Cambio Fernandez – Daughters (Netflix)
Charlie Hamilton James, Johnny Rolt, Bertie Gregory – Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story
(National Geographic)
Christopher LaMarca, Emily Kassie – Sugarcane (National Geographic)
Iris Ng, Eunsoo Cho, Justin Turkowski – The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
Zoë White – Will & Harper (Netflix)
Jessica Young – The Blue Angels (Amazon MGM Studios)
BEST EDITING
Otto Burnham – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
Rik Chaubet – Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Lorber)
Paul Crowder – Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+)
Troy Lewis, Adelina Bichiș – Daughters (Netflix)
Nathan Punwar, Maya Daisy Hawke – Sugarcane (National Geographic)
Robert Stengård – The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
BEST SCORE
Erland Cooper – Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic)
Ilan Eshkeri – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
Nathan Halpern – Will & Harper (Netflix)
Uno Helmersson – The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
Kelsey Lu – Daughters (Netflix)
Marc Shaiman – Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (HBO | Max)
BEST NARRATION
Bad River (50 Eggs Films), Written by Mary Mazzio, Performed by Quannah ChasingHorse & Edward Norton
Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic), Written by Charlie Hamilton James, Performed by Billy Mail & Susan Mail
Dahomey (Mubi), Written by Makenzy Orcel, Performed by Lucrece Houegbelo, Parfait Viayinon, Didier Sedoha Nassegande, and Sabin Badjogoumin
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (Cohen Media Group), Written and performed by Martin Scorsese
Queens (National Geographic), Written by Chloë Sarosh, Performed by Angela Bassett
Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces (Apple TV+), Written and performed by Steve Martin
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
Black Twitter: A People’s History (Hulu/Onyx Collective)
The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix)
Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+)
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (Cohen Media Group)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Lorber)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
Bad River (50 Eggs Films)
Dahomey (Mubi)
The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix)
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (Cohen Media Group)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Lorber)
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
Frida (Amazon MGM Studios)
I Am: Celine Dion (Amazon MGM Studios)
Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+)
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces (Apple TV+)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix)
I Am: Celine Dion (Amazon MGM Studios)
Music by John Williams (Walt Disney Studios)
Piece by Piece (Focus Features)
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (Hulu)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Lorber)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
Bad River (50 Eggs Films)
Girls State (Apple TV+)
Porcelain War (Picturehouse)
Stopping the Steal (HBO | Max)
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
The Truth vs. Alex Jones (HBO | Max)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
Apollo 13: Survival (Netflix)
Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (National Geographic)
Blink (National Geographic)
The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
Secrets of the Octopus (National Geographic)
The Space Race (National Geographic)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
Copa 71 (New Black Films)
The Dynasty: New England Patriots (Apple TV+)
Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa (Netflix)
Mr. McMahon (Netflix)
Simone Biles Rising (Netflix)
The Turnaround (Netflix)
BEST TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY
American Nightmare (Netflix)
Black Box Diaries (MTV Documentary Films/Paramount+)
Incident (The New Yorker)
The Jinx – Part Two (HBO | Max)
Stopping the Steal (HBO | Max)
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
I Am Ready, Warden (MTV Documentary Films/Paramount+)
Incident (The New Yorker)
Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World (Netflix)
Once Upon a Time in Ukraine (Earle Mack Productions, Storyville Films, Goldcrest Films)
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Netflix)
The Turnaround (Netflix)
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (Netflix)
Black Twitter: A People’s History (Hulu/Onyx Collective)
Mr. McMahon (Netflix)
Ren Faire (HBO | Max)
Secrets of the Octopus (National Geographic)
Simone Biles Rising (Netflix)
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
30 for 30 (ESPN)
America’s Most Wanted (Fox Broadcasting Company)
The Food That Built America (History)
Independent Lens (PBS)
The Jinx – Part Two (HBO | Max)
POV (PBS)
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