Cinema Eye Honors Rolls Out First Batch of 2025 Documentary Nominees and Contenders

Today's announcement includes the Audience Choice Prize Longlist, the Unforgettables Honorees, nominees in five Broadcast categories, and the annual Shorts List.

Cinema Eye Honors today shared a string of announcements, including the 16 films on its Audience Choice Prize Longlist, the unveiling of this year’s Unforgettables Honorees, nominees in its five Broadcast categories, and its annual Shorts List — spotlighting 11 of the year’s top documentary short films — at its 7th annual Cinema Eye Fall Lunch in Downtown Los Angeles on October 24, 2024.

Spotlighted on the film side are several major Best Documentary Feature contenders including “Will & Harper,” “Black Box Diaries,” and “No Other Land,” which all also factored into the organization’s list of Unforgettables — standout on-camera collaborators from eight feature documentaries. This next ceremony will be the first time those honorees, like Harper Steele, Shiori Ito, and Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham for those respective films, receive a special medallion honoring their contribution to their Cinema Eye-winning films.

Highlights among the Broadcast nominees include filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, nominated for both his FX documentary “Spermworld” and his HBO docuseries “Ren Faire.” Veteran documentarian Dawn Porter also has two nominated projects: Hulu’s “The Lady Bird Diaries” and Showtime’s “Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court.”

“How To with John Wilson” and Steven James both made Cinema Eye Honors history with the former becoming the first ever show to receive three straight nominations in the anthology series category, and the latter extending his record for most Cinema Eye nominations in history, nabbing his 14th nomination in the Nonfiction Series category for ESPN’s “The Luckiest Guy in the World.” 

The 2025 Cinema Eye Honors will return to the historic New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem for its 18th annual awards ceremony set for Thursday, January 9, 2025. There will also be a Cinema Eye Week, which includes a number of events and activities for Cinema Eye nominees and honorees, that will kick off on Monday, January 6.

See the full list of this year’s announcements and nominees follows.

Audience Choice Award Long List

“Black Box Diaries” Directed by Shiori Ito

“Copa 71” Directed by Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine

“Daughters” Directed by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton

“Eno” Directed by Gary Hustwit

“Frida” Directed by Carla Gutiérrez

“Grand Theft Hamlet” Directed by Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane

“Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa” Directed by Lucy Walker

“No Other Land” Directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor

“Piece by Piece” Directed by Morgan Neville

“Porcelain War” Directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev

“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” Directed by Benjamin Ree

“Secret Mall Apartment” Directed by Jeremy Workman

“Skywalkers: A Love Story” Directed by Jeff Zimbalist

“Sugarcane” Directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie

“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” Directed by Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui

“Will and Harper” Directed by Josh Greenbaum

The Unforgettables Honorees

Shiori Ito, “Black Box Diaries”

Brian Eno, “Eno”

Lhakpa Sherpa, “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa”

Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, “No Other Land”

Patrice Jetter, “Patrice: The Movie”

Jenna Marvin, “Queendom”

Chris Smalls, “Union”

Harper Steele, “Will and Harper”

Broadcast Film Nominees          

“Bread & Roses” Directed by Sahra Mani, Apple TV+

“Girls State” Directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, Apple TV+

“Great Photo, Lovely Life: Facing a Family’s Secrets” Directed by Amanda Mustard and Rachel Beth Anderson, HBO

“The Lady Bird Diaries” Directed by Dawn Porter, Hulu

“Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.” Directed by Jeremy O. Harris, HBO

“Spermworld” Directed by Lance Oppenheim, FX

Nonfiction Series Nominees

“America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders” Directed by Greg Whiteley and Chelsea Yarnell, Netflix

“Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court” Directed by Dawn Porter, Showtime

“The Enfield Poltergeist” Directed by Jerry Rothwell, Apple TV+

“The Luckiest Guy in the World” Directed by Steve James, ESPN

“Ren Faire” Directed by Lance Oppenheim, HBO

“Telemarketers” Directed by Adam Bhala Lough and Sam Lipman-Stern, HBO

Anthology Series Nominees

“Conan O’Brien Must Go” Executive Producers Conan O’Brien, Jeff Ross, HBO

“De La Calle” Executive Producers Nick Barili, Jared Andrukanis, Picky Talarico, Lydia Tenaglia, Christopher Collins, Amanda Culkowski, Bruce Gillmer, Craig H. Shepherd, Paramount+

“God Save Texas” Executive Producers Lawrence Wright, Alex Gibney, Richard Linklater, Peter Berg, Michael Lombardo, Elizabeth Rogers, Stacey Offman, Richard Perello, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, HBO

“High on the Hog” Season 2 Executive Producers Roger Ross Williams, Geoff Martz, Craig Piligian, Sarba Das, Fabienne Toback, Karis Jagger, Jessica B. Harris, Stephen Satterfield, Michele Barnwell Netflix

“How To with John Wilson” Season 3 Executive Producers Nathan Fielder, John Wilson, Michael Koman, Clark Reinking, HBO

“Photographer” Executive Producers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhely, Jimmy Chin, Pagan Harleman, Betsy Forhan, National Geographic

Broadcast Editing Nominees

“Girls State” Edited by Amy Foote, Apple TV+

“The Greatest Night in Pop” Edited by Nic Zimmerman, Will Znidaric, David Brodie, Netflix

“Ren Faire” Edited by Max Allman, Nicholas Nazmi, HBO

“The Saint of Second Chances” Edited by Alan Lowe, Jeff Malmberg, Miles Wilkerson, Netflix

“Telemarketers” Edited by Christopher Passig, HBO

“Time Bomb Y2K” Edited by Marley McDonald, Maya Mumma, HBO

Broadcast Cinematography Nominees

“America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders” Director of Photography Jonathan Nicholas, Netflix

“The Enfield Poltergeist” Director of Photography Ruben Woodin Deschamps, Carmen Pellon Brussosa, David Katznelson, Apple TV+

“Girls State” Director of Photography – Nominees to be Determined, Apple TV+

“Photographer” Director of Photography Michael Crommett, Rita Baghdadi, Peter Hutchens, Melissa Langer, Pauline Maroun, National Geographic

“Ren Faire” Director of Photography Nate Hurtsellers, HBO

“You Were My First Boyfriend” Director of Photography Brennan Vance, J. Bennett, HBO

Shorts List Semifinalists

“Contractions” Directed by Lynne Sachs / NY Times Op-Docs

“Eternal Father” Directed by Ömer Sami / New Yorker

“I Am Ready, Warden” Directed by Smriti Mundhra / MTV Documentary Films

“Incident” Directed by Bill Morrison / New Yorker

“Instruments of a Beating Heart” Directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki / NY Times Op-Docs

“Love in the Time of Migration” Directed by Erin Semine Kökdil and Chelsea Abbas / LA Times

“Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World” Directed by Julio Palacio / Netflix

“The Medallion” Directed by Ruth Hunduma / New Yorker

“A Move” Directed by Elahe Esmaili / NY Times Op-Docs

“The Only Girl in the Orchestra” Directed by Molly O’Brien / Netflix

“A Swim Lesson” Directed by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack / POV / Documentary+