Jon Batiste Profile ‘American Symphony’ Leads Critics Choice Documentary Award Nominations

The eighth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards nominations are often an early bellwether for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar race, mainly because they signal to Oscar voters many of the key films they should not miss. Last year’s winner, “Good Night Oppy,” did not make it to the documentary Oscar shortlist, but the year before, “Summer of Soul” went on to win the Oscar.

This year’s nominations were led by fall festival favorite “American Symphony,” Matthew Heineman’s moving portrait of musician Jon Batiste as he juggles work demands and his wife’s recurring leukemia, with six nods. It was followed by Mstyslav Chernov’s Ukraine international Oscar submission “20 Days in Mariupol,” D. Smith’s black-and-white portrait of Black trans sex workers “Kokomo City,” and Davis Guggenheim’s editing feat “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” with five each.

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The gala to honor the winners, hosted by comedian Wyatt Cenac, will be live-streamed on Facebook, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) at 7:00 PM ET on November 12, 2023 from the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan.

In addition to the 18 award categories listed below, Harvard filmmaking professor and veteran documentarian Ross McElwee (“Bright Leaves,” “Sherman’s March”) will accept the Pennebaker Award (formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award). The award will be presented by Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker’s producing partner and wife.

The Critics Choice Association honors the year’s achievements in documentaries released in theaters, on TV, and on major digital platforms, voted on by qualified CCA members (including me). The eighth annual awards ceremony is produced by Bob Bain of Bob Bain Productions and Joey Berlin of Berlin Entertainment. This year the awards have added a category honoring true crime films and series.

For the fourth year in a row, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards has National Geographic Documentary Films as the Presenting Sponsor. The Spirits Sponsor of the event is Milagro Tequila.

Nominees for the 8th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards are listed in full below:

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“20 Days in Mariupol” (PBS)
“American Symphony” (Netflix)
“Beyond Utopia” (Roadside Attractions)
“The Deepest Breath” (Netflix)
“The Eternal Memory” (MTV Documentary Films)
“Judy Blume Forever” (Amazon Studios)
“Kokomo City” (Magnolia Pictures)
“The Mission” (National Geographic)
“Stamped from the Beginning” (Netflix)
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” (Apple TV+)

BEST DIRECTOR
Maite Alberdi – “The Eternal Memory” (MTV Documentary Films)
Madeleine Gavin – “Beyond Utopia” (Roadside Attractions)
Davis Guggenheim – “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” (Apple TV+)
Matthew Heineman – “American Symphony” (Netflix)
Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss – “The Mission” (National Geographic)
Steve McQueen – “Occupied City” (A24)

BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“20 Days in Mariupol” (PBS)
“26.2 to Life” (Film Halau)
“Bad Press” (Oklafilm)
“Bobi Wine: The People’s President” (National Geographic)
“Kokomo City” (Magnolia Pictures)
Orlando, My Political Biography (Sideshow)
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Greenwich Entertainment)
The Thief Collector (FilmRise)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Tim Cragg – “The Deepest Breath” (Netflix)
Tony Hardmon, Matthew Heineman, Thorsten Thielow – “American Symphony” (Netflix)
Lennert Hillege – “Occupied City” (A24)
Franz Lustig – “Anselm” (Sideshow)
D. Smith – “Kokomo City” (Magnolia Pictures)
Toby Strong, James Boon, Bob Poole, Neil Fairlie, Wim Vorster, Joshua Tarr, Pete Allibone, Neil Harvey, Andreas Knausenberger – “Secrets of the Elephants” (National Geographic)

BEST EDITING
Sammy Dane, Jim Hession, Matthew Heineman, Fernando Villegas – “American Symphony” (Netflix)
Madeleine Gavin – “Beyond Utopia” (Roadside Attractions)
Michael Harte – “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” (Apple TV+)
Michelle Mizner – “20 Days in Mariupol” (PBS)
D. Smith – “Kokomo City” (Magnolia Pictures)
Aaron Wickenden – “The Mission” (National Geographic)

BEST SCORE
Jon Batiste – “American Symphony” (Netflix)
Danny Bensi & Saunder Jurriaans – “The Mission” (National Geographic)
Nainita Desai – “The Deepest Breath” (Netflix)
Philip Glass – “The Pigeon Tunnel” (Apple TV+)
Katya Richardson & Kris Bowers – “The Last Repair Shop” (Breakwater Studios)
D. Smith – “Kokomo City” (Magnolia Pictures)

BEST NARRATION
“20 Days in Mariupol” (PBS)
Written and Performed by Mstyslav Chernov

“32 Sounds” (Abramorama)
Written and Performed by Sam Green

“The Disappearance of Shere Hite” (IFC Films)
Written by Nicole Newnham
Performed by Dakota Johnson

“John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial” (Apple TV+)
Written by TBD
Performed by Kiefer Sutherland

“Secrets of the Elephants” (National Geographic)
Written by Martin Williams
Performed by Natalie Portman

“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” (Apple TV+)
Written and Performed by Michael J. Fox

BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
“Being Mary Tyler Moore” (HBO)
“The Disappearance of Shere Hite” (IFC Films)
“It Ain’t Over” (Sony Pictures Classics)
“JFK: One Day in America” (National Geographic)
“The Lady Bird Diaries” (Hulu)
“The League” (Magnolia Pictures)

BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
“The 1619 Project” (Hulu/Onyx Collective)
“JFK: One Day in America” (National Geographic)
“The Lady Bird Diaries” (Hulu)
“Lakota Nation vs. United States” (IFC Films)
“The League” (Magnolia Pictures)
“Occupied City” (A24)
“Stamped from the Beginning” (Netflix)

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
“Being Mary Tyler Moore” (HBO)
“The Disappearance of Shere Hite” (IFC Films)
“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” (HBO)
“Judy Blume Forever” (Amazon Studios)
“Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” (Hulu)
“Sly” (Netflix)
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” (Apple TV+)

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
“American Symphony” (Netflix)
“Carlos” (Sony Pictures Classics)
“Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop” (Netflix)
“Little Richard: I Am Everything” (Magnolia Pictures, CNN Films)
“Love to Love You, Donna Summer” (HBO)
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” (AMC Theatres)
“What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?” (Abramorama)

BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
“20 Days in Mariupol” (PBS)
“Beyond Utopia” (Roadside Attractions)
“Bobi Wine: The People’s President” (National Geographic)
“Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court” (Showtime)
“Every Body” (Focus Features)
“Lakota Nation vs. United States”(IFC Films)
“Silver Dollar Road” (Amazon MGM Studios)

BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
“32 Sounds” (Abramorama)
“Between Earth & Sky” (PBS)
“Life on Our Planet” (Netflix)
“Path of the Panther” (National Geographic)
“Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food” (Netflix)
“Secrets of the Elephants” (National Geographic)
“Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West” (Gravitas Ventures)

BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
“Black Ice” (Roadside Attractions)
“BS High” (HBO)
“The Deepest Breath” (Netflix)
“It Ain’t Over” (Sony Pictures Classics)
“The League” (Magnolia Pictures)
“Reggie” (Amazon Studios)
“Stephen Curry: Underrated” (Apple TV+)
“Welcome to Wrexham” (FX)

BEST TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY
“Burden of Proof” (HBO)
“The Jewel Thief” (Hulu)
“John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial” (Apple TV+)
“Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal” (Netflix)
“Telemarketers” (HBO)
“The Thief Collector” (FilmRise)
“Victim/Suspect” (Netflix)

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
“The ABCs of Book Banning” (MTV Documentary Films)
“The Barber of Little Rock” (Story Syndicate)
“Between Earth & Sky” (PBS)
“Keys to the City” (New Yorker)
“The Last Repair Shop” (Breakwater Studios)
“Last Song from Kabul” (MTV Documentary Films)

BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
“The 1619 Project” (Hulu/Onyx Collective)
“Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul” (Netflix)
“Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court” (Showtime)
“JFK: One Day in America” (National Geographic)
“John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial” (Apple TV+)
“Secrets of the Elephants” (National Geographic)
“Shiny Happy People” (Amazon Studios)
“Telemarketers” (HBO)

BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
“30 for 30” (ESPN)
“Frontline” (PBS)
“Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal” (Netflix)
“POV” (PBS)
“Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller” (National Geographic)
“Welcome to Wrexham” (FX)

The Critics Choice Documentary Awards are an offshoot of the Critics Choice Awards, which are presented annually by the CCA (580 media critics and entertainment journalists) to honor cinematic and television achievement. Historically, the Critics Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of Academy Award nominations. The Critics Choice Awards ceremony will be held on January 14, 2024 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, CA, and will be broadcast live on The CW.

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