The Cinema Eye Honors are awards recognizing excellence in nonfiction or documentary filmmaking and include awards for the disciplines of directing, producing, cinematography and editing. The awards are presented each January in New York and have been held since 2011 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.[1] Cinema Eye was created to celebrate artistic craft in nonfiction filmmaking, addressing a perceived imbalance in the field where awards were given for social impact or importance of topic rather than artistic excellence.
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Nominations for the awards are determined by voting of top film festival documentary programmers and winners are voted on by an invited membership of more than 800 documentary film experts. Cinema Eye also presents an Audience Choice Prize where voting is open to the public and the Heterodox Award.[2][3]
The first Cinema Eye Honors were presented at the IFC Center in New York City on March 18, 2008.[4]
Winners in 2009
- Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking - Man on Wire - Dir. James Marsh, Prod. Simon Chinn
- Outstanding Achievement in Direction - Waltz with Bashir - Ari Folman
- Outstanding Achievement in Production - Man on Wire - Simon Chinn
- Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography - Encounters at the End of the World - Peter Zeitlinger
- Outstanding Achievement in Editing - Man on Wire - Jinx Godfrey
- Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation - Waltz with Bashir - Yoni Goodman, David Polonsky
- Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition - Waltz with Bashir - Max Richter
- Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film - Up the Yangtze - Dir. Yung Chang
- Outstanding Achievement in an International Feature Film - Waltz with Bashir - Dir. Ari Folman; Prod. Ari Folman, Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahlieli, Roman Paul
- Honored Shorts - Breadmakers, City of Cranes, Kids + money, One Day, The Tailor
- Audience Choice Prize - Up the Yangtze - Dir. Yung Chang
Winners in 2010
- Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking - The Cove - Dir. Louie Psihoyos; Prod. Paula DuPré Pesman, Fisher Stevens
- Outstanding Achievement in Direction - The Beaches of Agnès - Agnès Varda
- Outstanding Achievement in Production - The Cove - Paula DuPré Pesman, Fisher Stevens
- Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography - The Cove - Brook Aitken
- Outstanding Achievement in Editing - Burma VJ - Janus Billeskov-Jansen, Thomas Papapetros
- Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation
- Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score - October Country - Danny Grody, Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri, Ted Savarese, Kenric Taylor
- Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film - October Country - Dir. Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher
- Outstanding Achievement in an International Feature Film - Burma VJ - Dir. Anders Østergaard; Prod. Lise Lense-Møller
- Spotlight Award - Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo - Dir. Jessica Oreck
- Audience Choice Prize - The September Issue - Dir. R. J. Cutler
- 2010 Legacy Award - Sherman's March - Dir. Ross McElwee
Winners in 2019
- Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking - Hale County This Morning, This Evening - Dir. RaMell Ross; Prod. Joslyn Barnes, Su Kim, and RaMell Ross
- Outstanding Achievement in Direction - Minding the Gap - Bing Liu
- Outstanding Achievement in Production - Free Solo - Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill
- Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography - Free Solo - Jimmy Chin, Clair Popkin and Mikey Schaeffer
- Outstanding Achievement in Editing - Minding the Gap - Bing Liu and Joshua Altman
- Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation - Shirkers - Lucas Celler and Sandi Tan
- Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score - Shirkers - Ishai Adar
- Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film - Minding the Gap - Bing Liu
- Outstanding Achievement in a Nonfiction Film for Broadcast - Baltimore Rising - Sonja Sohn
- Outstanding Achievement in a Nonfiction Series for Broadcast - America to Me - Steve James
- Spotlight Award - The Distant Barking of Dogs - Simon Lereng Wilmont
- Heterodox Award - American Animals - Bart Layton
- Audience Choice - Free Solo - Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin
- Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking - My Dead Dad's Porno Tapes - Charlie Tyrell
- 2019 Legacy Award - Eyes on the Prize - Harry Hampton, Orlando Bagwell, Sheila Curran Bernard, Callie Crossley, James A. DeVinney, Madison D. Lacy, Thomas Ott, Samuel D. Pollard, Terry Kay Rockefeller, Jacqueline Shearer, Paul Stekler, Judith Vecchione