Cinema Eye Honors
The Cinema Eye Honors are awards recognizing excellence in nonfiction or documentary filmmaking and includes 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.
Founded by filmmaker A. J. Schnack and Toronto International Film Festival Documentary Programmer Thom Powers, 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.
The awards are presented by the Cinema Eye organization, which is currently led by AJ Schnack, filmmaker Esther Robinson, filmmaker Nathan Truesdell, producer Andrea Meditch, former Hot Docs programmer Sean Farnel and filmmaker Laura Poitras. 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 500 documentary film experts. Cinema Eye also presents an Audience Choice Prize where voting is open to the public.
The first Cinema Eye Honors were presented at the IFC Center in New York City on March 18, 2008.
Winners in 2008
- Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking - Manda Bala - Dir. Jason Kohn; Prods. Joey Frank, Jared Goldman, Jason Kohn
- Outstanding Achievement in Direction - Taxi to the Dark Side - Alex Gibney
- Outstanding Achievement in Production - Ghosts of Cité Soleil - Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor, Mikael Rieks
- Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography - Manda Bala - Heloísa Passos
- Outstanding Achievement in Editing - Manda Bala - Doug Abel, Jenny Golden, Andy Grieve
- Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation - Chicago 10 - Animation by Curious Pictures
- Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film - Billy the Kid - Jennifer Venditti
- Outstanding Achievement in an International Feature Film - ' - Dir. Pernille Rose Grønkjær; Prod. Sigrid Dyekjær
- Audience Choice Prize - ' - Dir. Seth Gordon
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
- *Food, Inc. - Bigstar
- * - Francis Hanneman, Darren Pasemko, Kent Hugo, Omar Majeed, Brett Gaylor, Open Source Cinema
- 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 2011
- Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking - "Exit Through the Gift Shop" - Dir. Banksy; Prod. Jaimie D’Cruz
- Outstanding Achievement in Direction - "The Oath" - Laura Poitras
- Outstanding Achievement in Production - "Last Train Home" - Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross
- Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography - "Last Train Home" - Lixin Fan
- Outstanding Achievement in Editing - "Exit Through the Gift Shop" - Chris King, Tom Fulford
- Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation - "Gasland" - Juan Cardarelli, Alex Tyson
- Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score - "" - Norbert Möslang
- Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film - "Marwencol" - Dir. Jeff Malmberg
- Outstanding Achievement in an International Feature Film - "Last Train Home" - Dir. Lixin Fan; Prod. Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross
- Spotlight Award - "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu" - Dir. Andrei Ujică
- Audience Choice Prize - "" - Dir. Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg
- Heterodox Award - "Putty Hill" - Dir. Matt Porterfield
- Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking - "The Poodle Trainer" - Dir. Vance Malone
- 2011 Legacy Award - "Grey Gardens" - Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer and Susan Froemke
Winners in 2012
- Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking - "The Interrupters" - Dir. Steve James; Prod. Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz
- Outstanding Achievement in Direction - "The Interrupters" - Steve James
- Outstanding Achievement in Production - "Pina" - Gian-Piero Ringel, Wim Wenders
- Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography - "Hell and Back Again" - Danfung Dennis
- Outstanding Achievement in Editing - "Senna" - Gregers Sall, Chris King
- Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation - "Tabloid" - Rob Feng, Jeremy Landman
- Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score - "Tabloid" - John Kusiak
- Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film - "The Arbor" - Dir. Clio Barnard
- Spotlight Award - "El Lugar Más Pequeño " - Dir. Tatiana Huezo Sanchez
- Audience Choice Prize - "Buck" - Dir. Cindy Meehl
- Heterodox Award - Beginners - Dir. Mike Mills
- Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking - "Diary" - Tim Hetherington
- Hell Yeah Prize - "Paradise Lost" Trilogy - Dir. Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
- 2012 Legacy Award - "Titicut Follies" - Frederick Wiseman