Strong Island Tops Cinema Eye Honors
Yance Ford’s Strong Island, which “mines his intense personal history of growing up on Long Island in the ’80s, with a focus on the murder of his brother and the shockwaves it sent through their entire family,” has won Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Debut, and Outstanding Nonfiction Feature Film at the eleventh annual Cinema Eye Honors. “Ford’s win for Outstanding Direction was also a history-maker: the filmmaker is the first to ever win the award for a debut film,” notes Kate Erbland at IndieWire.
“At a lunch Wednesday in Manhattan, this year’s Heterodox Award, given to films that provocatively expand the blurry line between fiction and nonfiction, was presented to Sean Baker’s The Florida Project and the Legacy Award was given to Leon Gast for his classic film, When We Were Kings,” adds Bruce Haring at Deadline, and "director Bryan Fogel and producer Dan Cogan were presented with the Hell Yeah Prize for Icarus."
Below, the complete list of nominees with the winners in bold.
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
Feras Fayyad’s Last Men in Aleppo
Yance Ford’s Strong Island
Matthew Heineman’s City of Ghosts
Jonathan Olshefski’s Quest
Agnès Varda and JR’s Faces Places
Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris: The New York Public Library
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
Bill Morrison, Dawson City: Frozen Time
Joe Beshenkovsky, Jane
T. J. Martin, LA 92
Keith Fraase and John Walter, Long Strange Trip
Lindsay Utz, Quest
Francisco Bello, Daniel Garber, and David Barker, The Reagan Show
Outstanding Achievement in Production
Nominees to be Determined, Brimstone & Glory
Matthew Heineman, City of Ghosts
Heino Deckert, Ai Weiwei, and Chin-Chin Yap, Human Flow
Kareem Abeed, Stefan Kloos, and Søren Steen Jespersen, Last Men in Aleppo
Brenda Coughlin, Yoni Golijov, and Laura Poitras, Risk
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Tobias von dem Borne, Brimstone & Glory
Yuri Ancarani, Luca Nervegna, and Jonathan Ricquebourg, The Challenge
Andrew Ackerman and Jeff Orlowski, Chasing Coral
TBD, Human Flow
Rodrigo Trejo Villanueva, Machines
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin, Brimstone & Glory
Francesco Fantini and Lorenzo Senni, The Challenge
Alex Somers, Dawson City: Frozen Time
Philip Glass, Jane
Dan Deacon, Rat Film
Hildur Gudnadóttir and Craig Sutherland, Strong Island
Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation
Chad Herschberger, 78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene
Matt Schultz and Shawna Schultz, Chasing Coral
Grant Nellessen, Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
Daniel Gies and Emily Paige, Let There Be Light
Stefan Nadelman, Long Strange Trip
Audience Choice Prize
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, directed by Steve James
City of Ghosts, Matthew Heineman
Chasing Coral, Jeff Orlowski
Faces Places, Agnès Varda and JR
Jane, Brett Morgen
Kedi, Ceyda Torun
Quest, Jonathan Olshefski
Step, Amanda Lipitz
Whose Streets?, Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis
The Work, Gethin Aldous and Jairus McLeary
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
Viktor Jakovleski, Brimstone & Glory
Anna Zamecka, Communion
Rahul Jain, Machines
Theo Anthony, Rat Film
Yance Ford, Strong Island
Outstanding Achievement in Broadcast Nonfiction Filmmaking
Ava DuVernay’s 13th
Tracy Droz Tragos’s Abortion: Stories Women Tell
Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens’s Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds
Laurent Bouzereau’s Five Came Back
Ryan White’s The Keepers
Kristi Jacobson’s Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison
Spotlight Award
Donkeyote, directed by Chico Pereira
An Insignificant Man, Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla
Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle, Gustavo Salmerón
Plastic China, Jiuliang Wang
Stranger in Paradise, Guido Hendrikx
Taste of Cement, Ziad Kalthoum
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
Edith+Eddie, directed by Laura Checkoway
Heroin(e), Elaine McMillion Sheldon
Little Potato, Wes Hurley and Nathan M. Miller
Polonaise, Agnieszka Elbanowska
The Rabbit Hunt, Patrick Bresnan
Ten Meter Tower, Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson
The Unforgettables
A non-competitive list honoring 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
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