AND THE 2017 PGA WINNERS ARE...

...boring af.

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

La La Land (Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt)

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

Zootopia (Clark Spencer)

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures

O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow)

REVIEW - O.J.: MADE IN AMERICA (EZRA EDELMAN)

Ezra Edelman's O.J.: Made in America arrives as though to prospectively chastise its fellow historical documentaries - now there's no excuse, now you have a bona fide benchmark for thoroughness. It may unfold with simple, unsurprising ease, confirming our suspicions rather than provoking new ones, but this is an essential part of this masterful documentary's supremacy. Edelman has tracked his story back to its true origin, ignoring all of the false leads, jettisoning all of the extraneous detail, refusing to manufacture suggestion and subtext, instead allowing it to seep out of the seams of reality. O.J.: Made in America is a testament to truth, and a bold, though resolutely partisan, examination of how the nature of truth can cause it to mean brazenly contradictory things to different people. Edelman is safe in the partisanism of his approach, himself functioning as a barrister for that truth, using hard evidence to bolster his arguments, never permitting his arguments to determine the character of his evidence. He has it both ways in O.J.: Made in America, smartly and objectively diagnosing the guilt in every human being, that he might expose the faults on every side of the debate. If truth is the ultimate defence, it's also the ultimate indictment; the scope of Edelman's investigations, and his dedication toward sincerity in his storytelling leave the deniers to hang themselves with their own rope. This is an education we're receiving, and those ignoramuses who'd rather not be educated can keep their idiocy to themselves! This is a timely documentary that would yet be equally so at any date in history, and a peerlessly thorough document of the whole truth, and nothing but it!

O.J.: MADE IN AMERICA WINS AT INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION AWARDS

O.J.: Made in America continues its winning streak of the documentary awards in the early part of awards season, taking the top prize from the International Documentary Association. IDA, which also announced winners across several TV categories, had only a few as-yet unannounced film awards; given that O.J. had won none of the previously-announced prizes, it was either a shoo-in for a mention or never even a contender - evidently the former. Check out the nominations here, and the award winners below.

Best Feature

O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman, Deirdre Fenton, Libby Geist, Nina Krstic, Erin Leyden, Tamara Rosenberg, Connor Schell and Caroline Waterlow)

Best Writing

James Baldwin and Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro)

Best Cinematography

Gianfranco Rosi (Fire at Sea)

Best Editing

Nels Bangerter (Cameraperson)

Best Music

Jacaszek (The Bad Kids)

Best Short

The White Helmets (Joanna Natasegara and Orlando von Einsiedel)

ABC News VideoSource Award

13th (Ava DuVernay)

Pare Lorentz Award

Starless Dreams (Mehrdad Oskouei)

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award

4.1 Miles (Daphne Matziaraki)

Career Achievement Award

Stanley Nelson

Pioneer Award

Ally Derks

Amicus Award

Lyn Lear and Norman Lear

Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award

Wang Nan Fu

2016 PGA DOCUMENTARY NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

The Producers Guild of America is one of those daft institutions that likes to get in there early with its year-end nominations, at least for documentaries. They've overlooked Ava DuVernay's acclaimed 13th, which may be for distribution reasons, or it may be a surprise snub - the PGA is known for that in this category. On the 10th of January, the lists for all films and for animated films will be announced, and the award winners will be revealed for all categories at the ceremony on the 29th of January. Official nominee credits TBA.

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures

Dancer

The Eagle Huntress

Life, Animated

O.J.: Made in America

Tower

O.J.: MADE IN AMERICA IS BFCA'S BEST DOC OF 2016

So, given 13th's entry both in the Theatrical category and the TV / Streaming category in the first ever Critics' Choice Documentary Awards, it was perhaps inevitable that it'd fail to take home the former top award but succeed to take home the latter. And so it did, with a fellow race-themed doc, O.J.: Made in America, winning the big prize in the Theatrical category. This is the BFCA's first time separating its Best Documentary award out from the remainder of its many others, and indeed adding several more awards for doc filmmaking - a wise move, I believe, saving the filmmakers from the ignominy of picking up an award on the Critics' Choice red carpet or during a commercial break, and providing several more to win BFCA awards. Take a look at the nominees at this link, and the winners right here:

Best Documentary Feature
O.J.: Made in America

Best Direction of a Documentary Feature
Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America)

Best Song in a Documentary Feature
Sharon Jones - 'I'm Still Here' (Miss Sharon Jones)

Best First Documentary Feature
Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg (Weiner)

Best Music Documentary
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years

Best Political Documentary
13th

Best Sports Documentary
O.J.: Made in America

Most Innovative Documentary
Tower

Best Documentary Feature: TV / Streaming
13th

Best Ongoing Documentary Series
30 for 30

Best Limited Documentary Series
O.J.: Made in America

Best Director: TV / Streaming
Ava DuVernay (13th)

Best First Feature: TV / Streaming
Jacob Bernstein and Nick Hooker (Everything Is Copy)
Deborah Esquenazi (Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four)

DIVERSITY RULES IN 2016 IDA NOMINATIONS

No, nothing to do with anyone named 'Ida,' at least to my awareness, these are the International Documentary Association nominations for doc filmmaking in 2016, their 32nd annual slate of awards. A whole bunch of acclaimed titles here, which include several TV categories not included in this post. Some I've seen and enjoyed already, and others to which I'm highly looking forward. Among the nominees in top categories are some award winners already announced. Pleasingly, three of the seven directors with films up for the Best Feature award are POC, and three are women. Winners will be announced on the 9th of December. You can see all the film nominees below:

Best Feature
13th (Spencer Averick, Howard Barish and Ava DuVernay)
Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson and Marilyn Ness)
Fire at Sea (Roberto Ciccutto, Paolo del Brocco, Camille Laemle, Serge Lalou, Donatella Palermo, Olivier Pere, Gianfranco Rosi and Martine Saada)
I Am Not Your Negro (Remi Grellety and Raoul Peck)
O. J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman, Deirdre Fenton, Libby Geist, Nina Krstic, Erin Leyden, Tamara Rosenberg, Connor Schell and Caroline Waterlow)
Weiner (Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg)

Best Writing
James Baldwin and Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro)

Best Cinematography
Gianfranco Rosi (Fire at Sea)

Best Editing
Nels Bangerter (Cameraperson)

Best Music
Jacaszek (The Bad Kids)

Pare Lorentz Award
Starless Dreams (Mehrdad Oskouei)

Best Short
The Above (Kirsten Johnson and Marilyn Ness)
Clinica de Migrantes: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Jenny Lim and Maxim Pozdorvkin)
Extremis (Dan Krauss)
Pickle (Amy Nicholson)
Red Lake (Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato and Billy Luther)
The White Helmets (Joanna Natasegara and Orlando von Einsiedel)

1ST EVER CRITICS' CHOICE DOCUMENTARY AWARDS: NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

Well, well, well! Who'd have expected this? The 2016-17 awards season kicks off extra early this year, as the Broadcast Film Critics Association announces its nominees for its first ever Critics' Choice Documentary Awards. Previously, the BFCA had simply handed out one award for Best Documentary at their annual movie awards ceremony; like any organization desperate to remain relevant, several significant changes have been made to the Critics' Choice awards in recent years, mainly of questionable character, but this new development is a promising one. That's one fewer award to chuck out during the commercial breaks on their hopeless televized awards ceremony, and several more awards for documentary filmmaking, ever underappreciated by audiences. As a further sign of the blurring of the lines between film and TV, these awards feature projects from both media. Award winners will be declared at a ceremony on the 3rd of November. Check it all out below:

Best Documentary Feature

13th

Cameraperson

Fire at Sea

Gleason

Life, Animated

O.J.: Made in America

Tickled

Tower

Weiner

The Witness

Best Direction of a Documentary Feature

Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America)

Ron Howard (The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years)

Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson)

Keith Maitland (Tower)

Clay Tweel (Gleason)

Roger Ross Williams (Life, Animated)

Best Song in a Documentary Feature

Tori Amos - 'Flicker' (Audrie & Daisy)

Common, Karriem Riggins and Robert Glasper - 'Letters to the Free' (13th)

Sharon Jones - 'I'm Still Here' (Miss Sharon Jones!)

Mike McCready - 'Hoping and Healing' (Gleason)

J. Ralph and Sting - 'The Empty Chair' (Jim: The James Foley Story)

Sia - 'Angel by the Wings' (The Eagle Huntress)

Best First Documentary Feature

Otto Bell (The Eagle Huntress)

David Farrier and Dylan Reeve (Tickled)

Adam Irving (Off the Rails)

Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg (Weiner)

James D. Solomon (The Witness)

Wang Nan Fu (Hooligan Sparrow)

Best Music Documentary

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years

Gimme Danger

Miss Sharon Jones!

The Music of Strangers

Presenting Princess Shaw

We Are X

Best Political Documentary

13th

Audrie & Daisy

Newtown

O.J.: Made in America

Weiner

Zero Days

Best Sports Documentary

Dark Horse

The Eagle Huntress

Gleason

Fantastic Lies

Jackie Robinson

Keepers of the Game

O.J.: Made in America

Most Innovative Documentary

Cameraperson

Kate Plays Christine

Life, Animated

Nuts

Tower

Under the Sun

Best Documentary Feature: TV / Streaming

13th

Amanda Knox

Audrie & Daisy

Before the Flood

Fantastic Lies

Holy Hell

Into the Inferno

Jim: The James Foley Story

Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures

Rats

Best Ongoing Documentary Series

30 for 30

Frontline

Last Chance U

Morgan Spurlock Inside Man

POV

This Is Life with Lisa Ling

Best Limited Documentary Series

The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth

The Eighties

The Hunt

Jackie Robinson

O.J.: Made in America

Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music

Best Director: TV / Streaming

Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures)

Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn (Amanda Knox)

Ava DuVernay (13th)

Werner Herzog (Into the Inferno)

Morgan Spurlock (Rats)

Fisher Stevens (Before the Flood)

Best First Feature: TV / Streaming

Everything Is Copy (Jacob Bernstein and Nick Hooker)

Holy Hell (Will Allen)

Mavis! (Jessica Edwards)

My Beautiful Broken Brain (Sophie Robinson and Lotje Sodderland)

Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four (Deborah Esquenazi)

Team Foxcatcher (Jon Greenhalgh)