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Cinema Eye Awards for Documentary Filmmaking

Recognizing Achievements in the Craft

By Jennifer Merin, About.com

The Cinema Eye Awards are the first movie awards to recognize and honor filmmakers working in the documentary genre for their behind-the-scenes craftsmanship, including outstanding achievement in direction, cinematography, editing, producing, graphics and animation, as well as International Feature, Debut Feature and the Audience Choice Award. The awards are named after the revolutionary group of young filmmakers led by legendary documentarian Dziga Vertow.

The awards, co-founded by documentary film programmer Thom Powers (Toronto Film Festival) and documentary filmmaker AJ Schnack (Kurt Cobain: About A Son, 2007), were presented for the first time on March 18, 2008, in an entertaining, well-attended ceremony at the IFC Center in New York City.

Cinema Eye Award Winners, 2008

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking:

  • Manda Bala (Send A Bullet - Director: Jason Kohn; Producers: Joey Frank, Jared Goldman and Jason Kohn

Also nominated:

  • Into Great Silence - Director: Philip Groning; Producers: Philip Groning, Elda Guidineti, Andres Pfaffli & Michael Weber
  • Lake of Fire - Director: Tony Kaye; Producer: Tony Kaye
  • The Monastery - Mr. Vig & the Nun - Director: Pernilla Rose Gronkjear; Producer: Sigrid Dyekjaer
  • No End In Sight - Director: Charles Ferguson; Producers: Jennie Amias, Audrey Marrs, Jessie Vogelson, Alex Gibney

Outstanding Achievement in an International Feature:

  • The Monastery - Mr. Vig & the Nun - Director: Pernilla Rose Gronkjear; Producer: Sigrid Dyekjaer

Also nominated:

  • Ghosts of Cite Soleil - Director: Asger Leth; Producers: Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor and Mikael Rieks
  • Into Great Silence - Director: Philip Groning; Producers: Philip Groning, Elda Guidineti, Andres Pfaffli & Michael Weber
  • Manufactured Landscapes - Director: Jennifer Baichwal; Producers: Jennifer Baichwal, Daniel Iron & Nick de Pencier
  • Please Vote For Me - Director: Weijun Chen; Producer: Don Edkins

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature:

  • Billy the Kid - Jennifer Vendetti

Also nominated:

  • Manda Bala (Send A Bullet) - Jason Kohn
  • The Monestary - Mr. Vig & The Nun - Pernille Rose Gronkjaer
  • No End In Sight - Charles Ferguson
  • A Walk Into The Sea: Danny Williams and The Warhol Factory - Esther B. Robinson

Outstanding Achievement in Direction:

  • Taxi To The Dark Side - Alex Gibney

Also nominated:

  • Into Great Silence - Philip Groning
  • Lake of Fire - Tony Kaye
  • Manda Bala - Jason Kohn
  • Zoo - Robinson Devor

Outstanding Achievement in Producing:

  • Ghosts of Cite Soleil - Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor, Mikael Rieks

Also nominated:

  • Blindsight - Sybil Robeson Orr
  • Chicago 10 - Brett Morgan & Graydon Carter
  • Into Great Silence - Philip Groning, Elda Guidineti, Andres Pfaffli & Michael Weber
  • Lake of Fire - Tony Kaye
  • Manda Bala - Joey Frank, Jared Goldman & Jason Kohn

Outstanding Achievement in Editing:

  • Manda Bala - Doug Abel, Jenny Golden & Andy Grieve

Also nominated:

  • Crazy Love - David Zieff
  • Flying: Confessions of A Free Women - Niels Pagh Andersen
  • Ghosts of Cite Soleil - Adam Nielsen
  • Lake of Fire - Peter Goddard
  • No End In Sight - Chad Beck and Cindy Lee

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography:

  • Manda Bala - Heloisa Passos

Also nominated:

  • Into Great Silence - Philip Groning
  • Lake of Fire - Tony Kaye
  • Manufactured Landscapes - Peter Mettler
  • Zoo - Sean Kirby

Outstanding Achievement in Graphics and Animation:

  • Chicago 10 - Animation by Curious Pictures

Also nominated:

  • Helvetica - Motions Graphics by Trollback & Co.
  • The Prisoner or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair - Graphic Design by Petra Epperlein
  • The Unforeseen - Motion Graphics by Jef Sewell
  • Super Amigos - Animation by David Quesnelle

The Audience Choice Award:

  • The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - Director: Seth Gordon

Also nominated:

  • Deep Water - Directors: Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell
  • In The Shadow of the Moon - Director: David Sington
  • Into Great Silence - Director: Philip Groning
  • Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten - Director: Julien Temple
  • Manufactured Landscapes - Director: Jennifer Baichwal
  • No End In Sight - Director: Charles Ferguson
  • Sicko - Director: Michael Moore

The 2008 Awards Ceremony

The inaugural awards ceremony at New York's IFC Center gathered leading names in documentary filmmaking. Presenters included award-winning filmmakers Barbara Koppel, Sam Pollard, Alex Gibney, Alan Berliner, Ross Kauffman, Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern, Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger, and Molly Thompson (founder of A&E Indie Films). The attractive Cinema Eye Award is pewter-colored metal and stands about a foot tall. It's a large eye with a crystal lens and metal lashes, perched on a two legs standing on a square metal base. Winners names are inscribed on the bottom of the base.

During the presentation, there were moving tributes to recently deceased St. Claire Bourne and Tony Silver.

The Cinema Eye Awards is sponsored by Indie Pix, a company devoted to expanding the audience for independent film by overcoming the barriers that separate the filmmaker and his fans by providing alternative distribution--mostly by an exclusive Download-to-DVD system.

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