Nominees for the 2010 Cinema Eye Awards were announced on November 5 by at the Sheffield Documentaries Festival in the U.K.

Introduced in 2008, the Cinema Eye Awards are unique in recognizing excellence in artistic achievements in nonfiction filmmaking in categories including cinematography, editing, music, graphics and animation, as well as outstanding achievement in filmmaking and direction, production and other disciplines.

The Cinema Eye nominating committee is comprised of film festival and film society programmers. This year, committee members included Meira Blaustein (Woodstock Film Festival), Heather Croall (Sheffield Documentaries Festival), Sean Farnel (Hot Docs), Ben Fowlie (Camden), Tom Hall (Sarasota/Newport), Doug Jones (Los Angeles), David Kwok (Tribeca), Caroline Libresco (Sundance), Janet Pierson (SXSW), Thom Powers (Toronto International Film Festival), Rachel Rosen (San Francisco Film Society), Sky Sitney (Silverdocs), Sadie Tillery (Full Frame) and David Wilson (True/False). 98 films were eligible for consideration.

Leading the nominations in number, The Cove is nominated for seven awards, including Outstanding Achievement for Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, Cinematography, Production, Editing, Original Musical Score, Debut Feature Film and Audience Choice.

Also nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking are Burma VJ, Food, Inc, Loot and October Country.

A new category, the Spotlight Award, is intended to honor films that have yet to receive the recognition they deserve -- but, unfortunately, the majority of films on the complete list of nominees have not been widely seen in the U.S. Obviously, the Cinema Eye Honors do raise awareness about the films and increase their chances for wider distribution.

The Cinema Eye Awards will be presented on January 15, 2010 at the Times Center in New York City, with the sponsorship of IndiePix

(PHOTO: Cinema Eye Awards Statuette. Courtesy Cinema Eye Honors).

It's hard to imagine that 15 years have passed since Hoop Dreams made its documentary slam dunk premier at Sundance and subsequently scored big at the box office.

The engaging sports documentary is still enormously popular on DVD. It's applauded not only by fans who boost for basketball, but by everyone who loves a good underdog-to-topdog story. Thanks to Thom Powers' Stranger Than Fiction Series at NYC's IFC Center, Hoop Dreams again scores on the big screen -- for one night only on Monday, November 9. See it if you can!

Hoop Dreams follows two teenage guys, William Gates and Arthur Agee, who shoot hoops on the street courts of inner-city Chicago and who, given the opportunity to attend a suburban prep school and play basketball for its legendary coach, find that their dreams of NBA glory temporarily tempered by adjusting to academic demands, family pressures, economic realities and the intense competition of high school sports. Their problems are gripping, their triumphs inspiring.Hoop Dreams was recently named to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry, signifying its enduring importance to the history of American film.

Screening information: Monday, November 9, 2009 at 7 pm at the IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10014, (212) 924-7771. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Hoop Dreams's producer, Peter Gilbert. Meanwhile, watch the trailer.

(PHOTO: Arthur Agee in 'Hoop Dreams.' Courtesy Fine Line).

Documentaries rarely rank first in box office, but Michael Jackson's This Is It topped ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian movie theaters this Halloween weekend, bringing in $21.3 million for Sony Corp., the film's distributor.

This is Sony's seventh first-place opener this year, and it's no surprise that the movie -- probably the most hyped documentary in cinema history -- is a big earner. It opened on Wednesday, October 28 on 3,400 screens across the country, making an average of $6.119 per screen for an overall total of $32.5 million. Many of the showings were sold out.

Directed by Kenny Ortega, the film chronicles Jackson's rehearsals for his big comeback tour that was to have premiered at London's O2 Arena this past August, just two weeks after Jackson's sudden death on June 25, due to a lethal combination of drugs. It shows the King of Pop refining his numbers and interacting with cast and crew, but makes no mention of the troubles in Jackson's life nor of the circumstances of his death.

If the film's big box office take continues to roll in, let's see whether Sony retires Michael Jackson's This is It as announced. You can read my full review.

(PHOTO: 'Michael Jackson's This is It' Poster Art. Courtesy Sony Pictures).

IFP will provide two American independent film producers with travel assistance to participate in the 2010 Rotterdam Lab, a four-day training workshop scheduled concurrently with the CineMart Co-Production Market, a division of the Rotterdam Film Festival which takes place from January 31 through February 3, 2010.

The Rotterdam Lab is designed to build up participating producers' international networks through formal and informal meetings -- described as 'speed-dating sessions' -- with colleagues and numerous representatives in the international finance, production, sales and distribution sectors. There are also high level professional panels.

Recent IFP/Rotterdam Lab Fellowship recipients include: Paul Mezey, Karin Chien, Noah Harlan, Jamin O'Brien, Anish Savjani and Mynette Louie.

Those interested in consideration for the program's next iteration should apply with a letter of interest and a resume to Amy Dotson, Deputy Director IFP at adotson@ifp.org by Friday, November 13, 2009. Applicants should have at least one feature-film credit and must be a current IFP member.