IDA Cites the usual suspects as "Best Documentary"...

Though yours truly (Nathaniel) owns and operates this site, I am not really part of its growing documentary beat (thanks Glenn!). But as a known stickler for rules (without rules, games and competitions and awards ceremonies are useless, truly) I plead to the cosmos "Won't anyone join me in being enormously troubled that documentary associations see no trouble in nominated O.J. Simpson: Made in America in both TV and Feature categories?" Shouldn't these organizations have rules on such things. Shouldn't they have executive committees for situations in which rules are challenged or unclear.

The IDA Feature Nominees -- all but "I Am Not Your Negro" are also nominated in the BFCA's feature category

And if there is truly no distinction between TV and Film anymore (something we're willing to entertain even if we don't like it) than shouldn't we have an abrupt end to their separation in category/awards forms? In the past week or two we've had three announcements that effect or reflect the oncoming Oscar race for Best Documentary Film. In all three (BFCA Doc nominees, AMPAS long list, and now IDA) O.J. Simpson: Made in America is included among the features but in two of the three -- the two with TV awards --its parent series is nominated for television prizes. O.J. Simpson Made in America is part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series, if we understand correctly (do we?). Can anyone explain or justify what is happening? The full list of IDA nominations is after the jump...

Best Feature

• 13th (reviewed | now streaming)
  Director and Producer: Ava DuVernay
  Producers: Spencer Averick and Howard Barish
  Netflix
• Cameraperson (reviewed)
  Director and Producer: Kirsten Johnson
  Producer: Marilyn Ness
  Janus Films
• Fire at Sea (reviewed | interview | now playing theatrically)
  Director and Producer: Gianfranco Rosi
  Producers: Paolo Del Brocco, Roberto Ciccutto, Camille Laemle, Serge Lalou, Donatella Palermo, Olivier Pere and Martine Saada
  Kino Lorber
• I Am Not Your Negro
  Director and Producer: Raoul Peck
  Producers: Remi Grellety and Hébert Peck
  Magnolia Pictures
• O.J.: Made in America (reviewed | now streaming)
  Director: Ezra Edelman
  Producers: Deirdre Fenton, Libby Geist, Nina Krstic, Erin Leyden, Tamara Rosenberg, Connor Schell, and Caroline Waterlow
  ESPN
  TFE's Review 
• Weiner (reviewed)
  Directors and Producers: Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg
  Sundance Selects, Showtime Documentary Film 

Best Short Award

• The Above
  Director: Kirsten Johnson
  Producer: Marilyn Ness
  Field of Vision
• Clinica De Migrantes : Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
  Director: Maxim Pozdorvkin
  Producer: Jenny Lim
  HBO
• Extremis (also made AMPAS finalist list for shorts | now streaming)
  Director and Producer: Dan Krauss
  f/8 Filmworks Ltd, Netflix
• Pickle
  Director and Producer: Amy Nicholson
  Myrtle & Olive, Oscilloscope
• Red Lake
  Director and Producer: Billy Luther
  Producers: Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato
  World of Wonder Productions
• The White Helmets  (also made AMPAS finalist list for shorts | now streaming)
  Director: Orlando von Einsiedel
  Producer: Joanna Natasegara
  Netflix

Creative Recognition Award Winners

• Best Cinematography
  Fire at Sea
  Cinematography by: Gianfranco Rosi
  Kino Lorber
• Best Editing
  Cameraperson
  Edited by: Nels Bangerter
  Janus Films
• Best Writing
  I Am Not Your Negro
  Written by: James Baldwin and Raoul Peck
  Magnolia Pictures
• Best Music
  The Bad Kids
  Original Score by: Jacaszek
  FilmRise, ITVS

ABC News VideoSource Award

• 13th
  Director: Ava DuVernay
  Netflix
• I Am Not Your Negro
  Director: Raoul Peck
  Magnolia Pictures
• The Lovers and the Despot (reviewed)
  Director: Ross Adam and Robert Cannan
  Magnolia Pictures
• Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
  Directors: Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack
  PBS, American Masters
• Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You (reviewed)
  Directors: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
  Loki Films, Thirteen/WNET, Music Box Films, PBS, American Masters

  Best Curated Series Award
  

• BBC Storyville
  Executive Producer: Nick Fraser
  BBC TV
• DR2 Dokumania
  Executive Producer: Mette Hoffmann Meyer
  DR TV
• Independent Lens
  Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer and Lois Vossen
  ITVS, PBS
• Pacific Heartbeat
  Executive Producers: Leanne Ferrer and Leslie Wilcox
  American Public Television, Pacific Islanders in Communications
• POV
  Executive Producers: Justine Nagan and Chris White
  POV, PBS

Best Limited Series Award

• Belief
  Executive Producers: Sheri Salata, David Shadrack Smith, Jonathan Sinclair and Oprah Winfrey
  OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
• Cooked (now streaming)
  Executive Producers: Alex Gibney, Caroline Suh, Michael Pollan and Stacey Offman
  Netflix
• The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth (now streaming)
  Executive Producers: Scott Boggins, Ken Druckerman, Mark Halperin, John Heilemann, Mark McKinnon and Banks Tarver
  Co-Executive Producers: Ted Bourne and Mary Robertson
  Showtime
• Making a Murderer (now streaming)
  Executive Producers: Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi
  Netflix
• Streets of Compton (now streaming)
  Executive Producers: Brad Abramson, Elaine Frontain Bryant, Mark Ford, The Game, Alan Grunblatt, Cash “Wack 100” Jones, Tara Long, Kevin Lopez, John Morayniss and Shelly Tatro
  Entertainment One Reality Productions, Creature Films for A&E

Best Episodic Series Award

• Chef’s Table (now streaming)
  Executive Producers: David Gelb, Andrew Fried, Dane Lillegard, Brian McGinn and Matthew Weaver
  Netflix
• The First 48 (now streaming)
  Executive Producers: Elaine Frontain Bryant, Laura Fleury, John X. Kim, Alexis Robie and Peter Tarshis
  Co-Executive Producers: Joey Grossfield and Maija Norris
  A&E
• Last Chance U (now streaming)
  Executive Producers: Joe LaBracion and Greg Whiteley
  Netflix
• United Shades of America
  Executive Producers: W. Kamau Bell, Jimmy Fox, Eli Holzman, Stephen Lambert, Star Price and Layla Smith
  All3Media America, CNN Original Series, Objective Productions USA
• Woman with Gloria Steinem (now streaming)
  Executive Producers: Spike Jonze, Nomi Ernst Leidner, Eddy Moretti, Amy Richards, Shane Smith, Gloria Steinem and Ariel Wengroff
  VICE Media for Viceland

Best Short Form Series Award

• 30:30 Shorts
  Executive Producers: John Dahl, Libby Geist and Connor Schell
  ESPN
• Children Deported
  Executive Producer: Christer Fasmer
  VGTV
• Field of Vision
  Executive Producers: Charlotte Cook, Laura Poitras and AJ Schnack
  Field of Vision
• NomiNation
  Executive Producers: Lisa Leingang, Adam Pincus and AJ Schnack
  VANITY FAIR / VANITYFAIR.COM
• The New York Times Op-Docs
  Executive Producer: Kathleen Lingo
  The New York Times

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award

• 4.1 Miles  (also made AMPAS finalist list for shorts)
  Director: Daphne Matziaraki
  UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
• The Earth Did Not Speak
  Director and Producer: Javier Briones
  San Francisco State University
• How History May Come
  Director: Olesya Mazur
  Sydney Film School
• My Life As a Film- How My Father Tried to Capture Happiness
  Director: Eva Vitija
  Producers: Daniel Howald and Anita Wasser
  Zurich University of the Arts
• Transit Zone
  Director: Frederik Subei
  Edinburgh College of Art

Comments

[ken s]

While I think that OJ: Made in America was truly outstanding tv, I think it's fraudulent to consider it a film. The format was perfect for tv and I hope it cleans up at the Emmys. But it is NOT a film!

[Ryan T.]

Speaking of awards bodies... what's going on with Critics Choice and the exodus on some TV critics re: Entertainment Weekly partnership?

[Glenn Dunks]

I've gotten into a heated debate or two on Twitter about OJ, and I covered it on here, too, when reviewing MADE IN AMERICA. I think it's quite frankly unfair and offensive to documentarians who were not given the luxury of four two-hour slots on a major TV network to have their work placed against MADE IN AMERICA. They are two distinctly different artforms - long-form television (which this is) and film. Some are claiming it because it played at festivals and it technically played in theatres for a qualifying release that it is indeed fair and just, but did it play in cinemas for people to actually see or just to jump through a loophole? No box office figures have ever been reported as far as I am aware and it is quite clearly produced in an episodic fashion (with commercial break considerations). If Netflix had thought to put a special screening of Making a Murdered on a big screen for a week would it have been eligible? If STRANGER THINGS got put in cinemas could it be considered for Best Picture?

The lines are obviously blurred now thanks to Netflix, streaming in general, and other VOD services. But I do think there is a big difference between a film like 13th or AUDRIE & DAISY which was made to be viewed in a single sitting as a complete work of film and OJ MADE IN AMERICAN which was made for TV and took advantage of a loophole and is now somehow expected to be judged alongside 90 minute films.

I think the BFCA's documentary awards were the most absurd. Nominated as it was for Best Documentary (Theatrical Release) and Limited Documentary Series (OJ itself, not just 30 for 30). Like... are you a limited TV series or a theatrical film? Ugh. It appalls me that film critics seem unable to see the difference. I just hope the Academy see through it as it would set a dangerous precedence.