Nominations announced for inaugural 'Cinema Eye Awards' for Nonfiction Filmmaking

  • "Into Great Silence" and "Manda Bala (Send A Bullet)" lead with six nominations each
  • Five nominations for "Lake Of Fire"
  • Presenting Sponsor IndiePix announces Audience Choice Award
  • Awards to be presented March 18 at the IFC Centre, New York City

New York, US - 21 January, 2008 - Nominations for the inaugural Cinema Eye Honours for Nonfiction Filmmaking were announced today at the Sundance Film Festival by the two Co-Chairs of the Awards Thom Powers, the Documentary Programmer and filmmaker AJ Schnack, in conjunction with the presenting sponsor IndiePixFilms.com - the leading online distributor of independent films. The Awards are named after the revolutionary group of young filmmakers led by pioneering documentarian Dziga Vertov.  

In the first ever 'Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking Award', two films - Philip Gröning's "Into Great Silence", which looks at the lives of a monastery in the French Alps, and Jason Kohn's examination of corruption in Brazil, "Manda Bala (Send A Bullet)", lead with six nominations each. They are closely followed by five nominations for Tony Kaye's exploration of the abortion issue "Lake of Fire". Other close runners include "The Monastery - Mr Vig and The Nun" directed by Pernille Rose Grønkjær and "No End In Sight" directed by Charles Ferguson.

Twenty-five films have been nominated for their achievements in nine specific crafts including Producing, Editing and Cinematography (see full list of categories and nominees below). Winners will be chosen by a larger voting pool of top filmmakers, distributors, programmers, writers and industry figures selected from within the documentary community and will be awarded on March 18, 2008 at a ceremony at the IFC Centre in New York City.

The Awards categories were chosen to honour and acknowledge great achievement in specific, 'behind-the-scenes' craftsmanship. A new category of excellence was also revealed at Sundance, the 'IndiePix Audience Choice Prize'.

The Awards' Blue-ribbon committee of 12 programmers from North America's top Film Festivals, co-chaired by A.J. Schnack, Director of "Kurt Cobain: About A Son", and Toronto Film Festival Documentary Programmer, Thom Powers, selected the nominees by voting for five films each, in preferential order, from a list of 76 eligible films. The nominees were revealed at the Wall Street Journal Lounge.

Hundreds of top filmmakers, distributors, programmers and writers will receive invitations from the Awards' nominating committee asking them to participate in the voting process. The 'IndiePix Audience Choice Prize' will be the only category to be voted on by members of the film-going public.

In the words of Bob Alexander, President of IndiePix: "The exceptional talent and craftsmanship within the Film Industry has been under acknowledged. In commercial filmmaking, the effect of the writer's strike on the 'Golden Globes' is actually a symptom of this and no-one knows when it will end. Documentary filmmaking is so intricate, yet the men and women behind the scenes rarely receive acknowledgement for the outstanding work they produce. We really want to show our support to Nonfiction filmmakers and focus on explicitly honouring the craft involved - rather than simply acknowledging a good storyline.

"For this and so many other reasons, IndiePix is really excited to be part of the first ever Nonfiction Filmmaking Awards. AJ Schnack, Thom Powers and the team at IndiePix all became involved in this endeavour because we believe that it will provide a huge boost for the Independent Film community and will be the first step towards providing everyone from the producers to the animators with the recognition they deserve."

The Outstanding Achievement and Excellence in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking Awards will be presented at the IFC Centre Cinema in New York City, on March 18, 2008. 
   
Outstanding Achievement in an International Feature

Ghosts Of Cite Soleil
Director - Asger Leth
Producers - Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor and Mikael Rieks
Into Great Silence
Director - Philip Gröning
Producers - Philip Gröning, Elda Guidinetti, Andres Pfaffli &
Michael Weber
Manufactured Landscapes
Director - Jennifer Baichwal
Producers - Jennifer Baichwal, Daniel Iron & Nick de Pencier
The Monastery - Mr. Vig & the Nun
Director - Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Producer Sigrid Dyekjær
Please Vote For Me
Director - Weijun Chen
Producer - Don Edkins

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature
Billy The Kid - Jennifer Venditti
Manda Bala (Send A Bullet) - Jason Kohn
The Monastery - Mr. Vig and the Nun - Pernille Rose Gronkjær
No End In Sight - Charles Ferguson
A Walk Into The Sea: Danny Williams And The Warhol Factory - Esther B. Robinson

Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Into Great Silence - Philip Gröning
Lake Of Fire - Tony Kaye
Manda Bala (Send A Bullet) - Jason Kohn
Taxi To The Dark Side - Alex Gibney
Zoo - Robinson Devor
   
Outstanding Achievement in Producing
Blindsight - Sybil Robson Orr
Chicago 10 - Brett Morgan & Graydon Carter
Ghosts Of Cite Soleil - Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor & Mikael Rieks
Into Great Silence - Philip Gröning, Elda Guidinetti, Andres  Pfaffli  & Michael Weber
Lake Of Fire - Tony Kaye
Manda Bala - Joey Frank, Jared Goldman & Jason Kohn

Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Crazy Love - David Zieff
Flying: Confessions Of A Free Woman - Niels Pagh Andersen
Ghosts Of Cite Soleil - Adam Nielsen
Lake Of Fire - Peter Goddard
Manda Bala - Doug Abel, Jenny Golden & Andy Grieve
No End In Sight - Chad Beck and Cindy Lee

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Into Great Silence - Philip Gröning
Lake Of Fire - Tony Kaye
Manda Bala - Heloisa Passos
Manufactured Landscapes - Peter Mettler
Zoo - Sean Kirby

Outstanding Achievement in Graphics and Animation
Chicago 10 - Animation by Curious Pictures
Helvetica - Motions Graphics by Trollbäck & 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 Prize
Deep Water - Directors - Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell
In The Shadow Of The Moon - Director - David Sington
Into Great Silence - Director - Philip Gröning   
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten - Director - Julien Temple
The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters – Director – Seth Gordon
Manufactured Landscapes - Director - Jennifer Baichwal
No End In Sight - Director - Charles Ferguson
Sicko - Director - Michael Moore

Visit the Nonfiction Awards web site - http://www.indiepixfilms.com/awards?ref=iba for more information about the Awards for Excellence in Nonfiction Filmmaking and the voting process.

About IndiePix
IndiePix is the world's leading distributor of critically acclaimed and hard-to-find independent films. The company was set up in 2005 by Bob Alexander and Barnet Lieberman to break down barriers between film-makers and audiences in the global film community through the creation of a world leading shop and online service dedicated to making independent films available to the film community. It is committed to supporting the independent film industry and encouraging the production of more movies - giving 60 per cent of the revenue from each purchase straight to the film-maker. For more information, please visit www.indiepix.net.

Shreekant Pol
Manager of Catalogue and Aquisitions
Tel: 212-684-2333
Email: shreekant@indiepix.net

Louise Sambells
The PressOffice - PR for IndiePix
Tel:+44(0)1780 721433
Email: lsambells@pressoffice.targetwire.com


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