Matthew Heineman’s Syrian documentary “City of Ghosts” and Yance Ford’s investigation of her brother’s murder, “Strong Island,” were among the movies singled out as the best nonfiction films of 2018 by the Cinema Eye Honors, which announced nominations on Friday in San Francisco.
Those two films and Viktor Jakovleski’s “Brimstone & Glory” led the field with four nominations each.
In the top category, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, “City of Ghosts” and “Strong Island” were nominated along with Frederick Wiseman’s “Ex Libris: The New York Public Library,” Agnes Varda and JR’s “Faces Places,” Feras Fayyad’s “Last Men in Aleppo” and Jonathan Olshefski’s “Quest.”
“Quest” was one of five films to receive three nominations,along with “The Challenge,” “Chasing Coral,” “Faces Places” and “Jane.”
The nominations were announced in San Francisco at a reception for SFFILM’s Doc Stories showcase.
Of the six films nominated for best nonfiction feature, three – “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places” and “Strong Island” – were also nominated by the International Documentary Association’s IDA Awards, which announced its nominees on Wednesday.
The Cinema Eye Honors feature-film nominations are voted on by committees made up largely of documentary programmers from film festivals around the world. Television nominations were made after a first round of voting by festival programmers, and a second round by film critics and writers.
Winners will be announced at the Cinema Eye Honors ceremony on January 11, 2018 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. Director Steve James will host.
The Cinema Eye Honors nominations:
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
“City of Ghosts”
“Ex Libris: The New York Public Library”
“Faces Places”
“Last Men in Aleppo”
“Quest”
“Strong Island”
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Kitty Green, “Casting JonBenet”
Matthew Heineman, “City of Ghosts”
Yuri Ancarani, “The Challenge”
Frederick Wiseman, “Ex Libris: The New York Public Library”
Agnès Varda and JR, “Faces Places”
Yance Ford, “Strong Island”
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
“Dawson City: Frozen Time”
“Jane”
“LA92”
“Long Strange Trip”
“Quest”
“The Reagan Show”
Outstanding Achievement in Production
“Brimstone and Glory”
“City of Ghosts”
“Human Flow”
“Last Men in Aleppo”
“Risk”
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
“Brimstone and Glory”
“The Challenge”
“Chasing Coral”
“Human Flow”
“Machines”
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
“Brimstone and Glory”
“The Challenge”
“Dawson City: Frozen Time”
“Jane”
“Rat Film”
“Strong Island”
Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation
“78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene”
“Chasing Coral”
“Citizen Jane: Battle for the City”
“Let There Be Light”
“Long Strange Trip”
Audience Choice Prize
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
“City of Ghosts”
“Chasing Coral”
“Faces Places”
“Jane”
“Kedi”
“Quest”
“Step”
“Whose Streets?”
“The Work”
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
“Brimstone and Glory”
“Communion”
“Machines”
“Rat Film”
“Strong Island”
Outstanding Achievement in Broadcast Nonfiction Filmmaking
“13th”
“Abortion: Stories Women Tell”
“Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds”
“Five Came Back”
“The Keepers”
“Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison”
Spotlight Award
“Donkeyote”
“An Insignificant Man”
“Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle”
“Plastic China”
“Stranger in Paradise”
“Taste of Cement”
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
“Edith+Eddie”
“Heroin(e)”
“Little Potato”
“Polonaise”
“The Rabbit Hunt”
“Ten Meter Tower”
The Unforgettables | Non-competitive Honor
The year’s most notable and significant nonfiction film subjects
Chanterelle Sung, Hwei Lin Sung, Jill Sung, Thomas Sung & Vera Sung, “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
Bobbi Jene Smith, “Bobbi Jene”
Abdalaziz Alhamza, Hamoud Almousa and Mohamad Almusari, “City of Ghosts”
Ola Kaczanowska, “Communion”
Dolores Huerta, “Dolores”
Dina Buno and Scott Levin, “Dina”
Agnès Varda, “Faces Places”
Daje Shelton, “For Ahkeem”
Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, “Icarus”
Dr. Jane Goodall, “Jane”
Jim Carrey, “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond”
Christine’a Rainey, Christopher “Quest” Rainey, PJ Rainey and William Withers, “Quest”
Yance Ford, “Strong Island”
Jennifer Brea, “Unrest”
Brian, Charles, Chris, Dark Cloud, Kiki and Vegas, “The Work”