“Cover-Up,” “My Mom Jayne,” “Pee-wee as Himself” and “Sly Lives!” are among the nonfiction films and broadcast productions that have been nominated by the Cinema Eye Honors, which unveiled its first round of 2025 nominations and honorees at its annual lunch in Downtown Los Angeles on Thursday.
Documentaries that made the 16-film longlist for the Audience Choice Prize and also placed their lead characters on the list of Unforgettables honorees were “Come See Me in the Good Light,” “Cover-Up,” “Cutting Through Rocks,” “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” “Prime Minister” and “Coexistence, My Ass!”
In the broadcast categories, “Social Studies” received three nominations while “My Mom Jayne,” “Pee-wee as Himself,” “Dallas, 2019,” “Omnivore,” “Our Oceans,” “Sly Lives!” and “Deaf President Now!” received two each.
Cinema Eye Honors is a New York-based organization dedicated to celebrating all facets of nonfiction filmmaking. In recent years, its nominations have been a relatively reliable predictor of Oscar success in the documentary feature and short categories.
Other nominations, including the feature-film lineup, will be announced on Nov. 13, with the 19th annual Cinema Eye Honors ceremony taking place on Jan. 8, 2026, in New York City.
Here is the list of nominees and honorees announced on Thursday:
Unforgettables Honorees
Noam Shuster-Eliassi “Coexistence, My Ass!”
Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley “Come See Me in the Good Light”
Seymour Hersh “Cover-Up”
Sara Shahverdi “Cutting Through Rocks”
Pasha Talankin “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”
Jacinda Ardern “Prime Minister”
Fatma Hassona “Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk”
Audience Choice Prize Longlist
“Apocalypse in the Tropics” Directed By Petra Costa
“Coexistence, My Ass!” Directed By Amber Fares
“Come See Me in the Good Light” Directed By Ryan White
“Cover-Up” Directed By Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus
“Cutting Through Rocks” Directed By Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni
“Deaf President Now!” Directed By Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim
“The Eyes of Ghana” Directed By Ben Proudfoot
“Folktales” Directed By Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
“It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley” Directed By Amy Berg
“The Librarians” Directed By Kim A. Snyder
“Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore” Directed By Shoshannah Stern
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin” Directed By David Borenstein
“Orwell: 2+2=5” Directed By Raoul Peck
“The Perfect Neighbor” Directed By Geeta Gandbhir
“Prime Minister” Directed By Michelle Walsh and Lindsay Utz
“The Tale of Silyan” Directed By Tamara Kotevska
Broadcast Film Nominees
“Deaf President Now!” Directed by Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim (Apple TV+)
“Democracy Noir” Directed by Connie Field (SWR / ARTE / DR)
“Enigma” Directed by Zackary Drucker (HBO | Max_
“My Mom Jayne” Directed by Mariska Hargitay (HBO | Max)
“Pee-wee as Himself” Directed by Matt Wolf (HBO | Max)
“Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)” Directed by Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson (Hulu)
Nonfiction Series Nominees
“Chimp Crazy” Directed by Eric Goode (HBO | Max)
“Couples Therapy” Directed by Pax Wassermann (Paramount+)
“Dallas, 2019” Directed by Darius Clark Monroe (PBS/Independent Lens)
“The Sing Sing Chronicles” Directed by Dawn Porter (MSNBC)
“Social Studies” Directed by Lauren Greenfield (FX on Hulu)
“The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth” Directed by Juliette Eisner (National Geographic)
Anthology Series Nominees
“Conan O’Brien Must Go” Executive Producers Conan O’Brien and Jeff Ross (HBO | Max)
“Harlem Ice” Executive Producers Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Robin Roberts and Geeta Gandbhir (Disney+)
“Omnivore” Executive Producers René Redzepi, Ben Liebmann, Chris Rice, Matt Goulding, Collin Orcutt and Mateo Willis (Apple TV+)
“Our Oceans” Executive Producers Jonathan Smith and James Honeyborne (Netflix)
“SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” Executive Producers Morgan Neville, Caitrin Rogers and Juaquin Cambron (Peacock)
“Tucci In Italy” Executive Producers Stanley Tucci, Lottie Birmingham, Amanda Lyon and Simon Raikes (National Geographic)
Broadcast Editing Nominees
“Deaf President Now!” Edited by Michael Harte (Apple TV+)
“My Mom Jayne” Edited by JD Marlow (HBO | Max)
“Pee-wee as Himself” Edited by Damian Rodriguez (HBO | Max)
“Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)” Edited by Joshua L. Pearson (Hulu)
“Social Studies” Edited by Alyse Ardell Spiegel, Helen Kearns, Catherine Bull and Charles Little II (FX on Hulu)
“Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos” Edited by Andy Grieve (HBO | Max)
Broadcast Cinematography Nominees
“Chef’s Table: Legends” Director of Photography Will Basanta (Netflix)
“Dallas, 2019” Director of Photography Christine Ng (PBS/Independent Lens)
“No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski” Director of Photography Steve Lidgerwood (National Geographic)
“Omnivore” Director of Photography Tom Elliot, Sy Turnbull and Jurgen Lisse (Apple TV+)
“Our Oceans” Director of Photography Roger Munns, Roger Horrocks, Justin Maguire, Ryan Tidman and Jamie McPherson (Netflix)
“Social Studies” Director of Photography Bryan Donnell, Jenna Rosher and Jerry Risius (FX on Hulu)
Shorts List
“All The Empty Rooms” Directed by Joshua Seftel
“Am I the skinniest person you’ve ever seen?” Directed by Eisha Marjara
“Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud” Directed by Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud
“Crying Glacier” Directed by Lutz Stautner
“The Devil is Busy” Directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton
“The Long Valley” Directed by Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and Robert Machoian
“Mama Micra” Directed by Rebecca Blöcher
“perfectly a strangeness” Directed by Alison McAlpine
“We Were The Scenery” Directed by Christopher Radcliff
“Who Loves The Sun” Directed by Arshia Shakiba
