Predictions For 2023 Cinema Eye Honors
The 16th Cinema Eye Honors, which recognize outstanding artistry and craft in nonfiction filmmaking, are set to announce their winners with a ceremony on January 12, 2022, at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. The ceremony will celebrate the 36 nominated features in the film categories, 21 series, and six shorts picked out from hundreds of worthy experiences. In addition, this year's nominees contain films about artists' work and activism, archival documentaries that connect the present to the past, and several participatory documentaries from the filmmakers' perspective.
The winners of the Cinema Eye Honors are often the final nominees for Best Documentary at the Oscars. There are a couple of caveats to that equation, however, as a couple of the nominees for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature may not be on this year's Oscar shortlist when it's announced on December 21. Before we get any further into it, let's look at the predictions for winners in the film categories at the 16th Cinema Eye Honors.
Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature
All That Breathes - Directed and Produced by Shaunak Sen; Produced by Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed - Directed and Produced by Laura Poitras; Produced by Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
Fire of Love - Directed and Produced by Sara Dosa; Produced by Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
Navalny - Directed by Daniel Roher; Produced by Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
A Night of Knowing Nothing - Directed by Payal Kapadia; Produced by Thomas Hakim, Julien Graff and Ranabir Das
The Territory - Directed and Produced by Alex Pritz; Produced by Darren Aronofsky, Gabriel Uchida, Sigrid Dyekjær, Lizzie Gillett and Will N. Miller
Still from All That Breathes. Courtesy of HBO Documentary Film, Submarine Deluxe, and Slideshow
The nominees shared stories that define curiosity, challenge comfort, and criticize society. Each product shared what it means to be fearless and overcome adversity when their characters head to a most uncertain, moving future. One of these films explained the above to a higher degree, and my prediction for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature is All That Breathes. Shaunak Sen and producers Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer distributed a ballad of healing, tenderness, and love through brothers Nadeem and Saud's efforts in aiding black kites in the face of pollution and social unrest in New Delhi. Instead of surfacing on the overt events, they facilitate a spellbinding bond between two brothers and mirror their companionship into the birds that shape their life outlook. However, the elusive nature of seeking connections amid history in A Night of Knowing Nothing and the power of biography that's not entirely certain in All the Beauty and the Bloodshed are other knockouts not to look away from. Still, All That Breathes' refusal to compromise nature documentary expectations with solid wit and an eye on keen human interaction convinces me to predict this gem for this award.
Outstanding Direction
All That Breathes - Shaunak Sen
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed - Laura Poitras
Beba - Rebeca Huntt
Descendant - Margaret Brown
Fire of Love - Sara Dosa
A Night of Knowing Nothing - Payal Kapadia
Still from All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. Courtesy of HBO Documentary Films and Neon
The word directing has multiple meanings. Some may think about it in terms of a higher, authoritative control of the story, while others think about leading a team to reach its final destination. No matter how this year’s nominees approach working with participants or collaborators, they all showed the craft of deciphering art and meaning in their work. With that said, my pick for Outstanding Direction is Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed for her insertion of relating to Nan Goldin’s photography and fight against the Sacklers, and how she let Nan tie the many aspects of ‘80s NYC, the personal, and the political without interference. Other leaders this year did a fantastic job: Margaret Brown for conceiving a film with her fellow collaborators towards exploring more than Clotilda’s existence, and Sara Dosa for honoring some of the greatest explorers and sharing this snapshot with younger generations. Still, Poitras’s subtle critique of institutions has me at my heart.
Outstanding Production
All That Breathes - Aman Mann, Shaunak Sen and Teddy Leifer
A House Made of Splinters - Monica Hellström
In Her Hands - Juan Camilo Cruz and Jonathan Schaerf
Navalny - Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
The Territory - Alex Pritz, Darren Aronofsky, Gabriel Uchida, Sigrid Dyekjær, Lizzie Gillett and Will N. Miller
Still from Navalny. Courtesy of HBO Max and Warner Bros. Pictures
Each film needs to plan its logistics carefully and safety outline to ensure protection and care for its participants and crew; any film with an enormous to a small amount of danger, considering that movies are being made in this ongoing pandemic. The producers are the unsung heroes in the film as they're the ones that glue everything together and let the director complete their job without many worries and doubts. My prediction for Outstanding Production is Navalny for its mindful approach in interacting with the eponymous, imprisoned protagonist. Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, and Shane Boris's inner workings provide Daniel Roher with all the strategies they need in executing this film. They offered a secured location where the news media doesn't take Navalny's words and actions out of context if they got into the wrong hands. However, The Territory's multi-continental production between Pritz, Aronofsky, and the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau community and All That Breathes' process in manufacturing the protagonists' reality on screen with stunning artistry are high contenders. Still, Navalny's mission in exposing Russia's corruption and presenting the multitudes of Navalny moves me out of my seat.
Outstanding Cinematography
All That Breathes - Ben Bernhard and Riju Das
Cow - Magda Kowalczyk
A House Made of Splinters - Simon Lereng Wilmont
A Night of Knowing Nothing - Ranabir Das
The Territory - Alex Pritz and Tangãi Uru-eu-wau-wau
Users - Bennett Cerf
Still from All That Breathes. Courtesy of HBO Documentary Film, Submarine Deluxe, and Slideshow
The visual language of a movie can have many interpretations in itself. It takes precision, critical thinking, and communication to pull off some of the most incredible shots in 2022 nonfiction cinema. Every film needs to have cinematography - archival or live-action footage - or it could be an audio story. This year’s pick for Outstanding Cinematography is Ben Bernhard and Riju Das’s cinematography for their work in All That Breathes. They make animals more significant than life and develop reflections of puddles to reflect brothers Saud and Nadeem’s relationship with the black kites and New Delhi. The seamless collaboration between Alex Pritz and Tangãi Uru-eu-wau-wau and their style of shooting The Territory as an action film and Bennett Cerf’s lyricism of motherhood and birth in Users have strong odds to beat All That Breathes. Still, Bernhard and Das’s aesthetics forgo traditional expectations of the nature documentary in favor of a caring bond between the siblings in this prediction have my seal for this award.
Outstanding Editing
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed - Amy Foote, Joe Bini and Brian A. Kates
Fire of Love - Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput
Moonage Daydream - Brett Morgen
Riotsville, USA - Nels Bangerter
Three Minutes: A Lengthening - Katharina Wartena
Still from Fire of Love. Courtesy of National Geographic Documentary Films and Neon
Documentary editing is one of the most complex aspects of making a documentary. An editor has a large, finite amount of material to capture a real-life story. However, they must make the most coherent story for a film audience while honoring their participants’ dignity. Surprisingly, four out of five nominees for this year’s award are complete archival documentaries, with All the Beauty and the Bloodshed containing a predominant present-day storyline. Still, all the nominees crafted poignant tales exploring the human connection through its editing. With that said, my prediction for Outstanding Editing goes to Fire of Love’s Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput for their attentive method of bringing a lot of silent materials to life. With a charismatic spin on the science documentary by merging the Kraffts’ archive, their known public appearances, and Miranda July’s omniscient voiceover, Casper and Chaput illuminate astonishment and passion in their dedication to Maurice and Katia Krafft. Though All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’s editing team’s decisions on what parts of Nan’s life to share with the audience, as well as making seamless transitions between the past and present, and Brett Morgen’s dreamlike cuts and ambiguous design between concert footage and heaven in Moonage Daydream swoon me. Thus, Casper and Chaput’s playful edits in walking nearby the volcanoes and careful historically accurate decisions will hold firm over the other nominees.
Outstanding Original Score
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed - Soundwalk Collective
Descendant - Ray Angry, Rhiannon Giddens, and Dirk Powell
Fire of Love - Nicolas Godin
Nothing Compares - Linda Buckley and Irene Buckley
The Territory - Katya Mihailova
Users - Dave Cerf
Still from All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. Courtesy of HBO Documentary Films and Neon
The music is the sound that audiences digest the most when they resonate with a movie. It can make us remember what we felt when we gaze at its corresponding images. To note that we're covering documentaries, the composers must also serve justice and honor the participants' lives on screen. This year's prediction for Outstanding Original Score goes to the Soundwalk Collective's time-traveling and profound work on All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. Their score stitches Nan Goldin's life with odes to '80s NYC and present-day reclamations of power through her activities with P.AI.N.
While Nicolas Godin's score for Fire of Love amplifies volcanoes' liveliness to the outsider's observation and Ray Angry, Rhiannon Giddens, and Dirk Powell's compositions of Descendant provide the feelings of grief and mission towards the participants' determination have good odds at winning the award. Still, the Soundwalk Collective's score enhances the power of being human that highlights Nan's simultaneous nature of frank honesty, vulnerability, and courage they share on the big screen.
Outstanding Sound Design
All That Breathes - Niladri Shekhar Roy, Sound Designer, and Jacques Bue Pedersen, Sound Mixer
Fire of Love - Patrice LeBlanc, Sound Designer, and Gavin Fernandes, Re-recording Mixer
I Didn’t See You There - Tom Paul, Lead Sound Designer & Re-recording Mixer, and Andrés E. Marthe González, Supervising Sound Editor
Moonage Daydream - Samir Foco, John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone, Sound Designers
The Territory - Rune Klausen and Peter Albrechtsen, Sound Designers
A still from I Didn’t See You There. Courtesy of POV
Many early filmmakers need to remember that audio is as important as visual. The sound design is the central aspect that immerses the viewer into entering a new universe. This year's sound design nominees use creative liberty in this aspect that still speaks to a truth that the participants express. My prediction for Outstanding Sound Design is Reid Davenport's I Didn't See You There. Tom Paul and Andres E. Marthe Gonzáles conceived a soundscape that mirrors Reid's everyday activities and his determination in the making as an artist. Though it is easier to decide on a more archival nominee like Fire of Love and Brett Morgen's Moonage Daydream for this award, I still predict I Didn't See You There as my pick. My rationale is for Paul and Gonzalez's incorporation of the audible resources available for its low-budget filmmaking and how Reid's "one-person principal photography film crew" is mixed with multiple audio sources.
Outstanding Visual Design
Dear Mr. Brody - Gary Walker, Visual Effects; John Mark Lapham, Collages; Sam Klatt, Graphics & Compositing
Fire of Love - Lucy Munger, Animation; Kara Blake, Graphic Artist; and Rui Ting Ji, Hand-drawn animation & Illustrations
Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues - Hectah Arias, Animation and Graphics
Moonage Daydream - Stefan Nadelman, Animation
My Old School - Rory Lowe, Animation Director, and Scott Morriss, Lead Animator
Still from Fire of Love. Courtesy of National Geographic Documentary Films and Neon
It's the first year that the Cinema Eye Honors present this current rendition of the previously named Outstanding Graphic Design and Animation award. Visual Design offers the viewer another reality they're not accustomed to, and its features enthrall them. Though the animated and graphic design is the most memorable aspects of any film, there needs to be a reason that they exist within its storytelling. This year's prediction for Outstanding Visual Design goes to Fire of Love. The film's visual design team of Lucy Munger, Kara Blake, and Rui Ting Ji translated collages into poetry. In addition, they paid homage to the illustrations featured in Maurice and Katia Krafft's bibliography. While Stefan Nadelman's outstanding work in Moonage Daydream is more significant than life towards Bowie's status, and the visual design team of Dear Mr. Brody paints an eclectic canvas to Michael James Brody's stranger-than-life fable. Still, Fire of Love's visual design elevates its homage to the French New Wave and renders modern-day imaginations of the late Kraffts as ecological forebears in this selection.
Outstanding Debut
Bad Axe - Directed by David Siev
Beba - Directed by Rebeca Huntt
I Didn’t See You There - Directed by Reid Davenport
A Night of Knowing Nothing - Directed by Payal Kapadia
Nothing Compares - Directed by Kathryn Ferguson
The Territory - Directed by Alex Pritz
Still from A Night of Knowing Nothing. Courtesy of Cinema Guild
Once you complete and release your first feature, your debut is your debut and sometimes correlates to their following pieces. All six nominees took great strengths in exploring themselves or others that speak to high volumes and others who do relate to the journeys they shared in their first feature debut. So don’t be surprised when you hear their name down the road. My pick for Outstanding Debut is Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing for her blend of history and recent memories when she illustrates college life and love in the background of anti-government student protests. However, David Siev’s personal yet heartwarming family portrait during 2020 in Bad Axe and the vibrant richness of 35mm in Rebeca Huntt’s Beba can overcome A Night of Knowing Nothing. Still, A Night of Knowing Nothing stands strong for its presentation of searching for its mix of black and white cinematography and archival footage. If A Night of Knowing Nothing or The Territory wins, it’ll be the third consecutive Outstanding Nonfiction Feature nominee to win after Garrett Bradley’s Time and Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension.
Outstanding Nonfiction Short
In Flow of Words - Directed by Eliane Esther Bots
Last Days of August - Directed by Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and Robert Machoian
Long Line of Ladies - Directed by Rayka Zehtabchi and Shaandiin Tome
The Martha Mitchell Effect - Directed by Anne Alvergue and Debra McClutchy
Nuisance Bear - Directed by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden
Shut Up and Paint - Directed by Alex Mallis and Titus Kaphar
Still from Nuisance Bear. Courtesy of The New Yorker
Sometimes, it takes only a few minutes to get your message across. This year's nominees use the short-form mode to express action in a meaningful way where it may have a different outcome if it was longer. They all utilize vital techniques to retain the audience's attention and pay off its snowball effect ending. My pick for Outstanding Nonfiction Short is Nuisance Bear for Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden’s omitting the overused voiceover in nature documentaries and relying on its attentive sound design and editing to gaze at a bear's attempt for survival during hunting season. Though Nuisance Bear will win for its odes to cinema's dialogue-free origins, I want to provide some honorable mentions and other films to watch out for in the running. Take note of the commodification of Black art and its disruptive narrative form in Alex Mallis and Titus Kaphar's Shut Up and Paint!, family transfer of rituals in Rayka Zehtabchi and Shaandiin Tome's celluloid Long Line of Ladies, and the blur of still photography and moving images towards the (possible) change of small-town attitudes in Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and Robert Machoian's Last Days of August. Each of those four films gives me profound experiences in its short viewings.
Spotlight Award
After Sherman - Directed by Jon-Sesrie Goff
Brotherhood - Directed by Francesco Montagner
Hidden Letters - Directed by Violet Du Feng and Zhao Qing
Into the Ice - Directed by Lars Henrik Ostenfeld
Master of Light - Directed by Rosa Ruth Boesten
Still from After Sherman. Courtesy of POV
It's always a treat to see a film and its makers that have been overlooked and not gotten the same high acclaim as their contemporaries. This year's nominees are remarkable filmmakers whose names won't be forgotten and crafted a trajectory where their voluminous potential goes beyond the limit. My pick for this year's Spotlight Award is Jon-Sesrie Goff's After Sherman for its various specifications to examine land inheritance (or lack of due to ongoing white supremacy) for previously enslaved Black people and their descendants in the United States. The catalyst that pivots the making of the film - white supremacist Dylann Roof's killing of 9 parishioners at Emmanuel AME Church, a church that Goff's parents have a relationship with and left 20 minutes before its event - doesn't even get mentioned until an hour into the film. The decision emphasizes the richness of Gullah culture, family specificities becoming historical and universal, and faith instead of trauma in his bittersweet address to South Carolina. My sleeper picks for the award are SXSW award-winning Master of Light and coming-of-age story Brotherhood. In Master of Light, filmmaker Rosa Ruth Boesten and painter/participant George Morton collaborated tremendously to blend their respective artistic discipline in bringing majestic, painting-like cinematography to the film. In Brotherhood, Francesco Montagner uses a verite approach to give proper pacing towards the three brothers' time to adjust to life without their father. Overall, After Sherman will win for contributing a spiritual experience in its self-introspection on the meaning of home. If After Sherman wins, it'll be the third straight year that a POV entry has won the award after David Osit's Mayor and Angelo Madsen Minax's North By Current.
Heterodox Award
Aftersun - Directed by Charlotte Wells
Dry Ground Burning - Directed by Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós
Dos Estaciones - Directed by Juan Pablo González
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On - Directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp
The Rehearsal (Season One) - Directed by Nathan Fielder
Still from Dos Estaciones. Courtesy of Cinema Guild
Primitive origins of cinema have always been a "hybrid," as seen in the Lumiere Brothers corpus. Unfortunately, the labels of fiction and nonfiction come into fruition, and it's crucial to preserve documentaries/nonfiction history in the same manner as a fiction film. Despite this course of action, nonfiction films have always spoken to fiction films and vice versa. With that said, these five nominees insert real-life instances with fixed, scripted variables. Though these variables may contain professional actors, each variable embodies a person or experience in our lives that reflect one's reality. My pick for this year's Heterodox award is Dos Estaciones for its meticulously detailed shots of real-life locations and how Juan Pablo González merges real-life communities in Jalisco with actor Teresa Sanchez in the film. Sanchez provides one of the year's best performances as Maira, a tequila factory owner searching for power in her destiny of maintaining the family business. While I also expect the humorous and bewildering moments from Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal and the blend of autobiography and fictional world-building in Charlotte Wells' Aftersun to resonate with voters, González's direct approach in exhibiting an interior crumbling seals my pick for this award.
Audience Choice Prize
All That Breathes - Directed by Shaunak Sen
The Balcony Movie - Directed by Paweł Łoziński
Fire of Love - Directed by Sara Dosa
Last Flight Home - Directed by Ondi Timoner
Mija - Directed by Isabel Castro
My Old School - Directed by Jono McLeod
Navalny - Directed by Daniel Roher
Nothing Compares - Directed by Kathryn Ferguson
Sr. - Directed by Chris Smith
The Territory - Directed by Alex Pritz
Still from Fire of Love. Courtesy of National Geographic Documentary Films and Neon
There are similarities and differences in how audiences and critics admire a film. While it's all subjective, a critic looks at how all film elements speak to each other, if it provides a workable framework, and seeks beyond the surface. The audience looks at a movie through emotion, giving them a more memorable, resonating journey. My pick for this year's audience choice award is Fire of Love for the breadth of wonder, sensibility, and compassion Sara Dosa brings in her tribute to the Kraffts. The impactful act of learning leadership in Alex Pritz's The Territory and Sinead O'Conner's humanization in Kathryn Ferguson's Nothing Compares can stand over Fire of Love. In the end, the lively sound design and Fire of Love's tribute to the French New Wave will motivate film audiences to vote for Fire of Love.
You can find all the broadcast nominees and the already announced special award/non-competitive recipients here.