Cinema Eye Honors Announces Nominees and Honorees for 2027 Documentary Awards
- The Cinema Eye Honors launched its 20th annual celebration with a first wave of film and series nominations for its 2027 awards ceremony.
- Among the major announcements, Steve James’ classic nonfiction film Hoop Dreams was named the recipient of the Legacy Award.
- The Audience Choice Prize Longlist features 17 documentary projects, ranging from Sundance festival entries to recent box office titles.
The Cinema Eye Honors launched its 20th annual celebration with a first wave of film and series nominations for its 2027 awards ceremony. The organization announced 17 titles for its Audience Choice Prize Longlist alongside honorees for on-camera collaborations and contenders across broadcast film, nonfiction series, and short-form documentary projects.
Among the major announcements, Steve James’ classic nonfiction film Hoop Dreams
was named the recipient of the Legacy Award. James will accept the honor on behalf of his production team, including producer and director of photography Peter Gilbert, producer and editor Frederick Marx, sound recordist Adam Singer, executive producer and Kartemquin Films founder Gordon Quinn, editor Bill Haugse, Marcie McCall of Kartemquin, and composer Ben Sidran.
Audience Choice Contenders and Unforgettable Honorees
The Audience Choice Prize Longlist features 17 documentary projects, ranging from Sundance festival entries to recent box office titles. The list includes American Doctor,
directed by Poh Si Teng, and Once Upon a Time in Harlem,
directed by William Greaves and David Greaves. Other longlisted titles are The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist,
directed by Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell; Ask E. Jean,
directed by Ivy Meeropol; The Bend in the River,
directed by Robb Moss; Cookie Queens,
directed by Alysa Nahmias; and The Cycle of Love,
directed by Orlando von Einsiedel.
Additional longlist contenders comprise Everest: The Other Side,
directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi; Everybody to Kenmure Street,
directed by Felipe Bustos Sierra; Give Me the Ball,
directed by Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff; The History of Concrete,
directed by John Wilson; NAZA,
directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor; The Oldest Person in the World,
directed by Sam Green; Steal This Story, Please,
directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin; Time and Water,
directed by Sara Dosa; Wild Inside,
directed by Penny Lane; and You Can See Everything,
directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim.
Cinema Eye also unveiled its Unforgettable Honorees, which recognize on-camera subjects and collaborators across six films. The 2027 recipients include Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter, and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa for American Doctor;
E. Jean Carroll for Ask E. Jean;
Soraya Akhlaghi for A Fox Under a Pink Moon;
Billie Jean King for Give Me the Ball;
Israa for One in a Million;
and Amy Goodman for Steal This Story, Please!
Broadcast Categories and Documentary Shorts
On the broadcast side, the organization released nominations across five categories covering television and streaming projects. Nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Broadcast Film include Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story
on HBO Max, The Bitter Pill
on POV, Critical Incident: Death at the Border
on HBO Max, Earth, Wind & Fire: To Be Celestial vs. That’s the Weight of the World
on HBO Max, Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television
on HBO Max, and Songs From the Hole
on Netflix.
The annual Shorts List highlights 10 documentary short films of the year. The selection includes The Boys and the Bees
by Arielle Knight, Buckskin
by Mars Verrone, A Derailment
by Nathan Truesdell, Free Joan Little
by Yoruba Richen, I Got My Brother
by Victor Gabriel, an open field
by Teboho Edkins, Sawyer Avenue, Sunday Afternoon
by Bill Morrison, They’re Here
co-directed by Oscar winner Laura Poitras and Rachel Lauren Mueller, La Tierra del Valor (The Home of the Brave)
by Cristina Costantini, and Water Cooler
by Emma V.F.
Awards Ceremony and Voting Timeline
Voting for the first round of the Audience Choice Prize opens on Monday, October 26, 2026, and closes on Monday, November 2, 2026. Feature film nominations will follow on Thursday, November 12, 2026. Shorts List screenings are scheduled for Wednesday, December 2, 2026, at DCTV in New York, and Saturday, December 5, 2026, at Vidiots in Los Angeles, with short film nominees announced alongside the opening of final Audience Choice voting on Monday, December 14, 2026.
The Cinema Eye Weekend begins in New York City on Friday, January 8, 2026. The 20th annual Cinema Eye Honors Awards Ceremony will take place on Monday, January 11, 2026.