The new documentary Baltimore Rising directed by Sonja Sohn, star of “The Wire”, chronicles the struggle of police and activists to hold the city together in the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray.
In the wake of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in police custody, Baltimore was a city on the edge. Peaceful protests and destructive riots erupted in the immediate aftermath of Gray’s death, while the city waited to hear the fate of the six police officers involved in the incident, reflecting the deep divisions between authorities and the community – and underscoring the urgent need for reconciliation.
Baltimore Rising follows activists, police officers, community leaders and gang affiliates, who struggle to hold Baltimore together, even as the homicide rate hits record levels. Exploring how to make change when change is hard, the thought-provoking, timely documentary debuts Monday, November 20 (8:00-9:35 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.
The strife that grips Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray exposes longstanding fault lines in a distraught and damaged community. Baltimore Rising chronicles the determined efforts of people on all sides who fight for justice and work to make their city better, sometimes coming together in unexpected ways, discovering a common humanity where before they often saw each other only as adversaries.
Among the key figures spotlighted in Baltimore Rising:
Genard “Shadow” Barr (community leader, former gang member) is an addiction recovery specialist at the Penn-North Recovery Center, where he also helps organize a reentry jobs program for community members. Bridging the divide between police and residents of the Penn-North area, he works with all parties to mitigate violence. Barr is now working to open an entrepreneurship and job training center in West Baltimore.
Commissioner Kevin Davis has led the Baltimore Police Department since 2015. He took over as interim police commissioner in the aftermath of the uprising and surging violence, when the mayor fired previous commissioner Anthony Batts. A lifelong Marylander, Commissioner Davis is a 25-year veteran and fourth-generation public safety professional. He was faced with repairing public trust in the department and stemming a rising tide of homicides amidst the trials of his six officers.
Makayla Gilliam-Price (activist) founded the youth justice organization City Bloc as a high school student. She also organizes with the grassroots think-tank Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle.
Adam Jackson (activist) is CEO of the grassroots think-tank Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle. His efforts are aimed at connecting young people to public policy and creating transformative change in Baltimore.
Dayvon Love (activist), director of public policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, has deep experience with grassroots activism in the community. He has given numerous speeches and led workshops to give insight into the plight of its citizens.
Kwame Rose (activist), an artist, writer, musician and public speaker, gained notoriety during the uprising that followed Freddie Gray’s death for his public confrontation with FOX News reporter Geraldo Rivera. Arrested during protests outside the trials of the police officers charged in the Gray case, he recently accepted a position in the office of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh.
Lt. Colonel Melvin Russell, chief of the Community Partnership Division, Baltimore Police Department, joined The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) in 1979 as a police cadet. He worked as a uniform patrol and then an undercover officer for 20 years before becoming an Eastern District Lieutenant in 2007. Recently he led the BPD’s chaplaincy program and worked cooperatively with such community leaders as Genard “Shadow” Barr to support a reentry jobs program and prevent another uprising during the police officers’ trials in the Gray case.
Dawnyell Taylor (police detective) has been with the Baltimore City Police for more than 16 years. In 2015 and 2016, she was the lead investigator in the Freddie Gray homicide case, and testified at the trial of Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who was charged with Gray’s murder. Taylor continues to serve in the police academy in Baltimore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t87jLeOzPI-
Sonja Sohn’s Documentary BALTIMORE RISING will Debut on HBO [TRAILER]
The new documentary Baltimore Rising directed by Sonja Sohn, star of “The Wire”, chronicles the struggle of police and activists to hold the city together in the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray.
In the wake of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in police custody, Baltimore was a city on the edge. Peaceful protests and destructive riots erupted in the immediate aftermath of Gray’s death, while the city waited to hear the fate of the six police officers involved in the incident, reflecting the deep divisions between authorities and the community – and underscoring the urgent need for reconciliation.
Baltimore Rising follows activists, police officers, community leaders and gang affiliates, who struggle to hold Baltimore together, even as the homicide rate hits record levels. Exploring how to make change when change is hard, the thought-provoking, timely documentary debuts Monday, November 20 (8:00-9:35 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.
The strife that grips Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray exposes longstanding fault lines in a distraught and damaged community. Baltimore Rising chronicles the determined efforts of people on all sides who fight for justice and work to make their city better, sometimes coming together in unexpected ways, discovering a common humanity where before they often saw each other only as adversaries.
Among the key figures spotlighted in Baltimore Rising:
Genard “Shadow” Barr (community leader, former gang member) is an addiction recovery specialist at the Penn-North Recovery Center, where he also helps organize a reentry jobs program for community members. Bridging the divide between police and residents of the Penn-North area, he works with all parties to mitigate violence. Barr is now working to open an entrepreneurship and job training center in West Baltimore.
Commissioner Kevin Davis has led the Baltimore Police Department since 2015. He took over as interim police commissioner in the aftermath of the uprising and surging violence, when the mayor fired previous commissioner Anthony Batts. A lifelong Marylander, Commissioner Davis is a 25-year veteran and fourth-generation public safety professional. He was faced with repairing public trust in the department and stemming a rising tide of homicides amidst the trials of his six officers.
Makayla Gilliam-Price (activist) founded the youth justice organization City Bloc as a high school student. She also organizes with the grassroots think-tank Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle.
Adam Jackson (activist) is CEO of the grassroots think-tank Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle. His efforts are aimed at connecting young people to public policy and creating transformative change in Baltimore.
Dayvon Love (activist), director of public policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, has deep experience with grassroots activism in the community. He has given numerous speeches and led workshops to give insight into the plight of its citizens.
Kwame Rose (activist), an artist, writer, musician and public speaker, gained notoriety during the uprising that followed Freddie Gray’s death for his public confrontation with FOX News reporter Geraldo Rivera. Arrested during protests outside the trials of the police officers charged in the Gray case, he recently accepted a position in the office of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh.
Lt. Colonel Melvin Russell, chief of the Community Partnership Division, Baltimore Police Department, joined The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) in 1979 as a police cadet. He worked as a uniform patrol and then an undercover officer for 20 years before becoming an Eastern District Lieutenant in 2007. Recently he led the BPD’s chaplaincy program and worked cooperatively with such community leaders as Genard “Shadow” Barr to support a reentry jobs program and prevent another uprising during the police officers’ trials in the Gray case.
Dawnyell Taylor (police detective) has been with the Baltimore City Police for more than 16 years. In 2015 and 2016, she was the lead investigator in the Freddie Gray homicide case, and testified at the trial of Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who was charged with Gray’s murder. Taylor continues to serve in the police academy in Baltimore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t87jLeOzPI
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59th Nordic Film Days Lübeck Award Winners – THE CHARMER Wins NDR Film Prize
The Charmer (Charmøren), the feature debut of director Milad Alami from Denmark is the winner of the NDR Film Prize at the 59th Nordic Film Days Lübeck.
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Gravitas Ventures will Release Kyle Rideout’s Comedy PUBLIC SCHOOLED in 2018
The comedy Public Schooled, directed by Kyle Rideout and starring Judy Greer, Daniel Doheny, Siobhan Williams, and Russell Peters has been acquired by Gravitas Ventures for release in the U.S. The film which recently made its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival will be released theatrically in the U.S. in late Q1/early Q2 2018. Kaleidoscope Entertainment will release the film theatrically in the UK.
Based on an original script co-written by Rideout and Josh Epstein, Public Schooled follows socially awkward Liam (Doheny), who has been homeschooled his entire life. When he falls in love with a popular one-legged girl (Williams), he abandons his mother’s (Greer) suffocating love and enrolls in public school, getting a crash course in sex, drugs and social mayhem.
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VIDEO: Watch SAVING CAPITALISM Trailer, Documentary Ask “Why is American Economic System Failing?”
Here is the new trailer for the documentary Saving Capitalism based on Robert Reich’s 2015 book; and looks at the reasons why the economic system that once made America strong is suddenly failing, as well as how it can be fixed.
The film debuts November 21 on Netflix.
Directed by Jacob Kornbluth, Saving Capitalism is a clear-eyed examination of a political and economic status quo that no longer serves the people, exposing the powerful alliances between Washington and Wall Street, as well as the extreme wealth disparity in our country. Visionary and acute, Saving Capitalism helps build the path toward restoring America’s fundamental promise of opportunity and advancement. Diving deep into the political economic system, this documentary is not about being democratic or republican, but refocuses the conversation on how we can fix it.
Who is Robert B. Reich? Robert B. Reich is an American political commentator, professor, and author. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. Also, he was appointed a member of then-President-elect Barack Obama’s economic transition advisory board. He has published 14 books, including the best-sellers Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few; The Work of Nations; Reason; Supercapitalism; Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future; and a best-selling e-book, Beyond Outrage. The Robert Reich-Jacob Kornbluth film INEQUALITY FOR ALL won a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T9E2DBzAaI
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Get Ready!! Gravitas Ventures will Release ATTACK OF THE SOUTHERN FRIED ZOMBIES [TRAILER]
Mark Newton’s Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies, winner of “Goriest Film” at the FANtastic Horror Film Festival in San Diego, has been acquired by Gravitas Ventures for release in the US in early 2018.
In Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies, the kudzu covered hills of Charleston, Mississippi, notable as Morgan Freeman’s hometown, are ground zero for GloboBioTech testing of their experimental herbicide Quadoxin, which goes horribly wrong. Lonnie, a crop duster pilot, must lead a mismatched group of survivors to escape the deadly zombie horde after the Quadoxin transforms the citizens of the small town into zombies.
The film stars Timothy Haug, Moses J. Moseley (The Walking Dead), Wyntergrace Williams (This Just In), Megan Few (Demons), Escalante Lundy (Django Unchained), Kaitlin Mesh, Clay Acker, Bruce Penton, Susan McPhail, Johnny McPhail, Michael Joiner, Kiyomi Fukazawa, and Miles Doleac.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ys7xu1867o
Image via facebook
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VIDEO: Watch Jon Alpert’s CUBA AND THE CAMERAMAN Trailer – See Life in Cuba Over the Course of 45 YEARS
Cuba and the Cameraman, directed by multiple-Emmy award-winning and Academy Award-nominated documentarian Jon Alpert, captures life in Cuba over the course of 45 years, from the country’s cautious optimism during the early 1970s, to the harrowing 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, to the death of Fidel Castro last year. In the film, which premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Alpert focuses on three Cuban families and their growth and struggle throughout the decades. He was also astonishingly able to obtain unprecedented access to Castro himself, exposing a more intimate side of Castro never before seen by the public.
Cuba and the Cameraman will be launching on Netflix and opening in select theaters on Friday, November 24.
Since 1959, when Fidel Castro ascended to power in the revolution that marked an era, no one had ever gone as deep inside Cuba as Jon Alpert (Baghdad ER, China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province). The multiple-Emmy award-winning and Academy Award-nominated documentarian began filming in Castro’s Cuba in 1972, having become fascinated with the country, its people, and its culture years earlier. Alpert brought along a small crew and a portable camera, beginning a fascinating, intimate, decades-long chronicle of the Communist country that was 90 miles off the coast of Florida, a longtime political foe, but a mystery to much of the world.
Compiled from more than a thousand hours of footage and filmed over 45 years, Alpert follows three families and Fidel Castro. He was there for Cuba’s optimistic socialism of the early ’70s, and for the 1980 Mariel Bay boatlift, when over 100,000 Cubans fled the island accompanied by inmates released from prisons and insane asylums. He returned to cover the hardships of the 1990s; the harrowing “Special Period” after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Cuba literally went dark. He documented how these families and the Cuban leader dealt with the serious challenges gripping their country.
Among the revelations in the Netflix original documentary Cuba and the Cameraman is Castro himself – unguarded, off-the-cuff, and unedited. In their numerous on-camera interviews, the cigar-chomping revolutionary affectionately called the straight-shooting Alpert “The Journalist,” and showed a side of himself never seen publicly. Alpert was one of the last Americans to see Castro before his death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsZ8hDutkeM
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VIDEO: Watch a Clip from Parenting Documentary FAR FROM THE TREE Featuring Andrew Solomon
Check out a new clip – on discovering the true nature of family featuring Andrew Solomon, from new parenting documentary Far From The Tree, directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Rachel Dretzin. Far From The Tree will World Premiere at the 2017 DOC NYC on Friday, November 10, 2017.
More than a decade ago, acclaimed author Andrew Solomon embarked on a remarkable journey that was at once intensely personal and unmistakably universal. Inspired by his family’s difficulty in accepting his differences from them, Solomon began researching children who fall “Far From The Tree” in a variety of ways. The result was Solomon’s bestselling book Far From The Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity.
Based on Solomon’s award-winning book, the new documentary Far From The Tree explores the difficulties and rewards of raising and being a child whose experience of the world is vastly different from their parents. Directed and produced by Emmy-winning filmmaker Rachel Dretzin, it follows families coping with the challenges presented by Down syndrome, dwarfism, autism and even having a child in prison as they share their intimate stories with touching candor in an illuminating look at a complex bond.
Each family tells a unique story, but Dretzin deftly uncovers parallels that touch on issues of community, understanding and self-acceptance. Deeply compassionate, the film illustrates how families that face extraordinary challenges meet them in the most ordinary ways: with love, empathy, and a desire to understand one another, and encourages us to cherish loved ones for all they are, not who they might have been.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI1L-Fwm7NY
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VIDEO: Watch Trailer for Quinn Shephard’s High School Indie Drama BLAME Starring Nadia Alexander
Here is the new trailer for Blame, the debut of 22-year-old writer/director Quinn Shephard, and starring Nadia Alexander, winner of the award for Best Actress at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival for her performance in the film.
Blame, also starring Chris Messina, Nadia Alexander, Owen Campbell, Luke Slattery, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Tessa Albertson, Sarah Mezzanotte, and Tate Donovan will open in New York and LA, and on VOD on January 5th, 2018.
It’s the start of a new year at a small suburban high school and Abigail (Quinn Shephard) is an eternal outcast returning for the first time after a mysterious event the previous year. Facing constant bullying, Abigail escapes from her hostile surroundings by immersing herself in the worlds of the characters she reads about, much to the amusement of her manipulative classmate, Melissa (Nadia Alexander).
When the girls’ intriguing new drama teacher Jeremy (Chris Messina) announces Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible” as their fall show, and casts Abigail over Melissa in the starring role, Abigail’s confidence blooms — but soon her relationship with Jeremy begins to move beyond the fantasy world she’s constructed. This taboo bond strikes a nerve in Melissa, fueling a vengeful jealousy that quickly spirals out of control — and brings about a chain of events that draws even further parallels to the madness of Salem. The riveting debut of 22-year-old writer/director Quinn Shephard, Blame examines the indelible stain of rumor and suspicion in the contemporary suburban high school while delving into the psyches of the cell phone generation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m17PYWD3Hio
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VIDEO: Watch SXSW Audience Award Winner MR. ROOSEVELT Trailer – in Theaters November 17
In Mr. Roosevelt, Noël Wells’ feature directorial debut, she portrays Emily, a talented but hard-to-classify comedic performer who left behind her home and boyfriend to pursue career opportunities in L.A.
When a loved one falls ill, Emily rushes back to Austin where she’s forced to stay with her ex-boyfriend (Nick Thune) and his new-and-improved girlfriend (Britt Lower), a totally together woman with a five-year plan.Though Emily is the same, everything else is different: her house has been smartly redecorated, her rocker boyfriend is training to be a real estate agent, and her old haunts show serious signs of gentrification. Holed up in her own guest room, Emily–who has no idea what she’ll be doing five days from now, let alone five years–is forced to question everyone’s values: are they sell-outs or have they just figured out what makes them happy? And is she following her dreams or is she just a self-absorbed loser?
Mr. Roosevelt premiered at SXSW, where it won the Audience Award in Narrative Spotlight and the Louis Black Lone Star Award, and most recently at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival, where it won the Founders Prize for Best US Fiction Film.
The film also starring Nick Thune, Britt Lower, Danielle Pineda, and Andre Hyland, will open in in Los Angeles, Friday, November 17, and in New York, Wednesday, November 22.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CNhyOHqPAE
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BORG/MCENROE Wins Rome Film Fest People’s Choice Award
Borg McEnroe by Janus Metz Pedersen is the winner of the “BNL People’s Choice Award” at the 12th Rome Film Fest. The film starring starring Sverrir Gudnason, Shia LaBeouf and Stellan Skarsgård, is about one of the world’s greatest icons Björn Borg and his biggest rival, the young and talented John McEnroe and their legendary duel during the 1980’s Wimbledon tournament.
On one side of the net, the cool and composed Björn Borg; on the other, the hot-headed, quick-tempered John McEnroe. The former anxious to hold on to his title as the top-ranked tennis ace; the latter determined to dethrone him. Revealing their lives on and off the court, Borg McEnroe is an intimate, stirring, and fascinating portrait of two indisputable icons of the history of tennis, with an epic account of the legendary 1980 Wimbledon final.
Janus Metz Pedersen, director of Borg McEnroe rose to international fame with Armadillo, which won the Grand Prix of the International Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival. In Denmark, he had made a name for himself in 2008, with two films, Love on Delivery and Ticket to Paradise. In 2015, he directed the third episode of the second season of the celebrated HBO series True Detective starring Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams. Over the course of his career, he has also directed shorts, commercials, and art and music videos.
In his Director Statement, Pedersen said, “To me, Borg McEnroe is the tennis version of Raging Bull. It’s about two young men, each out to prove he’s number one, to feel important. To be somebody. Trapped in their own rivalry – one of the more spectacular cases in the history of the sport – they eventually had to come to terms with themselves and their own private demons.
To explore Björn and John’s inner turmoil, the film relies on crude camerawork, frequently using handheld cameras and Steadicams to convey a sense of immediacy and realism. A counterpoint to this are the sequences designed to create a rich atmosphere, with almost symbolic images that were meant to suggest the historical significance of the events. The film looks at a clash of titans, and this requires putting things in proportion. We put the audience in Björn and John’s shoes, but then we back out of this saturated and often claustrophobic environment to reclaim a broader perspective that underlines the importance of the match and the existential dimension of the whole story. As a biopic inspired by the two rivals’ lives, particularly the legendary Wimbledon showdown in 1980, Borg McEnroe evokes an age when tennis players were “rock stars” and John and Björn came out on top. This wasn’t just two men playing tennis. This was a clash between two continents. Two ways of behaving, two opposite characters facing off. Two different ways of being men. Borg McEnroe is a marvelous demonstration of all of the above”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgfFdEOGUqE
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Miami Film Festival Unveils 2018 Festival Poster Created by Miami Herald’s Cartoonist Jim Morin
Miami Film Festival unveiled the 2018 Official Festival Poster created by Miami Herald and Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Jim Morin.
“Jim Morin’s delightfully barbed creations have skewered contemporary issues over four decades. For the 2018 Miami Film Festival poster, his tongue-in-cheek work is open to a plethora of interpretations, from environmental through escapism and many more on either side of those debates. My favorite? Miamians fondly embrace the often wacky hijinks that come with living in our tropical paradise – and for me, Morin’s 2018 poster encourages us to think of Miami life as if we were living in our own movie. Take 35, coming up!” – Jaie Laplante, Festival Director
Jim Morin’s drawings won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 2017 and l996. He also has shared a Pulitzer in l983 with other members of The Miami Herald editorial board and was a finalist for the prize in l977 and l990. In 2007, he won the Herblock Prize; in 2000, the John Fischetti Award; in l999, the Thomas Nast Society Award; and in the l996 the National Press Foundation’s Berryman Award, among others.
His work has been published in numerous collections including Line Of Fire, AmBUSHED, and Jim Morin’s World, a retrospective of his career. Other books include Jim Morin’s Field Guide To Birds and Famous Cats. He is also a passionate oil and watercolor painter. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums throughout south Florida.
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BRIMSTONE AND GLORY , CITY OF GHOSTS and STRONG ISLAND Lead Cinema Eye Honors Nominations
[caption id="attachment_24386" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Brimstone & Glory[/caption]
Three films – Viktor Jakovleski’s Brimstone & Glory, Matthew Heineman’s City of Ghosts and Yance Ford’s Strong Island – lead the 2018 Cinema Eye Honors nominations with 4 apiece. Five films received three nominations: Yuri Ancarani’s The Challenge, Jeff Orlowski’s Chasing Coral, Agnès Varda and JR’s Faces Places, Brett Morgen’s Jane and Jonathan Olshefski’s Quest.
City of Ghosts, Faces Places, Quest and Strong Island are joined in the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category by Frederick Weisman’s Ex Libris: The New York Public Library and Feras Fayyad’s Last Men in Aleppo. Kitty Green (Casting Jon Benet) joins the aforementioned Yuri Ancarani, Yance Ford, Matthew Heineman, Agnés Varda and JR, and Frederick Wiseman as a nominee in the Outstanding Achievement in Direction category.
With his nomination, Frederick Wiseman becomes the first filmmaker in Cinema Eye history to be nominated three times for Outstanding Direction, having been previously nominated for La Danse – The Paris Opera Ballet and In Jackson Heights. He also received Cinema Eye’s 2012 Legacy Award for his 1967 classic Titicut Follies. Agnès Varda won the Outstanding Direction Award in 2010 for The Beaches of Agnés.
Outstanding Direction nominees Kitty Green and Yuri Ancarani were both previously nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Short, Green in 2016 for The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul and Ancarani was nominated twice for Il Capo (2012) and Da Vinci (2014).
Chasing Coral received three nominations, including a nod for Outstanding Cinematography for director Jeff Orlowski, an Honor he won in 2013 for Chasing Ice. Stefan Nadelman, nominated for his Graphic Design work on the Grateful Dead documentary Long Strange Trip, won the same award in 2016 for Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.
Ten films were nominated for the annual Audience Choice Prize, which includes many of the year’s most popular and talked about nonfiction films, notably Brett Morgen’s Jane, Ceyda Torun’s Kedi, Amanda Lipitz’ Step, Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis’ Whose Streets? and Gethin Aldous and Jairus McLeary’s The Work. The winner in this category is voted on by the general public.
This year’s Broadcast Nonfiction Filmmaking category includes a number of notable filmmakers, among them a previous Cinema Eye winner and a nominee. Fisher Stevens, a winner for Outstanding Production and Feature for The Cove (2010), is nominated this year with his co-director Alexis Bloom for Bright Lights: Starring Carrie FIsher and Debbie Reynolds (HBO). Ryan White, who was nominated for Production in 2015 for The Case Against 8, is up this year for his Netflix series The Keepers. Oscar nominee Ava DuVernay received her first Cinema Eye nomination for her Netflix film 13th, while veteran filmmaker Kristi Jacobson gets her first nod for the HBO feature doc Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison.
This year’s winners will be announced at the 2018 Honors Awards Ceremony on Thursday, January 11, 2018 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. The ceremony will be hosted, for the third consecutive year, by award-winning nonfiction filmmaker Steve James (The Interrupters, Life Itself, Hoop Dreams), who is a Cinema Eye nominee this year for his latest film, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.
2018 Cinema Eye Honors Award Nominations
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
City of Ghosts Directed and Produced by Matthew Heineman Ex Libris: The New York Public Library Directed and Produced by Frederick Wiseman Faces Places Directed by Agnès Varda and JR (Director) | Produced by Rosalie Varda Last Men in Aleppo Directed by Feras Fayyad | Produced by Kareem Abeed, Stefan Kloos and Søren Steen Jespersen Quest Directed by Jonathan Olshefski | Produced by Sabrina Schmidt Gordon Strong Island Directed by Yance Ford | Produced by Joslyn Barnes and Yance FordOutstanding 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 IslandOutstanding Achievement in Editing
Bill Morrison | Dawson City: Frozen Time Joe Beshenkovsky | Jane TJ Martin | LA92 Keith Fraase and John Walter | Long Strange Trip Lindsay Utz | Quest Francisco Bello, Daniel Garber and David Barker | The Reagan ShowOutstanding Achievement in Production
Nominees to be Determined | Brimstone and 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 | RiskOutstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Tobias von dem Borne | Brimstone and Glory Yuri Ancarani, Luca Nervegna and Jonathan Ricquebourg | The Challenge Andrew Ackerman and Jeff Orlowski | Chasing Coral TBD | Human Flow Rodrigo Trejo Villanueva | MachinesOutstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin | Brimstone and 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 IslandOutstanding 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 TripAudience Choice Prize
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail |Directed by Steve James City of Ghosts | Directed by Matthew Heineman Chasing Coral | Directed by Jeff Orlowski Faces Places | Directed by Agnès Varda and JR Jane | Directed by Brett Morgen Kedi | Directed by Ceyda Torun Quest | Directed by Jonathan Olshefski Step | Directed by Amanda Lipitz Whose Streets? | Directed by Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis The Work | Directed by Gethin Aldous and Jairus McLearyOutstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
Viktor Jakovleski | Brimstone and Glory Anna Zamecka | Communion Rahul Jain | Machines Theo Anthony | Rat Film Yance Ford | Strong IslandOutstanding Achievement in Broadcast Nonfiction Filmmaking
13th Directed by Ava DuVernay | Produced by Ava DuVernay & Howard Barish | For Netflix: Executive Producers Ben Cotner, Adam Del Deo and Lisa Nishimura Abortion: Stories Women Tell Directed and Produced by Tracy Droz Tragos | For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, Senior Producer Sara Bernstein Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds Directed by Alexis Bloom & Fisher Stevens | Produced by Alexis Bloom, Fisher Stevens, Julie Nives & Todd Fisher | For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, Senior Producer Nancy Abraham Five Came Back Directed by Laurent Bouzereau | Produced by John Battsek & Laurent Bouzereau | For Netflix: Executive Producers Ben Cotner, Adam Del Deo and Lisa Nishimura The Keepers Directed by Ryan White | For Netflix: Executive Producers Ben Cotner, Jason Springarn-Koff and Lisa Nishimura Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison Directed and Produced by Kristi Jacobson | Produced by Katie Mitchell and Julie Goldman | For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, Senior Producer Nancy AbrahamSpotlight Award
Donkeyote | Directed by Chico Pereira An Insignificant Man | Directed by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle | Directed by Gustavo Salmerón Plastic China | Directed by Jiuliang Wang Stranger in Paradise | Directed by Guido Hendrikx Taste of Cement | Directed by Ziad KalthoumOutstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
Edith+Eddie | Directed by Laura Checkoway Heroin(e) | Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon Little Potato | Directed by Wes Hurley and Nathan M. Miller Polonaise | Directed by Agnieszka Elbanowska The Rabbit Hunt | Directed by Patrick Bresnan Ten Meter Tower | Directed by Maximilien Van Aertryck & Axel DanielsonThe Unforgettables | Non-competitive Honor
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 | For 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