by Nathaniel R
"Jane," now in theaters, took the top prize at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards
Perhaps if I'm too stay in the BFCA (home to the "Critic's Choice Awards") I should run for actual office within them. Why? Well, change from within. I literally never understand their decisions like awards ceremonies where there are no rules as to how large a category is or isn't. They have this same problem in their main movie awards to a small degree but their documentary competition is even more unruly/nonsensical. These awards, held last night in Brooklyn, had (pause for shuddering) 16 nominees for Best Documentary Feature but 10 nominees for Best Director and only 6 nominees for Debut Documentary and so on and so on. No rhyme or reason!
But herewith, this year's winners (links go to reviews if we've covered them). All of the feature film winners are on Oscar's long list (previously shared):
Documentary: JANE
Director: [tie] Frederick Wiseman for EX-LIBRIS and Evgeny Afineevsky for CRIES FROM SYRIA
First Documentary: KEDI
Political Documentary: ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL
Sports Documentary: ICARUS
Music Documentary: CLIVE DAVIS: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES
Most Innovative: [tie] LAST MEN IN ALEPPO and DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME
Best Song: "Jump" from STEP
Limited Series: THE VIETNAM WAR on PBS
Ongoing Series: AMERICAN MASTERS on PBS
There was also a non-competitive category called "Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary" and the following people/creatures were honored: The cats of KEDI, Al Gore for AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL, Etty for ONE OF US, Dolores Huerta for DOLORES, Gigi Lazzarato for THIS IS EVERYTHING: GIGI GORGEOUS, and The Sung family for ABACUS
Related:
Oscar Prediction Documentary Chart
Glenn's series "Doc Corner"