‘City So Real’ and ‘David Byrne’s American Utopia’ Lead Cinema Eye Honors Broadcast Nominations

The late Diane Weyermann served as executive producer on both of the awards’ most-nominated projects

City So Real : American Utopia
"City So Real": National Geographic / "David Byrne's American Utopia": HBO

Steve James’ five-part series “City So Real” and Spike Lee’s film of David Byrne’s Broadway performance “American Utopia” are the leaders in the Cinema Eye Honors’ broadcast nonfiction categories, Cinema Eye Honors announced at a lunch in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The two works each received three nominations. “David Byrne’s American Utopia” was nominated as the year’s best broadcast film along with “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” “Disclosure,” “In the Same Breath” and “Tina,” while “City So Real” was nominated as the best nonfiction series alongside “1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything,” “Exterminate All the Brutes,” “The Lady and the Dale,” “Last Chance U: Basketball” and “Philly D.A.”

In making the announcement Cinema Eye founding director A.J. Schnack pointed out that the two most-nominated  projects were both executive produced by Diane Weyermann, the Participant and Sundance Documentary Fund veteran who died last week.

The nominations for “City So Real” extend Steve James’ record as the most nominated filmmaker in Cinema Eye history. He now has 13.

Cinema Eye Honors also announced that Cheryl Dunye’s 1996 film “The Watermelon Woman” will receive this year’s Legacy Award.

The organization also revealed the 11 semifinalists for its documentary short category, including four-time CEH winner Laura Poitras for “Terror Contagion.”

Nominations in the Cinema Eye film categories will be announced in November.

The nominees:

Broadcast Film

All In: The Fight for Democracy
Directed by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés | Amazon

David Byrne’s American Utopia
Directed by Spike Lee | HBO

Disclosure
Directed by Sam Feder | Netflix

In the Same Breath
Directed by Nanfu Wang | HBO

Tina
Directed by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin | HBO

Nonfiction Series

1971: The Year that Music Changed Everything
Directed by Asif Kapadia, Danielle Peck and James Rogan | Apple

City So Real
Directed by Steve James | National Geographic

Exterminate All the Brutes
Directed by Raoul Peck | HBO

The Lady and the Dale
Directed by Zackary Drucker and Nick Cammilleri | HBO

Last Chance U: Basketball
Directed by Greg Whiteley, Adam Leibowitz and Daniel George McDonald | Netflix

Philly D.A.
Directed by Yoni Brook, Ted Passon and Nicole Salazar | Independent Lens/PBS

Anthology Series

Earth at Night in Color
Alex Williamson, Executive Producer | Apple

Generation Hustle
Angie Day and Yon Motskin, Executive Producers | HBO Max

How to with John Wilson
Directed by Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman, Clark Reinking and John Wilson, Executive Producers | HBO

High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Fabienne Toback, Karis Jagger and Roger Ross Williams, Executive Producers | Netflix

Pretend It’s a City
Martin Scorsese, Fran Liebowitz, David Tedeschi, Ted Griffin, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Joshua Porter and Margaret Bodde, Executive Producers | Netflix

Taste the Nation with Padme Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi, David Shadrack Smith and Sarina Roma, Executive Producers | Hulu

Broadcast Editing

Allen v Farrow
Mikaela Shwer, Parker Laramie and Sara Newens | HBO

City So Real
David E. Simpson and Steve James | National Geographic

David Byrne’s American Utopia
Adam Gough | HBO

Exterminate All the Brutes
Alexandra Strauss | HBO

How to with John Wilson
Adam Locke-Norton | HBO

Outstanding Broadcast Cinematography

100 Foot Wave
Nominees to be determined | HBO

City So Real
Jackson James and Steve James | National Geographic

David Byrne’s American Utopia
Ellen Kuras | HBO

Earth at Night in Color
Nominees to be determined | Apple

High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Jerry Henry | Netflix

Legacy Award

The Watermelon Woman
Written and Directed by Cheryl Dunye
Produced by Alexandra Juhasz and Barry Swimar
Edited by Annie Taylor
Cinematography Michelle Crenshaw
Original Score Paul Shapiro

Shorts List

Águilas
Directed by Maite Zubiaurre & Kristy Guevara-Flanagan

A Broken House
Directed by Jimmy Goldblum

Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma
Directed by Topaz Jones

Elena      
Directed by Michèle Stephenson

Jobs for all!    
Directed by Axel Danielson & Maximilien Van Aertryck

The Last Cruise
Directed by Hannah Olson

Takeover
Directed by Emma Francis-Snyder

Terror Contagion
Directed by Laura Poitras

Three Songs for Benazir
Directed by Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei

We Were There to Be There
Directed by Mike Plante and Jason Willis

Your Street
Directed by Güzin Kar

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