Joey Magidson
Last night, I was in attendance at the Ninth Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards. The ceremony was lovely as always, featuring all manner of filmmakers on hand. I mingled with Ron Howard (there for Jim Henson Idea Man, previously interviewed by yours truly here), caught up with frequent interview subject of mine Thom Zimny (there for Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band), who introduced me to his guest Pamela Springsteen (yes, sister of you know who), and sat at the table of Chris Smith (there for Mr. McMahon, whom I interviewed here for Sr.). That was my fun, but the night itself was punctuated by two big events.
The first event was the strong performance of Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story across the board. The other, interestingly enough, was that Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Will & Harper ended up in a tie for Best Documentary Feature. Now, these are not just my two favorite documentaries of the year, but two of my favorite films of 2024, so this was pretty ideal for me. As for the other docs honored? You can see the CCA press release below, which highlights all the movies and storytellers who were cited last night. Congrats again to all!
Here is the press release:
The Critics Choice Association (CCA) unveiled the winners of the Ninth Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awardsat a gala event in New York City. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Will & Harper tied for the top award of the evening, Best Documentary Feature. With a sweep of all six of its nominated categories, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story also scored wins for Best Director for Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, Best Editing for Otto Burnham, Best Score for Ilan Eshkeri, Best Archival Documentary, and Best Biographical Documentary.
The Last of the Sea Women, Simone Biles Rising, and Sugarcane each took home two awards.
The Last of the Sea Women won the awards for Best Cinematography for Iris Ng, Eunson Choo, and Justin Turkowski, and Best Science/Nature Documentary.
Simone Biles Rising was another of the evening’s double award winners, earning trophies for Best Sports Documentary and Best Limited Documentary Series.
Sugarcane took home dual awards as well, for Best Political Documentary and Best True Crime Documentary.
Natalie Rae and Angela Patton won Best New Documentary Filmmaker(s) for their work on Daughters.
Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces won for Best Narration, written and performed by Steve Martin.
The trophy for Best Historical Documentary was awarded to The Greatest Night in Pop.
Best Music Documentary went to Music by John Williams.
The award for Best Short Documentary was presented to The Only Girl in the Orchestra.
30 for 30 took home the award for Best Ongoing Documentary Series.
At the ceremony, the Pennebaker Award was presented to acclaimed documentarian Rory Kennedy. The award is named in honor of D A Pennebaker, a past winner. It was presented to Kennedy by Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s long-time collaborator and widow.
The event was hosted by actor and longtime-event supporter Erich Bergen. Presenters and attendees included Ron Howard, Chelsea Clinton with Amanda Zurawski, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld, Jeremy Piven, Bridget Moynahan, Lorraine Toussaint, Michael Cyril Creighton, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Ali Wentworth, R.J. Cutler, Lauren Greenfield, Andrew Jarecki, Ken Leung, Chai Vasarhelyi, and Marc Shaiman, among many others.
Christopher Campbell, Vice President of Documentaries of the Critics Choice Association said, “Tonight brought about some wonderful surprises as we celebrated a fantastic array of documentaries and the remarkable people whose stories they told. Our ninth show was certainly our most inspiring yet. Congratulations to all the winners!”
The Critics Choice Association honors the year’s finest achievements in documentaries released in theaters, on TV, and on major digital platforms, as determined by the voting of qualified CCA members. The ninth annual awards ceremony was produced by Bob Bain Productions.
The Catalyst Sponsors for the event were Amazon MGM Studios, National Geographic Documentary Films, Netflix, and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.
WINNERS OF THE NINTH ANNUAL CRITICS CHOICE DOCUMENTARY AWARDS
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE (TIE)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
Will & Harper (Netflix)
BEST DIRECTOR
Ian Bonhôte & Peter Ettedgui – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER(S)
Natalie Rae & Angela Patton – Daughters (Netflix)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Iris Ng, Eunsoo Cho, Justin Turkowski – The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
BEST EDITING
Otto Burnham – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST SCORE
Ilan Eshkeri – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST NARRATION
Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces (Apple TV+)
Written and performed by Steve Martin
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix)
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Music by John Williams (Walt Disney Studios)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
Simone Biles Rising (Netflix)
BEST TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Netflix)
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Simone Biles Rising (Netflix)
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
30 for 30 (ESPN)
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