The Cinema Eye Honors (CEHA), the organization that recognizes outstanding artistic achievement in nonfiction and documentary films and series, revealed the full slate of Feature Film nominations for its 20th annual awards celebrations.
Po Si Teng’s “American Doctor” and Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s “You Can See Everything” led all films with 7 nominations each.
“American Doctor” premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and has been a festival stalwart throughout the year. The debut feature from Po Si Teng follows three U.S. surgeons who travel to Gaza to try to save citizens in the midst of the genocide. In addition to its nomination for Nonfiction Feature, the film was recognized in Direction, Production, Original Score, Debut Feature, Audience Choice as well as receiving recognition in the Unforgettables category for the film’s onscreen collaborators Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa. It is being distributed by Watermelon Pictures.
Fielder and Oppenheim’s “You Can See Everything” has been a box office sensation for A24 since its surprise premiere at the 2026 Telluride Film Festival. The portrait of disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in the final days before she goes to prison and the film’s subsequent interrogation of truth and the documentary form made Cinema Eye history as the first film to be nominated for Nonfiction Feature, Direction, Editing, Production, Cinematography and Original Score. The film is also up for the Audience Choice Prize.
Joining those two films in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature are “My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile“, “NAZA“, “Once Upon a Time in Harlem“, “Rehearsals for a Revolution” and “To Hold a Mountain“.
Scoring six nominations was Sara Dosa’s “Time and Water“, which was recognized across the feature film craft categories, including nominations for previous Cinema Eye winners Erin Caspar and Jocelyn Chaput (for Editing), Dan Deacon (for Original Score) and Lucy Munger (for Visual Design). The Sundance premiere from National Geographic Documentary Films follows Icelandic author Andri Snær Magnason as he reflects on his family history as he prepares to offer a eulogy for a dying glacier.
“NAZA“, the new film from Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, Cinema Eye winners in 2025 for their film “No Other Land“, received 5 nominations. That film was picked up by distributor Neon after it had already launched a successful US theatrical release, an almost unheard of scenario. Eight films followed with three nominations: “Barbara Forever”, “Closure“, “Everest: The Other Side“, “Musk“, “Nuisance Bear“, “The Oldest Person in the World“, “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” and “Rehearsals for a Revolution“.
Po Si Teng is also the most nominated individual this year with five nominations. Fielder and Oppenheim received four apiece. With his three nominations for “Everest: The Other Side“, Jimmy Chin moves into third on the all-time nominations list with 14 total nods.
After a first round of voting that saw nonfiction fans from around the world cast tens of thousands of votes for their favorite films, the Audience Choice nominees were announced, including a number of the most talked about and lauded films of the year: “American Doctor“, “Cookie Queens“, “The Cycle of Love“, “Everest: The Other Side“, “NAZA“, “The Oldest Person in the World“, “Steal This Story, Please!“, “Time and Water“, “Wild Inside” and “You Can See Everything“.
The last eight winners of the Best Documentary Feature Oscar — “Mr. Nobody Against Putin“, “No Other Land“, “20 Days in Mariupol“, “Navalny“, “Summer of Soul“, “My Octopus Teacher“, “American Factory” and “Free Solo” — were all first contenders for the Audience Choice Prize. Second round voting to determine this year’s winner will take place in December.
Cinema Eye previously announced its first Honorees of the season, their annual list of the Unforgettables — the on-camera collaborators from six feature documentaries. In addition to the three physicians from “American Doctor“, the winners include E. Jean Carroll from “Ask E. Jean“, Soraya Akhlaghi from “A Fox Under a Pink Moon“, Billie Jean King from “Give Me the Ball“, Israa from “One in a Million” and Amy Goodman from “Steal This Story, Please!”
Also previously announced were the ten short films that have been named to Cinema Eye’s annual Shorts List. Those ten films will screen at DCTV in New York City on Wednesday, December 2nd and in Los Angeles at Vidiots on Saturday, December 5th. Nominees in the categories of Nonfiction Short Film will be announced in mid-December.
Steve James’ documentary masterpiece, “Hoop Dreams”, will receive this year’s Legacy Award, which is presented to a classic nonfiction film that continues to inspire today’s working filmmakers. James will accept the award on behalf of his team members Peter Gilbert (Producer and DP), Frederick Marx (Producer and Editor), Adam Singer (Sound Recordist), Gordon Quinn (Executive Producer and founder of Kartemquin Films), Bill Haugse (Editor), Marcie McCall (Kartemquin) and Ben Sidran (Composer).
Among distributors, HBO, National Geographic and Netflix tied with the most nominations, with each receiving 12 nods across all categories. Neon followed with 9 nominations, while A24 and Watermelon Pictures both had 7.
Cinema Eye will return to the Times Center in New York City, the home of its 2nd and 3rd editions, for its 20th Awards Ceremony on Monday, January 11th, 2027. Cinema Eye Week/end, which includes a number of events and activities for Cinema Eye nominees and honorees, kicks off in New York on Friday, January 8th.
Key Dates for the 2027 Cinema Eye Honors
Wednesday, December 2nd: Shorts List Screenings, DCTV, New York
Saturday, December 5th: Shorts List Screenings, Vidiots, Los Angeles
Monday, December 14th: Shorts Nominees Announced and Final Audience Choice Voting Opens
Friday, January 8th, 2027: Cinema Eye Week/end begins in New York City
Monday, January 11th, 2027: 20th Annual Cinema Eye Honors Awards Ceremony
A full list of this year’s announcements and nominees follows…
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
“American Doctor” — Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad, Chris Rentaria, Ibrahim Al Otla, Ramzy Haddad, Christopher White, Ema Ryan Yamazaki, Suad Bushnaq, Kristian Selin Eidnes Andersen, Patrick Svaneberg Vejen, Jacob Langkjær Davidsen, Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa
“My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile” — Julia Loktev, Michael Taylor, Anna Nemzer, Ksenia Mironova, Elena Kostyuchenko and Valeria Ratnikova
“NAZA” — Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Harry Davies, Robert Farr and Anonymous
“Once Upon a Time in Harlem” — William Greaves, David Greaves, Liani Greaves, Anne de Mare, Tamar-kali, Clive Davidson, Roland Mitchell, Mike Frank, Matthew J. Hoffman, and Bella Racklin
“Rehearsals for a Revolution” — Pegah Ahangarani, Kaveh Farnam, Adria Mones, Arash Ashtiani, Neda Mohseni and Dani Zacarias
“To Hold a Mountain” — Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić, Quentin Laurent, Rok Bicek, Eva Kraljević, George Cragg, Draško Adžić, Julij Zornik, Samo Jurca, Mileva Gara Jovanović and Nada Stanišić
“You Can See Everything” — Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim, Tatiana Bears, Maggie Ambrose, Jack Davis, David Bolen, Adam Locke-Norton, Ari Balouzian, Richard Carlos, Paul Hsu, Elizabeth Holmes, Billy Evans and Amanda Seyfried
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Poh Si Teng — “American Doctor”
Michal Marczak — “Closure”
John Wilson — “The History of Concrete”
Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor — “NAZA”
Pegah Ahangarani — “Rehearsals for a Revolution”
Sara Dosa — “Time and Water”
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim — “You Can See Everything”
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Jeff Malmberg — “The Bend in the River”
Colin Monie — “Everybody to Kenmure Street”
Anne de Mare and Lynn True — “Once Upon a Time in Harlem”
Ross McElwee and Joe Bini — “Remake”
Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput and Mark Harrison — “Time and Water”
Adam Locke-Norton — “You Can See Everything”
Outstanding Achievement in Production
Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod and Reem Haddad — “American Doctor”
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Shannon Dill, Anna Barnes and Bob Eisenhardt — “Everest: The Other Side”
Jessie Deeter, Erin Edeiken and Alex Gibney — “Musk”
Julia Loktev — “My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile”
Nominees to be determined — “NAZA”
Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim, Tatiana Bears, Maggie Ambrose and Jack Davis — “You Can See Everything”
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Nathan Golon, Pete Muller and Mark Unger — “Bucks Harbor”
Michal Marczak — “Closure”
Clair Popkin, Jimmy Chin and Christopher Murphy — “Everest: The Other Side”
Stephen Maing and Eric Daniel Metzgar — “The Great Experiment”
Eva Kraljević — “To Hold a Mountain”
David Bolen — “You Can See Everything”
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
Suad Bushnaq — “American Doctor”
Daniel Pemberton — “Musk”
Cristóbal Tapia De Veer — “Nuisance Bear”
William Ryan Fritch and T. Griffin — “The Oldest Person in the World”
Dan Deacon — “Time and Water”
Ari Balouzian — “You Can See Everything”
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Gisela Fulla Silvestre and Eli Cohn — “Barbara Forever”
Katarzyna Szczerba and Konrad Błaszczyk — “Closure”
Robert Farr — “NAZA”
David Rose, Lou Solakofski and Reid Goobie — “Nuisance Bear”
Mark Mangini — “The Oldest Person in the World”
Björn Viktorsson, Atli Arnarsson and Jón Atli Magnússon — “Time and Water”
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design
Will Hodgson — “14th”
Philip Eddolls, Michael Enzbrunner and Aisha Ghali — “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist”
Mohammad Lotfali — “A Fox Under a Pink Moon”
Anthony Konigbagbe, Yibi Hu and Daisy Evans — “Jean-Michel Basquiat”
Nominees to be determined — “Musk”
Lucy Munger — “Time and Water”
Outstanding Achievement in Archival Artistry
Brydie O’Connor — “Barbara Forever”
Wyatt Stone, Viridiana Lieberman and Rebecca Adorno Dávila — “Jean-Michel Basquiat”
Paula Vaccaro, Aaron Brookner and Tomas Baltazar — “Nova ‘78”
Anne de Mare, Lynn True, Matthew J. Hoffman and Bella Racklin — “Once Upon a Time in Harlem”
Arash Ashtiani — “Rehearsals for a Revolution”
Helen Macgowan, Byron Leon, Niles Howard and Gabriela Tessitore — “Soul Patrol”
Outstanding Achievement in Debut Feature Filmmaking
“American Doctor” — Directed by Poh Si Teng
“Barbara Forever” — Directed by Brydie O’Connor
“Bucks Harbor” — Directed by Pete Muller
“The History of Concrete” — Directed by John Wilson
“Nuisance Bear” — Directed by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden
Spotlight Award
“Jaripeo” — Directed by Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig
“Joybubbles” — Directed by Rachael J. Morrison
“My NDA” — Directed by Juliane Dressner and Miriam Shor
“TheyDream” — Directed by William D. Caballero
“The Whole World is a Lie” — Directed by Charlie Birns
“Wood Street” — Directed by Caron Creighton
Heterodox Award
“Blue Heron” — Directed by Sophy Romvari
“A Child of My Own” — Directed by Maite Alberdi
“Dao” — Directed by Alain Gomis
“I Heard That They Are Not Going to See Each Other Anymore” — Directed by Ka Ki Wong
“Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” — Directed by Matt Johnson
“Whispers in May” — Directed by Dongnan Chen
Audience Choice Prize
“American Doctor” — Directed by Poh Si Teng
“Cookie Queens” — Directed by Alysa Nahmias
“The Cycle of Love” — Directed by Orlando von Einsiedel
“Everest: The Other Side” — Directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
“NAZA” — Directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (Shore)
“The Oldest Person in the World” — Directed by Sam Green
“Steal This Story, Please!” — Directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin
“Time and Water” — Directed by Sara Dosa
“Wild Inside” — Directed by Penny Lane
“You Can See Everything” — Directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim
The following categories were previously announced on Thursday, October 22, 2026.
Audience Choice Prize Longlist
“The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist” — Directed by Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell
“Ask E. Jean” — Directed by Ivy Meeropol
“The Bend in the River” — Directed by Robb Moss
“Everybody to Kenmure Street” — Directed by Felipe Bustos Sierra
“Give Me the Ball” — Directed by Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff
“The History of Concrete” — Directed by John Wilson
“Once Upon a Time in Harlem” — Directed by William Greaves and David Greaves
Unforgettables Honorees
Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa — “American Doctor”
E. Jean Carroll — “Ask E. Jean”
Soraya Akhlaghi — “A Fox Under a Pink Moon”
Billie Jean King — “Give Me the Ball”
Israa — “One in a Million”
Amy Goodman — “Steal This Story, Please!”
Nonfiction Shorts List
“The Boys and the Bees” — Directed by Arielle Knight
“Buckskin” — Directed by Mars Verrone
“A Derailment” — Directed by Nathan Truesdell
“Free Joan Little” — Directed by Yoruba Richen
“I Got My Brother” — Directed by Victor Gabriel
“An Open Field” — Directed by Teboho Edkins
“Sawyer Avenue, Sunday Afternoon” — Directed by Bill Morrison
“They’re Here” — Directed by Laura Poitras and Rachel Lauren Mueller
“La Tierra del Valor (The Home of the Brave)” — Directed by Cristina Costantini
“Water Cooler” — Directed by Emma V.F.
Outstanding Achievement in Broadcast Film
“Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story” — Directed by Jyllian Gunther and Stephanie Schwam — HBO Max
“The Bitter Pill” — Directed by Clay Tweel — POV
“Critical Incident: Death at the Border” — Directed by Richard Rowley — HBO Max
“Earth, Wind & Fire: To Be Celestial or That’s the Weight of the World” — Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson — HBO Max
“Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television” — Directed by Giselle Bailey and Phil Bertelsen — HBO Max
“Songs From the Hole” — Directed by Contessa Gayles — Netflix
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Series
“High Horse: The Black Cowboy” — Directed by Jason Perez — Peacock
“Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time” — Directed by Traci A. Curry — National Geographic
“Katrina: Come Hell and High Water” — Directed by Geeta Gandbhir, Samantha Knowles, and Spike Lee — Netflix
“Mr. Scorsese” — Directed by Rebecca Miller — Apple TV
“Trust Me: The False Prophet” — Directed by Rachel Dretzin — Netflix
“The Yogurt Shop Murders” — Directed by Margaret Brown — HBO Max
Outstanding Achievement in Anthology Series
“Limitless: Live Better Now” (Season Two) — Executive Producers Darren Aronofsky, Jane Root, Ari Handel, Tom Watt-Smith, Chris Hemsworth and Benjamin Grayson — Disney+
“Neighbors” — Executive Producers Ronald Bronstein, Eli Bush, Josh Safdie, Harrison Fishman, Dylan Redford and Samuel Fishman — HBO Max
“Trainwreck” — Executive Producers Sheun Adelasoye de Nicola, Alexander Marengo and Tim Wardle — Netflix
“Tucci in Italy” (Season Two) — Executive Producers Stanley Tucci, Lottie Birmingham, Amanda Lyon and Simon Raikes — National Geographic
“Untold” (Volume Six) — Executive Producers Ben Silverman, Howard Owens, Isabel San Vargas, Chapman Way, Maclain Way and Ryan Duffy — Netflix
Outstanding Achievement in Broadcast Editing
“#Skyking” — Edited by Emiliano Battista and Alexis Johnson — Hulu
“Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story” — Edited by Jeremy Stulberg — HBO Max
“Breakdown: 1975” — Edited by Alan Lowe and Jody McVeigh-Schultz — Netflix
“Earth, Wind & Fire: To Be Celestial or That’s the Weight of the World” — Edited by Andrew Morrow, Matt Cascella and Tim Ziegler — HBO Max
“Katrina: Come Hell and High Water” — Edited by Arielle Amsalem and Anna Auster — Netflix
“Mr. Scorsese” — Edited by David Barter — Apple TV
Outstanding Achievement in Broadcast Cinematography
“Caught in the Crackdown” — Cinematographers Timothy Grucza, Jeremy Gould, Nick Kraus, Kevin McKeever and Jeff Perlman — Frontline | PBS | ProPublica
“High Horse: The Black Cowboy” — Cinematographers Jerry Henry and Justin Janowitz — Peacock
“The Man Will Burn” — Cinematographers Benji Lanpher, Chris Darnell, Neil Fernandez, Consuelo Althouse and Natalie Sims — HBO Max
“Songs from the Hole” — Cinematographers Michelle Kwong and Contessa Gayles — Netflix
“Tucci in Italy” (Season Two) — Cinematographer Matt Ball — National Geographic
“The Yogurt Shop Murders” — Cinematographer Justin Zweifach — HBO Max
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