“Fire of Love,” the National Geographic and Neon film about a married couple from France who were two of the world’s foremost volcanologists until an eruption in Japan killed them, leads all films in nominations for the seventh edition of the annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, the Critics Choice Association announced Monday.
“Fire of Love” received seven nominations, one more than “Good Night Oppy,” the Amazon release that looks at the unexpectedly long life of the Mars rover.
Other films with multiple nominations include the David Bowie experience “Moonage Daydream,” the film about a Russian dissident “Navalny” and the Holocaust memorial piece “Three Minutes: A Lengthening,” all of which received five nominations; and “The Automat”, “The Janes” and “The Beatles: Get Back”, which received four.
In the category of Best Documentary Feature, the nominees were “Aftershock”, “The Automat”, “Descendant”, “Fire of Love”, “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down”, “Good Night Oppy”, “The Janes” , “Moonage Daydream”, “Navalny” and “Sydney”.
The Critics Choice Documentary Awards do not distinguish between non-fiction and television, meaning that, for example, Judd Apatow and Michael Bonflglio were nominated in the Best Director category for the HBO documentary series “George Carlin’s American Dream” along with theatrical filmmakers and theatrical releases. like “Descendant”, “Moonage Daydream” and “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”.
The short documentary “Nuisance Bear” was nominated in the category of Best Short Documentary, but also in Best Science/Nature Documentary and Best Photography, where it is up against a list of feature-length documentaries.
As is customary at the CCDA, some of the year’s most acclaimed nonfiction films were not nominated at all (“Last Flight Home”) or were not nominated in the main category (“All That Breathes,” “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” “Retrograde”).
Winners will be announced on November 13 at the Edison Ballroom in New York City, with actor/comedian Wyatt Cenac hosting a ceremony that will be streamed live on Facebook Live and Instagram Live.
The ceremony will also include the presentation of the Pennebaker Award, formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award, to documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple.
Nominations were made by special committees of members of the Critics Choice Association. (Full disclosure: I am a member of the CEC but did not participate in the initial round of voting.)
The full list of nominees:
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
Replica (Hulu)
“The Automat” (A Slice of Pie Productions)
“Descendant” (Netflix)
“Fire of Love” (National Geographic/Neon Documentary Films)
“Gabby Giffords will not back down” (Briarcliff Entertainment)
“Goodnight Oppy” (Amazon Studios)
“The Janes” (HBO)
“Moonage Daydream” (HBO/Neon)
“Navalny” (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures)
“Sydney” (Apple TV+)
BEST DIRECTOR
Judd Apatow, Michael Bonfiglio – “George Carlin’s American Dream” (HBO)
Margaret Brown – “Descendants” (Netflix)
Sara Dosa – “Fire of Love” (National Geographic/Neon Documentary)
Reginald Hudlin – “Sydney” (Apple TV+)
Brett Morgen – “Moonage Daydream” (HBO/Neon)
Laura Poitras – “All the beauty and the bloodshed” (HBO/Neon)
Daniel Roher – “Navalny” (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures)
Ryan White – “Goodnight Oppy” (Amazon Studios)
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FILM
Andrea Arnold – “Cow” (IFC Films)
Lisa Hurwitz – “The Automat” (A Slice of Pie Productions)
Jono McLeod – “My Old School” (Magnolia Pictures)
Amy Poehler – “Lucy and Desi” (Amazon Studios)
Alex Pritz – “The Territory” (National Geographic Documentary Films)
David Siev – “Bad Axe” (IFC Films)
Bianca Stigter – “Three Minutes: A Lengthening” (Neon)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Benjamin Bernhard, Riju Das – “All That Breathes” (HBO)
Magda Kowalczyk – “Cow” (IFC Films)
Lucas Tucknott – “McEnroe” (Showtime)
Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman, Sam Holling – “The Annoying Bear” (The New Yorker)
The Photography Team – “Our Great National Parks” (Netflix)
Alex Pritz, Tangãi Uru-eu-wau-wau – “The Territory” (National Geographic Documentary Films)
BEST EDITION
Jabez Olssen – “The Beatles: Get Back” (Disney+)
Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput – “Fire of Love” (National Geographic/Neon Documentary Films)
Joe Beshenkovsky – “George Carlin’s American Dream” (HBO)
Helen Kearns, Rejh Cabrera – “Goodnight Oppy” (Amazon Studios)
Brett Morgen – “Moonage Daydream” (HBO/Neon)
Langdon Page, Maya Daisy Hawke – “Navalny” (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures)
Katharina Wartena – “Three Minutes: A Lengthening” (Neon)
BEST SCORE
Hummie Mann – “The Automat” (A Slice of Pie Productions)
Nicolas Godin – “Fire of Love” (National Geographic/Neon Documentary Films)
Blake Neely – “Goodnight Oppy” (Amazon Studios)
Max Avery Lichtenstein – “The Janes” (HBO)
David Schwartz – “Lucy and Desi” (Amazon Studios)
Marius de Vries, Matt Robertson – “Navalny” (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures)
BEST NARRATION
“Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story” (Fil and Fur Films)
Written by Ben Masters, performed by Matthew McConaughey
“Fire of Love” (National Geographic/Neon Documentary Films)
Written by Shane Boris, Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput, Sara Dosa, performed by Miranda July
“Goodnight Oppy” (Amazon Studios)
Written by Helen Kearns, Ryan White, performed by Angela Bassett
“Our Great National Parks” (Netflix)
Performed by Barack Obama
“Riotsville, USA” (Magnolia Pictures)
Written by Tobi Haslett, performed by Charlene Modeste
“Three Minutes: A Lengthening” (Neon)
Written by Bianca Stigter, performed by Helena Bonham Carter
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
“The Beatles: Return” (Disney +)
“Fire of Love” (National Geographic/Neon Documentary Films)
“Moonage Daydream” (HBO/Neon)
“Nothing Compares” (Showtime)
“Riotsville, USA” (Magnolia Pictures)
“Three Minutes: A Lengthening” (Neon)
BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
“The Automat” (A Slice of Pie Productions)
“Descendant” (Netflix)
“The Janes” (HBO)
“Londes County and the Road to Black Power” (Peacock)
“I still work 9 to 5” (Mighty Fine Entertainment)
“Three Minutes: A Lengthening” (Neon)
“America and the Holocaust” (PBS)
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
“The American Dream of George Carlin” (HBO)
“The Last Movie Stars” (HBO Max)
“Lucy and Desi” (Amazon Studios)
“The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” (Peacock)
“Salvatore: Cobbler of Dreams” (Sony Pictures Classics)
“Sydney” (Apple TV+)
“Mr.” (Netflix)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
“The Beatles: Return” (Disney +)
“Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” (Sony Pictures Classics)
“If These Walls Could Sing” (Disney Original Documentary)
“Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” (Apple TV+)
“Moonage Daydream” (HBO/Neon)
“Nothing Compares” (Showtime)
“The Return of Tanya Tucker – With Brandi Carlile” (Sony Pictures Classics)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
Replica (Hulu)
“All the beauty and the bloodshed” (HBO/Neon)
“Gabby Giffords will not back down” (Briarcliff Entertainment)
“The Janes” (HBO)
“Navalny” (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures)
“Retrograde” (National Geographic Documentary Films)
“Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” (Netflix)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
All That Breathes (HBO)
“Cow” (IFC Films)
“Fire of Love” (National Geographic/Neon Documentary Films)
“Goodnight Oppy” (Amazon Studios)
The Annoying Bear (The New Yorker)
“Back to Space” (Netflix)
“The Territory” (National Geographic Documentary Films)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
“Citizen Ashe” (Magnolia/HBO)
“Hockeyland” (Greenwich Entertainment)
“Kaepernick and America” (Dark Star Pictures)
“McEnroe” (showtime)
“The Redemption Team” (Netflix)
“Welcome to Wrexham” (FX/Hulu)
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
38 in the Garden (HBO)
“Angola, do you hear us? Voices From a Plantation Prison” (MTV Documentary Films)
“The Flagmakers” (National Geographic Documentary Films)
“Four Seasons Total Documentary” (MSNBC)
“My roadmap for disability” (The New York Times Op Docs)
The Annoying Bear (The New Yorker)
“A Stranger at the Door” (The New Yorker)
BEST DOCUMENTARY LIMITED SERIES
“The Beatles: Return” (Disney+)
“Hostages” (HBO)
“The Last Movie Stars” (HBO Max)
“The Lincoln Project” (Showtime)
“Our Great National Parks” (Netflix)
“America and the Holocaust” (PBS)
“We need to talk about Cosby” (Showtime)
BEST DOCUMENTARY SERIES IN PROGRESS
“30 for 30” (ESPN)
“American Masters” (PBS)
“Joy” (Netflix)
“The Circus” (Showtime)
Unsolved Mysteries (Netflix)
“Welcome to Wrexham” (FX/Hulu)
THE PENNEBAKER AWARD
barbara kopple
