Award season for 2018 has officially begun with the announcement of the Critics’ Choice Documentary Award nominations. Free Solo, about rock climber Alex Honnold and his experience climbing El Capitan’s 3,000-foot vertical rock face at Yosemite National Park, leads all nominations at six nominations, including Best Documentary, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi for Best Director, Best Sports Documentary, Most Innovative Documentary, Best Cinematography, Best Editing.
This year’s three big documentary hits are also nominated for Best Documentary: RBG, Three Identical Strangers and Won’t You Be My Neighbor? The Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards will be hosted by Bill Nye and take place Saturday, Nov. 10 at BRIC in Brooklyn, New York.
Here’s the full list of nominations for the 2018 Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards:
BEST DOCUMENTARY
- Crime + Punishment – Director: Stephen Maing (Hulu)
- Dark Money – Director: Kimberly Reed (PBS)
- Free Solo – Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (National Geographic Documentary Films)
- Hal – Director: Amy Scott (Oscilloscope)
- Hitler’s Hollywood – Director: Rüdiger Suchsland (Kino Lorber)
- Minding the Gap – Director: Bing Liu (Hulu)
- RBG – Directors: Julie Cohen, Betsy West (Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media)
- Three Identical Strangers – Director: Tim Wardle (Neon, CNN Films)
- Wild Wild Country – Directors: Chapman Way, Maclain Way (Netflix)
- Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – Director: Morgan Neville (Focus Features)
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
- America to Me (Starz)
- Dirty Money (Netflix)
- Elvis Presley: The Searcher (HBO Documentary Films, Sony Pictures Television)
- Flint Town (Netflix)
- One Strange Rock (National Geographic)
- The Fourth Estate (Showtime Networks)
- The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling (HBO)
- Wild Wild Country (Netflix)
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
- 30 for 30 (ESPN)
- American Masters (PBS)
- Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN)
- Frontline (PBS)
- Independent Lens (PBS)
- Making a Murderer (Netflix)
- POV (PBS)
- The History of Comedy (CNN)
BEST DIRECTOR
- Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi – Free Solo (National Geographic Documentary Film)
- Bing Liu – Minding the Gap (Hulu)
- Morgan Neville – Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Focus Features)
- Kimberly Reed – Dark Money (PBS)
- Rüdiger Suchsland – Hitler’s Hollywood (Kino Lorber)
- Tim Wardle – Three Identical Strangers (Neon, CNN Films)
BEST FIRST TIME DIRECTOR
- Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster – Science Fair (National Geographic Documentary Films)
- Heather Lenz – Kusama – Infinity (Magnolia Pictures)
- Bing Liu – Minding the Gap (Hulu)
- Stephen Nomura Schible – Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (MUBI)
- Rudy Valdez – The Sentence (HBO Documentary Films)
- Chapman Way and Maclain Way – Wild Wild Country (Netflix)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
- Dark Money – Director: Kimberly Reed (PBS)
- Fahrenheit 11/9 – Director: Michael Moore (Briarcliff Entertainment)
- Flint Town – Directors: Zackary Canepari, Drea Cooper, Jessica Dimmock (Netflix)
- Hitler’s Hollywood – Director: Rüdiger Suchsland (Kino Lorber)
- John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls – Directors: George Kunhardt, Peter W. Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt (HBO)
- RBG – Directors: Julie Cohen, Betsy West (Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media)
- The Fourth Estate – Directors: Liz Garbus, Jenny Carchman (Showtime Networks)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
- Andre the Giant – Director: Jason Hehir (HBO)
- Being Serena (HBO)
- Free Solo – Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (National Geographic Documentary Film)
- John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection – Director: Julien Faraut (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
- Minding the Gap – Director: Bing Liu (Hulu)
- The Workers Cup – Director: Adam Sobel (Passion River)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
- Bad Reputation – Director: Kevin Kerslake (Magnolia Pictures)
- David Bowie: The Last Five Years – Director: Francis Whately (HBO Documentary Films)
- Elvis Presley: The Searcher – Director: Thom Zimny (HBO Documentary Films, Sony Pictures Television)
- Lynyrd Skynyrd: If I Leave Here Tomorrow – Director: Stephen Kijak (Showtime Networks)
- Quincy – Directors: Alan Hicks, Rashida Jones (Netflix)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda – Director: Stephen Nomura Schible (MUBI)
- Whitney – Director: Kevin Macdonald (Roadside Attractions, Miramax)
MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECT OF A DOCUMENTARY
(ALL LISTED IN THE CATEGORY WILL BE HONORED AT THE EVENT)
- Scotty Bowers – Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (Greenwich Entertainment, Kino Lorber, Starz!)
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg – RBG (Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media)
- Alex Honnold – Free Solo (National Geographic Documentary Film)
- Joan Jett – Bad Reputation (Magnolia Pictures)
- Quincy Jones – Quincy (Netflix)
- David Kellman and Bobby Shafran – Three Identical Strangers(Neon, CNN Films)
- John McEnroe – John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
- Leon Vitali – Filmworker (Kino Lorber)
MOST INNOVATIVE DOCUMENTARY
- 306 Hollywood – Directors: Elan Bogarin, Jonathan Bogarin (PBS, El Tigre)
- Free Solo – Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (National Geographic Documentary Film)
- Hitler’s Hollywood – Director: Rüdiger Suchsland (Kino Lorber)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda – Director: Stephen Nomura Schible (MUBI)
- Wild Wild Country – Directors: Chapman Way, Maclain Way (Netflix)
- Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – Director: Morgan Neville (Focus Features)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- 306 Hollywood – Cinematographers: Elan Bogarin, Jonathan Bogarin, Alejandro Mejía (PBS, El Tigre)
- The Dawn Wall – Cinematographer: Brett Lowell (The Orchard)
- Free Solo – Cinematographers: Jimmy Chin, Clair Popkin, Mikey Schaefer (National Geographic Documentary Film)
- Minding the Gap – Cinematographer: Bing Liu (Hulu)
- Pandas – Cinematographer: David Douglas (Warner Brothers)
- Wild Wild Country – Cinematographer: Adam Stone (Netflix)
BEST EDITING
- Dark Money – Editor: Jay Arthur Sterrenberg (PBS)
- Filmworker – Editor: Tony Zierra (Kino Lorber)
- Free Solo – Editor: Bob Eisenhardt (National Geographic Documentary Film)
- John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection – Editor: Julien Faraut (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
- Three Identical Strangers – Editor: Michael Harte (Neon, CNN Films)
- Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – Editors: Jeff Malmberg, Aaron Wickenden (Focus Features)