“Orwell: 2+2=5” led all films with seven nominations for the 2025 Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which announced its nominees on Tuesday morning.
The documentary by Raoul Peck (director of the Oscar nominated James Baldwin doc “I Am Not Your Negro”) explores the life, career and prescience of British writer George Orwell and his famous novel “1984,” which depicted a dystopian society’s total elimination of free thought and expression. Neon released the documentary in theaters earlier this month.
Netflix’s acclaimed “The Perfect Neighbor,” assembled from police body-cam footage, scored the second-most overall nominations, with six. Ukrainian doc “2000 Meters to Andriivka” received five nominations.
Other nominees in the Best Documentary Feature category are “The Alabama Solution,” “Apocalypse in the Tropics,” “Cover-Up,” “Deaf President Now!,” Orwell: 2+2=5,” “Pee-wee as Himself,” “Riefenstahl,” and “The Tale of Silyan.”
“The nominated films and series this year remind us how documentary storytelling can illuminate truth, inspire empathy and deepen our understanding of the world,” Christopher Campbell, Critics Choice Association’s VP, Documentary, said. “We’re thrilled to recognize the filmmakers whose vision and dedication keep the art form evolving.”
Because the Critics Choice Documentary Awards do not separate film and television documentaries into different categories, the nominations are a mixture of nonfiction films that received theatrical releases and ones that went straight to broadcast or streaming platforms.
The nominations are made by committees of members from the Critics Choice Association. Over the nine years of the CCDA’s existence, 56% of the Oscar nominees for Best Documentary Feature have first received Critics Choice Documentary Award nominations for Best Documentary Feature, a modest level of agreement considering that the CCDA nominate between 10 and 16 films in its top category and the Oscars only nominate five.
As the Oscar’s documentary lineup has grown more international in recent years, the Critics Choice has become an increasingly poor predictor of Academy Award nominees. Only one Critics Choice Documentary Feature received an Oscar nom last year (“Sugarcane”) and only two films pulled off the double in 2023 (“20 Days in Mariupol,” “The Eternal Memory”) and 2022 (“Fire of Love,” “Navalny”).
But the Critics Choice and the Oscars have agreed on the year’s best doc twice, with “O.J.: Made in America” in 2016 and “Summer of Soul” in 2021. Last year’s Oscar winner, “No Other Land,” was not a nominee at the Critics Choice.
The Critics Choice Documentary Awards will take place on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025 at The Edison Ballroom in Manhattan. Actor, writer and producer Aasif Mandvi will host.
As previously announced, honorary awards will be presented to famed director Ken Burns and filmmaking team Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.
Check out the full list of nominees below:
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)
Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)
Cover-Up (Netflix)
Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)
Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
Pee-wee as Himself (HBO Max)
The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber)
The Tale of Silyan (National Geographic)
BEST DIRECTOR
Mstyslav Chernov – 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
Petra Costa – Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)
Nyle DiMarco & Davis Guggenheim – Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)
Geeta Gandbhir – The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Andrew Jarecki & Charlotte Kaufman – The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)
Raoul Peck – Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Art for Everybody (Tremolo Productions)
Grand Theft Hamlet (Mubi)
My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay (HBO Max)
Seeds (Interior Films)
Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost (Apple TV)
Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror (Margot Station)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ben Bernard – Architecton (A24)
Jean Dakar – The Tale of Silyan (National Geographic)
Elizabeth Lo – Mistress Dispeller (Oscilloscope)
Lars Erlend Tubaas Øymo & Tor Edvin Eliassen – Folktales (Magnolia Pictures)
Brittany Shyne – Seeds (Interior Films)
Toby Strong, Doug Anderson (Underwater Photography) – Ocean with David Attenborough (National Geographic)
BEST EDITING
Michael Harte – Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)
James Lester and Oz Rodríguez, John MacDonald (Music Montage) – Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music (NBC)
Viridiana Lieberman – The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Page Marsella – The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)
Michelle Mizner – 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
Alexandra Strauss – Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
BEST SCORE
Alexei Aigui – Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
Kris Bowers – The Eyes of Ghana (Breakwater Studios / Higher Ground Media)
Laura Heinzinger – The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Claudia Sarne – Love + War (National Geographic)
Sam Slater – 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
Paweł Szymański – Trains (EPF Media / Drygas Film Production)
BEST NARRATION
2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
Written by Mstyslav Chernov
Performed by Mstyslav Chernov
The American Revolution (PBS)
Written by Geoffrey C. Ward
Performed by Peter Coyote
The Americas (NBC)
Writers TBD
Performed by Tom Hanks
Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)
Written by Petra Costa
Performed by Petra Costa
Octopus! (Prime Video)
Written by Gabriel Bisset-Smith
Performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
Written by George Orwell, Adapted by Raoul Peck
Performed by Damian Lewis
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
One to One: John & Yoko (Magnolia Pictures)
Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber)
Trains (EPF Media / Drygas Film Production)
WTO/99 (Foghorn Features)
BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
The American Revolution (PBS)
Cover-Up (Netflix)
Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015 (HBO Max)
Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time (National Geographic)
Number One on the Call Sheet (Apple TV)
Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber)
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
John Candy: I Like Me (Prime Video)
Love + War (National Geographic)
Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV)
My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay (HBO Max)
Pee-wee as Himself (HBO Max)
Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost (Apple TV)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Becoming Led Zeppelin (Sony Pictures Classics)
Billy Joel: And So It Goes (HBO Max)
Bono: Stories of Surrender (Apple TV)
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley (Magnolia Pictures)
Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music (NBC)
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) (Hulu)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)
Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)
Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)
The Librarians (Independent Lens)
My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow (Marminchilla)
Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
The Americas (NBC)
Checkpoint Zoo (Abramorama)
The Last Rhinos: A New Hope (National Geographic)
Ocean with David Attenborough (National Geographic)
Octopus! (Prime Video)
Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey (Netflix)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (Netflix)
America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys (Netflix)
Big Dreams: Little League World Series 2024 (ESPN Films)
Full Court Press (ESPN+)
Southpaw: The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott (ESPN)
We Beat the Dream Team (HBO Max)
BEST TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY
The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)
Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer (Netflix)
The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Predators (MTV Documentary Films / Paramount+)
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish (Netflix)
The Yogurt Shop Murders (HBO Max)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
All the Empty Rooms (Netflix)
Classroom 4 (PBS)
The Devil is Busy (HBO Max)
Exodus (Park County)
Fiddler on the Moon: Judaism in Space (Ironbound Films)
Sallie’s Ashes (Robi Creative)
Saving Superman (Switchboard)
Shanti Rides Shotgun (Voyager)
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
The American Revolution (PBS)
Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015 (HBO Max)
Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer (Netflix)
Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time (National Geographic)
Magic City: An American Fantasy (Starz)
Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV)
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night (Peacock)
The Yogurt Shop Murders (HBO Max)
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
30 for 30 (ESPN Films)
American Masters (PBS)
The Reluctant Traveler (Apple TV)
Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross (Roku Channel)
Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller (National Geographic)
Trainwreck (Netflix)
