The Arbor Cited as Best Debut Feature, Paradise Lost Films Honored with Hell Yeah Prize

Steve James (pictured with camera, above), whose acclaimed documentary The Interrupters was overlooked by the Oscars, came out on top at the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking, held at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens last night. His film took the Cinema Eye prizes for Outstanding Achievement in Direction and Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, the first time in the award’s five-year history that a single film has won the two top awards.
The award for Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film went to director Clio Barnard’s unconventional The Arbor, and the new Hell Yeah Prize was given to Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, directors of the Paradise Lost trilogy about the arrest, trial, incarceration and, eventually, release from prison of the West Memphis Three.

Documentarian Frederick Wiseman, whose new Crazy Horse is about to open in theaters, accepted the Legacy Award in honor of the 1967 Titicut Follies, which was unavailable for public viewing from 1969 to 1991 because of concerns about patients’ rights – and, it’s widely thought, official embarrassment over the conditions the film depicted at the Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane in Massachusets.

The Audience Choice Prize went to Buck, directed by Cindy Meehl, and the Heterodox Award for Narrative Filmmaking, recognizing a film that “imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production,” went to Mike Mills’ Beginners.  Here’s a full list of the honorees:

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

The Interrupters

Directed by Steve James

Produced by Alex Kotlowitz and Steve James

Presented by Michael Moore


Outstanding Achievement in Direction

Steve James

The Interrupters

Presented by Alex Gibney


Audience Choice Prize

Buck

Directed by Cindy Meehl

Presented by Robert Krulwich


Outstanding Achievement in Production

Gian-Piero Ringel and Wim Wenders

Pina

Presented by Peter Davis and Andrea Meditch


Outstanding Achievement in Editing

Gregers Sall and Chris King

Senna

Presented by Peter Davis and Andrea Meditch


Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

Danfung Dennis

Hell and Back Again

Presented by Kirsten Johnson and Darius Marder


Spotlight Award

The Tiniest Place

Directed by Tatiana Huezo Sà¡nchez

Presented by Kirsten Johnson and Darius Marder


Heterodox Award

Beginners

Directed by Mike Mills

Presented by Kimberly Reed and Alrick Brown


Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking

Diary

Directed by Tim Hetherington

Presented by Nanette Burstein and Josh Fox


Outstanding Achievement in an Original Music Score

John Kusiak

Tabloid

Presented by Nanette Burstein and Josh Fox


Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation

Rob Feng and Jeremy Landman

Tabloid

Presented by Jeff Malmberg and Chris Shellen


Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

Clio Barnard

The Arbor

Presented by Jeff Malmberg and Chris Shellen


Hell Yeah Prize

Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky

The Paradise Lost Trilogy

Presented by Jason Baldwin

Legacy Award

Titicut Follies

Directed by Frederick Wiseman

Presented by Steve James

For more information: www.cinemaeyehonors.com.