Roger Ross Williams to Receive Impact Award at 8th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards

The Critics Choice Association has announced the recipients of two special awards during the 8th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which will take place on November 12.

Documentarian Ross McElwee will receive the Pennebaker Award, while Academy Award-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams will receive the Impact Award during this year’s ceremony.

McElwee is known for having directed many Award-winning documentaries, including Sherman’s March, which won the Best Documentary award at the Sundance Film Festival and was chosen in 2000 to be placed in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry.

Williams premiered his latest documentary, Stamped from the Beginning, at the Toronto International Film Festival. Per a press release from the Critics Choice Association, the film sees “leading female scholars share a journey through history to understand how racist ideas were developed, disseminated, and enshrined in American society.”

Williams has also made his narrative directorial debut with Cassandro, which will hit select theatres tomorrow and release on Prime Video on September 22. The film has received rave reviews from critics since its premiere at the Sundance International Film Festival.

Nominations for the Critics Choice Documentary Awards will be announced on October 16.

Source: CCA (Press release)