The trophies for the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards were handed out on Sunday with Neon’s Apollo 11 taking Best Documentary Feature. The ceremony took place at BRIC in Brooklyn.
Neon was the top winner of the night with the space docu, winning five awards. Their docu The Biggest Little Farm walked away with Best Cinematography and their bee-keeping pic Honeyland won Best First Documentary Feature for Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefano.
The Biggest Little Farm led the pack this year with seven nominations while Apollo 11 (also a Neon title) and the Warner Bros. docu They Shall Not Grow Old each had six. Speaking of the latter, The Shall Not Grow Old‘s Peter Jackson won for Best Director tying with Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert who directed the Netflix docu American Factory.
The ceremony also honored the great documentarian Frederick Wiseman with the D.A.Pennebaker Award which was formerly known as the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award. Michael Apted was honored with the Landmark Award for his Up series.
Last year’s winner for Best Documentary Feature was the Mr. Rogers-centered Won’t You Be My Neighbor? which was snubbed by the Oscars. However, Free Solo won 2018’s Best Sports Documentary which went on to win Best Documentary at the Academy Awards, so the ceremony may be an indicator of who might win the trophy next year.
Read the full list of winners below.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Apollo 11 (Neon)
BEST DIRECTOR (TIE)
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, American Factory (Netflix)
Peter Jackson, They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros.)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
John Chester, The Biggest Little Farm (Neon)
BEST EDITING
Todd Douglas Miller, Apollo 11 (Neon)
BEST SCORE
Matt Morton, Apollo 11 (Neon)
BEST NARRATION
Western Stars (Warner Bros.)
Bruce Springsteen, narrator
Bruce Springsteen, writer
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, Honeyland (Neon)
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
Apollo 11 (Neon)
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Magnolia)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (Greenwich)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
American Factory (Netflix)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
Apollo 11 (Neon)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
Maiden (Sony Pictures Classics)
MOST INNOVATIVE DOCUMENTARY
They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros.)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Period. End of Sentence. (Netflix)
Director: Rayka Zehtabchi. Producers: Melissa Berton, Garrett K. Schiff and Lisa Taback
MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECTS OF A DOCUMENTARY
Dr. Amani Ballor – The Cave (National Geographic)
David Crosby – David Crosby: Remember My Name (Sony Pictures Classics)
Tracy Edwards – Maiden (Sony Pictures Classics)
Imelda Marcos – The Kingmaker (Showtime)
Hatidze Muratova – Honeyland (Neon)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin – Knock Down the House (Netflix)
Linda Ronstadt – Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (Greenwich)
Dr. Ruth Westheimer – Ask Dr. Ruth (Hulu)