Have you seen Kedi? The documentary about the cats of Istanbul and the people who care for them? If not, you should really try to see it. Kedi was just nominated, along with Jane and other films, for the Critics Choice award nominations for documentary. As usual, the documentary feature category is the most crowded, along with Foreign Language, and is stuck with only five slots. One of the best I’ve seen is Rory Kennedy’s Take Every Wave, nominated here in “best sports documentary.” Everywhere you turn there are great docs this year, like every year.
The ones that have Documentary and Director include:
Kedi
Cries from Syria
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
City of Ghosts
Dawson City: Frozen Time
California Typewriter
Chasing Coral
Faces Places
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library
Beware the Slenderman
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – Director: Steve James (PBS / Blue Ice Films, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Films Production)
Beware the Slenderman – Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky (HBO, Warner Bros. Television Distribution / HBO Documentary Films, Vermilion Films)
Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds – Directors: Alexis Bloom, Fisher Stevens (HBO / Bloomfish Pictures, HBO Documentary Films, Insurgent Docs, RatPac Documentary Films)
California Typewriter – Director: Doug Nichol (Gravitas Ventures / American Buffalo Pictures)
Chasing Coral – Director: Jeff Orlowski (Netflix / Exposure Labs)
City of Ghosts – Director: Matthew Heineman (Amazon Studios, A&E IndieFilms, IFC Films / Our Time Projects)
Cries From Syria – Director: Evgeny Afineevsky (HBO / Afineevsky – Tolmor Production, Cinepost Barrandov, Levy Entertainment Group, Studio Malibu)
Dawson City: Frozen Time – Director: Bill Morrison (Kino Lorber / Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures)
Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis – Director: Colin Hanks (HBO / Live Nation Productions, Company Name)
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library – Director: Frederick Wiseman (Zipporah Films)
Faces Places – Directors: Agnès Varda & JR (Cohen Media Group / Ciné Tamaris, Social Animals, Rouge International, Arte France Cinéma, Arches Films)
Jane – Director: Brett Morgen (National Geographic Documentary Films / National Geographic Studios, Public Road Productions)
Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films)
One of Us – Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady (Netflix / Loki Films)
Spettacolo – Directors: Jeff Malmberg, Chris Shellen (Grasshopper Film / Open Face)
Strong Island – Director: Yance Ford (Netflix / Yanceville Films, Louverture Films)
BEST DIRECTOR
Evgeny Afineevsky – Cries from Syria (HBO / Afineevsky – Tolmor Production, Cinepost Barrandov, Levy Entertainment Group, Studio Malibu)
Amir Bar-Lev – Long Strange Trip (Amazon / Amazon Studios, Double E Pictures, Sikelia Productions, AOMA Sunshine Films)
Matthew Heineman – City of Ghosts (Amazon Studios, A&E IndieFilms, IFC Films / Our Time Projects)
Bill Morrison – Dawson City: Frozen Time (Kino Lorber / Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures)
Doug Nichol – California Typewriter (Gravitas Ventures / American Buffalo Pictures)
Jeff Orlowski – Chasing Coral (Netflix / Exposure Labs)
Irene Taylor Brodsky – Beware the Slenderman (HBO, Warner Bros. Television Distribution / HBO Documentary Films, Vermilion Films)
Ceyda Torun – Kedi (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films)
Agnès Varda & JR – Faces Places (Cohen Media Group / Ciné Tamaris, Social Animals, Rouge International, Arte France Cinéma, Arches Films)
Frederick Wiseman – Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (Zipporah Films)
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY
California Typewriter – Director: Doug Nichol (Gravitas Ventures / American Buffalo Pictures)
Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films)
Nowhere to Hide – Director: Zaradasht Ahmed (East Village Entertainment / Ten Thousand Images)
Step – Director: Amanda Lipitz (Fox Searchlight / Impact Partners, Stick Figure Productions)
Strong Island – Director: Yance Ford (Netflix / Yanceville Films, Louverture Films)
Whose Streets? – Director: Sabaah Folayan, Co-Director: Damon Davis (Magnolia Pictures)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
11/8/16 – Directors: Duane Andersen, Don Argott & Sheena M. Joyce, Yung Chang, Garth Donovan, Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker, Vikram Gandhi, Raul Gasteazoro, Jamie Goncalves, Andrew Beck Grace, Alma Har’el, Daniel Junge, Alison Klayman, Ciara Lacy, Martha Shane, Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Bassam Tariq (The Orchard / Cinetic Media)
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – Director: Steve James (PBS / Blue Ice Films, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Films Production)
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – Directors: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk (Paramount / Actual Films, Participant Media)
City of Ghosts – Director: Matthew Heineman (Amazon Studios, A&E IndieFilms, IFC Films / Our Time Projects)
Dolores – Director: Peter Bratt (PBS Distribution / 5 Stick Films)
The Reagan Show – Directors: Sierra Pettengill, Pacho Velez (Gravitas Ventures, CNN Films)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
AlphaGo – Director: Greg Kohs (Submarine Entertainment / Moxie Pictures, Reel As Dirt)
Disgraced – Director: Pat Kondelis (Showtime Networks / Bat Bridge Entertainment)
Icarus – Director: Bryan Fogel (Netflix / Alex Productions, Diamond Docs, Impact Partners)
Speed Sisters – Director: Amber Fares (First Run Features)
Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton – Director: Rory Kennedy (Sundance Selects / Moxie Firecracker Films)
Trophy – Directors: Christina Clusiau, Shaul Schwarz (CNN Films, The Orchard / Candescent Films, Pulse Films, Reel Peak Films)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of our Lives – Director: Chris Perkel (Apple Music / IM Global, Scott Free Productions)
Contemporary Color – Directors: Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross (Oscilloscope / The Department of Motion Pictures, Public Domain, Todo Mundo)
Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis – Director: Colin Hanks (HBO / Live Nation Productions, Company Name)
I Called Him Morgan – Director: Kasper Collin (FilmRise, Submarine Entertainment / Kasper Collin Produktion, Sveriges Television, Film i Väst)
Long Strange Trip – Director: Amir Bar-Lev (Amazon / Amazon Studios, Double E Pictures, Sikelia Productions, AOMA Sunshine Films)
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World – Director: Catherine Bainbridge, Co-Director: Alfonso Maiorana (Kino Lorber / ARTE G.E.I.E, Rezolution Pictures)
MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECT OF A DOCUMENTARY
The Cats of Istanbul – Kedi (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films)
Etty – One of Us (Netflix / Loki Films)
Al Gore – An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Paramount / Actual Films, Participant Media)
Laird Hamilton – Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton (Sundance Selects / Moxie Firecracker Films)
Dolores Huerta – Dolores (PBS / 5 Stick Films)
Gigi Lazzarato – This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous (YouTube Red / SelectNext, Cabin Creek Films)
The Sung Family – Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (PBS / Blue Ice Films, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Films Production)
MOST INNOVATIVE DOCUMENTARY
78/52 – Director: Alexandre O. Philippe (IFC Midnight / ARTE, Exhibit A Pictures, Milkhaus, Screen Division, Sensorshot Productions)
Casting JonBenet – Director: Kitty Green (Netflix / Forensic Films, Symbolic Exchange, Meridian Entertainment)
Dawson City: Frozen Time – Director: Bill Morrison (Kino Lorber / Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures)
Karl Marx City – Directors: Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker (Bond/360 / Pepper & Bones)
Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films)
Last Men in Aleppo – Director: Firas Fayyad, Co-Director: Steen Johannessen (Grasshopper Film / Aleppo Media Center, Larm Film)
BEST SONG IN A DOCUMENTARY
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – “Truth to Power” – OneRepublic (Paramount / Actual Films, Participant Media)
Chasing Coral – “Tell Me How Long” – Kristen Bell (Netflix / Exposure Labs)
Cries From Syria – “Prayers for This World” – Cher (HBO / Afineevsky – Tolmor Production, Cinepost Barrandov, Levy Entertainment Group, Studio Malibu)
Dina – “Best I Can” – Michael Cera featuring Sharon Van Etten (The Orchard / Cinereach, El Peligro, Killer Films)
Served Like a Girl – “Dancing Through the Wreckage” – Pat Benatar (Entertainment Studios, Freestyle Digital Media)
Step – “Jump” – Cynthia Erivo (Fox Searchlight / Impact Partners, Stick Figure Productions)
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES (TV/STREAMING)
The Defiant Ones (HBO)
Five Came Back (Netflix / Amblin Television, IACF Productions, Netflix, Passion Pictures, Rock Paper Scissors Entertainment)
The Keepers (Netflix / Film 45, Tripod Media)
The Nineties (CNN / CNN, Playtone, Herzog & Company)
Planet Earth II (BBC America, AMC, SundanceTV / BBC Natural History Unit, BBC America, ZDF, Tencent, France Télévisions)
The Vietnam War (PBS / Florentine Films, WETA-TV Washington)
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES (TV/STREAMING)
30 for 30 (ESPN / ESPN Films)
American Masters (PBS / WNET New York City)
Frontline (PBS / WGBH-TV Boston)
Independent Lens (PBS / Independent Television Service, Inc.)
POV (PBS / American Documentary, Inc.)
VICE (HBO / VICE Media)
