'Fire of Love' and 'Good Night, Oppy' lead the Critics Choice Documentary Nominations

by Nathaniel R

Seven years ago documentaries got their own division of Critics Choice Awards with multiple categories and thus departed the main show where they were restricted to just one. For the seventh anniversary edition the box office hit Fire of Love (read Glenn's review) about married volcanologists and the space exploration doc Good Night Oppy (for which we just led a Q&A at Middleburg) lead the nominations in 17 categories. The ceremony will be held on November 13th at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan.

UPDATED 11/14/22 What follows is the full list of nominees AND WINNERS with links going to reviews if we've done them. Thanks to Glenn's expert "Doc Corner" column and various festival peeks, we've reviewed quite a few of them...

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• Aftershock (Hulu)
• The Automat (A Slice of Pie Productions)
• Descendant (Netflix)
• ★ [Silver] Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)
• Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down (Briarcliff Entertainment)
• ★ [Gold] Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)
• The Janes (HBO)
• Moonage Daydream (HBO/Neon)
• ★ [Bronze] Navalny (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures)
• Sidney (Apple TV+)

Good Night Oppy was the big winner of the awards, which were live-streamed for the first time this year, taking home five trophies. Fire of Love and Navalny, both looking strong for Oscar noms given other precursor notices, came in second and third respectively. This category is the only category with gold, silver, and bronze, the rest just getting one winner unless there's a tie. 

The year's arguably most acclaimed doc All the Beauty and the Bloodshed somehow missed this list though it's in the next category...

BEST DIRECTOR

• Judd Apatow, Michael Bonfiglio – George Carlin’s American Dream (HBO)
• Margaret Brown – Descendant (Netflix)
• Sara Dosa – Fire of Love  (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)
• Reginald Hudlin – Sidney (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 – Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

COW

• 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 – Nuisance Bear (The New Yorker)
• ★ The Cinematography Team – Our Great National Parks (Netflix)
• Alex Pritz, Tangãi Uru-eu-wau-wau – The Territory (National Geographic Documentary Films)

BEST EDITING

Three Minutes - A Lengthening

• Jabez Olssen – The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)
• Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput – Fire of Love  (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)
• Joe Beshenkovsky – George Carlin’s American Dream (HBO)
• Helen Kearns, Rejh Cabrera – Good Night 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 Documentary Films/Neon)
• ★ Blake Neely – Good Night 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 (Fin and Fur Films) Written by Ben Masters  Performed by Matthew McConaughey
• Fire of Love  (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)    Written by Shane Boris, Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput, Sara Dosa Performed by Miranda July
• ★ Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)  Written by Helen Kearns, Ryan White Performed by Angela Bassett
• Our Great National Parks (Netflix) Performed by Barack Obama
• Riotsville, U.S.A. (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: Get Back (Disney+)
• ★ Fire of Love  (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)
• Moonage Daydream (HBO/Neon)
• Nothing Compares  (Showtime)
• Riotsville, U.S.A. (Magnolia Pictures)
• Three Minutes: A Lengtheningg (Neon)

BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY

• The Automat (A Slice of Pie Productions)
• ★ Descendant (Netflix)
• The Janes (HBO)
• Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (Peacock)
• Still Working 9 to 5 (Mighty Fine Entertainment)
• Three Minutes: A Lengtheningg (Neon)
• The U.S. and the Holocaust (PBS)

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY

• George Carlin’s American Dream (HBO)
• The Last Movie Stars (HBO Max)
• Lucy and Desi (Amazon Studios)
• The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Peacock)
• Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams (Sony Pictures Classics)
• ★ Sidney (Apple TV+)
• Sr. (Netflix)

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY 

• ★ The Beatles: Get Back (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 - Featuring Brandi Carlile (Sony Pictures Classics)

BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY 

• Aftershock (Hulu)
• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (HBO/Neon)
• Gabby Giffords Won’t 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 Documentary Films/Neon)
• ★ Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)
• Nuisance Bear (The New Yorker)
• Return to Space (Netflix)
• The Territory (National Geographic Documentary Films)

BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY

Hockeyland

• ★ Citizen Ashe (Magnolia/HBO)
• Hockeyland (Greenwich Entertainment)
• Kaepernick & America (Dark Star Pictures)
• McEnroe (Showtime)
• The Redeem Team (Netflix)
• ★ Welcome to Wrexham (FX/Hulu)

Citizen Ashe was eligible at the Oscars last year so you won't see it pop up in the discussion this time around.

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY

• 38 at 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 Disability Roadmap (The New York Times Op Docs)
• ★ Nuisance Bear (The New Yorker)
• Stranger at the Gate (The New Yorker)

BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES

• ★ The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)
• Hostages (HBO)
• The Last Movie Stars (HBO Max)
• The Lincoln Project (Showtime)
• Our Great National Parks (Netflix)
• The U.S. and the Holocaust (PBS)
• We Need to Talk About Cosby (Showtime) 

Because these awards are on a different time table they don't align with the Emmys. For instance The Beatles Get Back and Our Great National Parks recently won Emmys and We Need To Talk About Cosby was nominated. The others will be eligible at the 2023 Emmys next September. 

BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES

• ★ 30 for 30 (ESPN)
• American Masters (PBS)
• Cheer (Netflix)
• The Circus (Showtime)
• Unsolved Mysteries (Netflix)
• Welcome to Wrexham (FX/Hulu)

THE PENNEBAKER AWARD

• Barbara Kopple 

Comments

[Finbar McBride]

I am pleased to see Sidney getting early traction in the Oscar season. The Oprah Winfrey produced love letter to the late actor Sidney Poitier is strong.

Today’s audience discount the power of the interracial kiss in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and the scene where police detective Virgil Tibbs slaps a bigoted land owner in the Deep South in In The Heat of the Night. Sitting in a darkened movie theater during those moments was uncomfortable. To help a modern audience understand that, the film interviews actress Katharine Houghton who shared that passionate kiss with Poitier in the back seat of a cab. Houghton vividly relives the moment by describing the reaction of the crew as the kiss was filmed.

I was pleased to see that the film was not a glossy effort to hide Poitier’s character flaws. Easily one of the lingering moments in the two hour film is an interview with Poitier’s first wife and mother of four of his six daughters. Juanita Hardy discusses her then husband’s years of infidelity with actress Diahann Carroll. The camera does not turn away as her eyes share the still fresh pain of his betrayal.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Apple TV presentation.

[par]

so i'm guessing good night oppy is a "live action" remake of wall-e?

[James Harry]

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[Glenn Dunks]

I don't love that they include miniseries in with the features.

Some of these I do not see getting to the final race of Oscar (like SIDNEY and THE AUTOMAT) and that exclusion of Poitras' film in the top category is... curious.