“Last Train Home” Leads 4th Annual Cinema Eye Honors Doc Awards

Lixin Fan’s “Last Train Home” led the nominations for the 2011 Cinema Eye Honors, which were announced today at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in the UK by filmmakers Havana Marking (“Afghan Star”), Kim Longinotto (“Pink Saris”) and Cinema Eye Co-chair AJ Schnack (“Convention”). Recognizing excellence in artistic achievements in nonfiction filmmaking, Cinema Eye Honors hands out awards in eleven categories. “Home” was nominated in seven of them, tying the record previously set by both “The Cove” and “Waltz With Bashir.”

Directed by Canadian/Chinese filmmaker Fan, “Home” – which tells the story of a migrant family traveling across China looking for work – was nominated Outstanding Feature, Direction, Production, Cinematography, Editing, International Feature and Audience Choice. Fan himself is nominated in six of those categories, making him the most nominated individual in the history of Cinema Eye.

In the Outstanding Feature category, “Home” was joined by Janus Metz’s “Armadillo,” Banksy’s “Exit Through The Gift Shop,” Laura Poitra’s “The Oath,” and Jeff Malmberg’s Marwencol.” Of those, “Armadillo” and “Gift Shop” each took six nominations in total, while “The Oath” and “Marwencol” each took four.

“Armadillo,” about a Danish/UK military base in Afghanistan, led a bit of Danish invasion at the awards. The International Feature category saw three of five nominations taken by Danish filmmakers, including Michael Madsen’s “Into Eternity” and Mads Bruegger’s “The Red Chapel.”

Banksy was the lone director nominated in the Outstanding Feature category that was shut out of the Directing category, as Poitras, Malmberg, Fan and Metz were joining by legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman for his work in “La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet.” “La Danse” was also nominated in the Cinematography and Audience Choice categories.

The 2011 Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking will be held on January 18, 2011 at the newly re-opened Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, New York City. The event will be broadcast on television for the first time, on the Documentary Channel.

Nominations for the Cinema Eye Honors were determined in voting by top documentary programmers from international film festivals. This year’s nominations committee was chaired by Sean Farnel, programmer for the Hot Docs Film Festival. Committee members included Meira Blaustein (Woodstock), David Courier (Sundance), Heather Croall (Sheffield), Joanne Feinberg (Ashland), Tine Fischer (CPH:DOX), Elena Fortes (Morelia/Ambulante), Ben Fowlie (Camden), Tom Hall (Sarasota/Newport), Doug Jones (Los Angeles), David Kwok (Tribeca), Amir Labaki (It’s All True), Grit Lemke (Dok Leipzig), Arthur Libehart (Planete Doc Review), Veton Nurkollari (Dokufest Kosovo), Janet Pierson (SXSW), Rachel Rosen (San Francisco), Charlotte Selb (RIDM), Sky Sitney (Silverdocs), Sadie Tillery (Full Frame), David Wilson (True/False) and Brit Withey (Denver).

109 films were eligible for the 2011 Cinema Eye Honors and 88 of those films received votes from one or more members of the nominating committee.

The Cinema Eye Honors were launched in 2007 to recognize and honor exemplary craft and innovation in nonfiction film. Cinema Eye’s mission is to advocate for, recognize and promote the highest commitment to rigor and artistry in the nonfiction field. Check out indieWIRE‘s report from last year’s awards here.

Full list of nominations for the 4th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking are available on the next page.

Full list of nominations for the 4th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking:

Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
Armadilllo
Directed By Janus Metz Produced By Sara Stockmann And Ronnie Fridthjof

Exit Through The Gift Shop
Directed By Banksy Produced By Jaimie D’cruz

Last Train Home
Directed By Lixin Fan Produced By Mila Aung-Thwin And Daniel Cross

Marwencol
Directed By Jeff Malmberg Produced By Jeff Malmberg, Tom Putnam, Matt Radecki, Chris Shellen And Kevin Walsh

The Oath
Directed And Produced By Laura Poitras

Direction
Armadilllo
Janus Metz

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet
Frederick Wiseman

Last Train Home
Lixin Fan

Marwencol
Jeff Malmberg

The Oath
Laura Poitras

Production
Armadillo
Sara Stockmann And Ronnie Fridthjof

Exit Through The Gift Shop
Jaimie D’cruz

Inside Job
Audrey Marrs And Charles Ferguson

Last Train Home
Mila Aung-Thwin And Daniel Cross

The Oath
Laura Poitras

Restrepo
Produced By Sebastian Junger And Tim Hetherington

Cinematography
Armadillo
Lars Skree

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet
John Davey

Into Eternity
Heikke Farm

Oceans
Camera Luc Drion, Philippe Ros And Luciano Tovoli

Last Train Home
Lixin Fan

The Sounds Of Insects – Record Of A Mummy
Peter Liechti And Matthias Kalin

Sweetgrass
Lucien Castaing-Taylor

Editing
Armadillo
Per K. Kirkegaard

Exit Through The Gift Shop
Chris King And Tom Fulford

A Film Unfinished
Joelle Alexis

Last Train Home
Lixin Fan, Mary Stephens

Marwencol
Jeff Malmberg

Composing
12th And Delaware
David Darling

Circo
Joey Burns And John Convertino

The Oath
Osvaldo Golijov

The Sound Of Insects – Record Of A Mummy
Norbert Moeslang

Utopia In Four Movements
Todd Griffin

Graphic Design
American: The Bill Hicks Story
Paul Thomas And Matt Harlock

Gasland
Juan Cardarelli And Eric Levy

Inside Job
Josh Norton And Alex Krawitz

The Invention Of Dr. Nakamats
Rob Chiu

Videocracy
Martin Hultman

International
Armadillo
Directed By Janus Metz Produced By Sara Stockmann And Ronnie Fridthjof

Exit Through The Gift Shop
Directed By Banksy Produced By Jaimie D’cruz

Into Eternity
Directed By Michael Madsen Produced By Lise Lense-Moller

Last Train Home
Directed By Lixin Fan Produced By Mila Aung-Thwin And Daniel Cross

The Red Chapel
Directed By Mads Bruegger Produced By Peter Engel

Debut
Catfish
Henry Joost And Ariel Schulman

Exit Through The Gift Shop
Banksy

Marwencol
Jeff Malmberg

Prodigal Sons
Kimberly Reed

The Red Chapel
Mads Bruegger

Sweetgrass
Ilisa Barbash And Lucien Castaing-Taylor

Spotlight
The Arbor
Directed By Clio Barnard

The Autobiography Of Nicolae Ceausescu
Directed By Andrei Ujic

La Bocca Del Lupo
Directed By Vincenzo Motta

Nostalgia For The Light
Directed By Patricio Guzman

Steam Of Life
Directed By Joonas Berghaell And Mika Hotakainen

Audience Choice
Catfish
Directed By Henry Joost And Ariel Schulman

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet
Directed By Frederick Wiseman

Exit Through The Gift Shop
Directed By Banksy

A Film Unfinished
Directed By Yael Hersonski

Inside Job
Directed By Charles Ferguson

Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work
Directed By Ricki Stern And Annie Sundberg

Last Train Home
Directed By Lixin Fan

Restrepo
Directed By Tim Hetherington And Sebastian Junger

The Tillman Story
Directed By Amir Bar-Lev

Waiting For “Superman”
Directed By Davis Guggenheim

Nonfiction Short Film
Albert’s Winter
Directed By Andreas Koefoed

Arsy-Versy
Directed By Miro Remo

Dock Ellis And The Lsd No-No
Directed By James Blagden

The Poodle Trainer
Directed By Vance Malone

Quadrangle
Directed By Amy Grappell

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