The first Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, honoring the finest achievements in documentary features and non-fiction television, will be presented Thursday, November 3, 2016 at BRIC in Brooklyn, New York.

The awards will be determined by qualified members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA), and feature multiple categories across both television and film.

Awards in the documentary field, including Best Documentary Feature and Best Unstructured Reality Show, have in the past been presented as part of the Critics’ Choice Awards broadcast.




Broadcast Film Critics Association and Broadcast Television Journalists Association president Joey Berlin said: “To be able to shine a light on some of the most outstanding documentaries and non-fiction television programs is something we are really proud of. There is so much great work being done in these fields, but it is often difficult to introduce them to audiences. We believe the time has come to focus attention on these important, informative and entertaining productions, at an event dedicated solely to celebrating the positive effects these works have towards educating, inspiring and triggering social change amongst audiences.”

The nominees, selected by a committee of BFCA and BTJA members with a background and expertise in the documentary field, were revealed this morning, with the winners set to be announced at an awards gala – the first annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards – on Thursday, November 3, 2016 in Brooklyn, New York.

The full list of nominations follows below. Of note, Ava DuVernay’s “13th,” Ezra Edelman’s “O.J.: Made in America,” and Roger Ross Williams’ “Life, Animated” are all nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category.

See all the nominees below:



Best Documentary Feature
“13th”
“30 for 30 – O.J.: Made in America”
“Cameraperson”
“Fire at Sea”
“Gleason”
“Life, Animated”
“Tickled”
“Tower”
“Weiner”
“The Witness”

Best Direction of a Documentary Feature
Ezra Edelman (“30 for 30 – O.J.: Made in America”)
Ron Howard (“The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years”)
Kirsten Johnson (“Cameraperson”)
Keith Maitland (“Tower”)
Clay Tweel (“Gleason”)
Roger Ross Williams (“Life, Animated”)

Best First Documentary
Otto Bell (“The Eagle Huntress”)
David Farrier, Dylan Reeve (“Tickled”)
Adam Irving (“Off the Rails”)
Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg (“Weiner”)
James D. Solomon (“The Witness”)
Nanfu Wang (“Hooligan Sparrow”)

Best Political Documentary
“13th”
“30 for 30 – O.J.: Made in America”
“Audrie & Daisy”
“Newtown”
“Weiner”
“Zero Days”

Best Documentary Feature (TV/Streaming)
“13th”
“30 for 30 – O.J.: Made in America”
“Amanda Knox”
“Audrie & Daisy”
“Before the Flood”
“Holy Hell”
“Into the Inferno”
“Jim: The James Foley Story”
“Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures”
“Rats”

Best Director (TV/Streaming)
Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato (“Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures”)
Rod Blackhurst, Brian McGinn (“Amanda Knox”)
Ava DuVernay (“13th”)
Werner Herzog (“Into the Inferno”)
Morgan Spurlock (“Rats”)
Fisher Stevens (“Before the Flood”)

Best First Feature (TV/Streaming)
Jacob Bernstein, Nick Hooker (“Everything is Copy”)
Will Allen (“Holy Hell”)
Jessica Edwards (“Mavis!”)
Sophie Robinson, Lotje Sodderland (“My Beautiful Broken Brain”)
Deborah Esquenazi (“Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four”)
Jon Greenhalgh (“Team Foxcatcher”)

Best Limited Documentary Series
“30 for 30 – O.J.: Made in America”
“The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth”
“The Eighties”
“The Hunt”
“Jackie Robinson”
“Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music”

Best Ongoing Documentary Series
“30 for 30”
“Frontline”
“Last Chance U”
“Morgan Spurlock: Inside Man”
“POV”
“This is Life with Lisa Ling”

Best Song in a Documentary
“Angel by the Wings” from “The Eagle Huntress”
“The Empty Chair” from “Jim: The James Foley Story”
“Flicker” from “Audrey & Daisy”
“Hoping and Healing” from “Gleason”
“I’m Sill Here” from “Miss Sharon Jones!”
“Letter to the Free” from “13th”

Best Sports Documentary
“30 for 30 – Fantastic Lies”
“30 for 30 – O.J.: Made in America”
“Dark Horse”
“The Eagle Huntress”
“Gleason”
“Jackie Robinson”
“Keepers of the Game”

Best Music Documentary
“The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years”
“Gimme Danger”
“Miss Sharon Jones!”
“The Music of Strangers”
“Presenting Princess Shaw”
“We Are X”

Most Innovative Documentary
“Cameraperson”
“Kate Plays Christine”
“Life, Animated”
“Nuts”
“Tower”
“Under the Sun”