Alabama incarcerations, Seymour Hersh, Pee Wee Herman, Billy Joel, and George Orwell are among the topics of the nominees for the 2025 Critics Choice Documentary Awards.
The awards will be given out November 9th in New York. Award-winning actor, writer, and producer Aasif Mandvi is the host.
Legendary documentarian Ken Burns will receive the Critics Choice Impact Award, which will be presented by acclaimed actor Christine Baranski.
Visionary filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, previously announced as recipients of the CCA’s Pennebaker Award (formerly the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award), will have the honor presented by Pennebaker’s widow and collaborator, Chris Hegedus. Named in tribute to trailblazing documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, the award celebrates filmmakers whose careers have made a profound and lasting contribution to the art of documentary storytelling.
Nominees for the 10th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)
Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)
Cover-Up (Netflix)
Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)
Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
Pee-wee as Himself (HBO Max)
The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber)
The Tale of Silyan (National Geographic)
BEST DIRECTOR
Mstyslav Chernov – 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
Petra Costa – Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)
Nyle DiMarco & Davis Guggenheim – Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)
Geeta Gandbhir – The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Andrew Jarecki & Charlotte Kaufman – The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)
Raoul Peck – Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Art for Everybody (Tremolo Productions)
Grand Theft Hamlet (Mubi)
My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay (HBO Max)
Seeds (Interior Films)
Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost (Apple TV)
Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror (Margot Station)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ben Bernard – Architecton (A24)
Jean Dakar – The Tale of Silyan (National Geographic)
Elizabeth Lo – Mistress Dispeller (Oscilloscope)
Lars Erlend Tubaas Øymo & Tor Edvin Eliassen – Folktales (Magnolia Pictures)
Brittany Shyne – Seeds (Interior Films)
Toby Strong, Doug Anderson (Underwater Photography) – Ocean with David Attenborough (National Geographic)
BEST EDITING
Michael Harte – Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)
James Lester and Oz RodrÃguez, John MacDonald (Music Montage) – Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music (NBC)
Viridiana Lieberman – The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Page Marsella – The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)
Michelle Mizner – 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
Alexandra Strauss – Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
BEST SCORE
Alexei Aigui – Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
Kris Bowers – The Eyes of Ghana (Breakwater Studios / Higher Ground Media)
Laura Heinzinger – The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Claudia Sarne – Love + War (National Geographic)
Sam Slater – 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
Paweł Szymański – Trains (EPF Media / Drygas Film Production)
BEST NARRATION
2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
Written by Mstyslav Chernov
Performed by Mstyslav Chernov
The American Revolution (PBS)
Written by Geoffrey C. Ward
Performed by Peter Coyote
The Americas (NBC)
Written by Michael Gunton, Holly Spearing, Steve Cole, Kathryn Jeffs, Matt
Richards, Giles Badger, Victoria Buckley, Alex Griffiths, Hannah Hoare, Poppy
Riddle, Gillian Taylor, Nikki Waldron, Evie Wright, Charlotte Bostock, Victoria Bobin,
& Ingrid Kvale
Performed by Tom Hanks
Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)
Written by Petra Costa
Performed by Petra Costa
Octopus! (Prime Video)
Written by Gabriel Bisset-Smith
Performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
Written by George Orwell, Adapted by Raoul Peck
Performed by Damian Lewis
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
One to One: John & Yoko (Magnolia Pictures)
Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber)
Trains (EPF Media / Drygas Film Production)
WTO/99 (Foghorn Features)
BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
The American Revolution (PBS)
Cover-Up (Netflix)
Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015 (HBO Max)
Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time (National Geographic)
Number One on the Call Sheet (Apple TV)
Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber)
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
John Candy: I Like Me (Prime Video)
Love + War (National Geographic)
Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV)
My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay (HBO Max)
Pee-wee as Himself (HBO Max)
Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost (Apple TV)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Becoming Led Zeppelin (Sony Pictures Classics)
Billy Joel: And So It Goes (HBO Max)
Bono: Stories of Surrender (Apple TV)
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley (Magnolia Pictures)
Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music (NBC)
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) (Hulu)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)
Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)
Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)
The Librarians (Independent Lens)
My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow (Marminchilla)
Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
The Americas (NBC)
Checkpoint Zoo (Abramorama)
The Last Rhinos: A New Hope (National Geographic)
Ocean with David Attenborough (National Geographic)
Octopus! (Prime Video)
Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey (Netflix)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (Netflix)
America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys (Netflix)
Big Dreams: Little League World Series 2024 (ESPN Films)
Full Court Press (ESPN+)
Southpaw: The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott (ESPN)
We Beat the Dream Team (HBO Max)
BEST TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY
The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)
Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer (Netflix)
The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Predators (MTV Documentary Films / Paramount+)
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish (Netflix)
The Yogurt Shop Murders (HBO Max)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
All the Empty Rooms (Netflix)
Classroom 4 (PBS)
The Devil is Busy (HBO Max)
Exodus (Park County)
Fiddler on the Moon: Judaism in Space (Ironbound Films)
Sallie’s Ashes (Robi Creative)
Saving Superman (Switchboard)
Shanti Rides Shotgun (Voyager)
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
The American Revolution (PBS)
Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015 (HBO Max)
Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer (Netflix)
Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time (National Geographic)
Magic City: An American Fantasy (Starz)
Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV)
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night (Peacock)
The Yogurt Shop Murders (HBO Max)
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
30 for 30 (ESPN Films)
American Masters (PBS)
The Reluctant Traveler (Apple TV)
Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross (Roku Channel)
Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller (National Geographic)
Trainwreck (Netflix)
