‘Apollo 11’ wins 5 Critics Choice Documentary Awards (CCDA)

Erik Anderson November 11, 2019

Best Director was a tie between Peter Jackson (They Shall Not Grow Old) and Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar (American Factor)

The Critics Choice Association (CCA) announced the winners of the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards last night at a gala event, hosted by HGTV’s Property Brothers Jonathan Scott at BRIC in Brooklyn.

Apollo 11 took home the award for Best Documentary Feature as well as Best Editing for Todd Douglas Miller, Best Score for Matt Morton, Best Archival Documentary, and Best Science/Nature Documentary.

There was a tie for Best Director between Peter Jackson for They Shall Not Grow Old, and Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar for American Factory. They Shall Not Grow Old also brought home the award for Most Innovative Documentary. American Factory also won the award for Best Political Documentary.

“Once again, we are thrilled to celebrate and support the vibrant and groundbreaking work of these talented documentarians. We are proud that our yearly gala event has become an informed and valuable way for people to find the best films out there and for the work of these filmmakers to find their audiences,” said CCA CEO Joey Berlin. “It was a great night of lauding the greats in the documentary field as well as some outstanding newcomers.”

At the ceremony a special new honor, The D A Pennebaker Award, was presented to legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman. The award, formerly known as the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award, is named for prior winner D A Pennebaker, who passed away last summer. It was presented by filmmaker Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s long-time collaborator and widow.

Acclaimed filmmaker Michael Apted was presented with The Landmark Award, an honor bestowed upon him for his extraordinary and unparalleled achievement with the Up series, which has just added 63 Up, distributed by BritBox,to this historic work. The award was presented by Michael Moore, who was honored with the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award last year.

Best Documentary Feature – Apollo 11 (Neon)

Best Director – TIE – Peter Jackson – They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros.)

Best Director – TIE – Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar – American Factory (Netflix)

Best Cinematography – John Chester – The Biggest Little Farm (Neon)

Best Editing – Todd Douglas Miller – Apollo 11 (Neon)

Best Score – Matt Morton – Apollo 11 (Neon)

Best Narration – Bruce Springsteen – Western Stars (Warner Bros.)

Best First Documentary Feature – Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov – Honeyland (Neon)

Best Archival Documentary – Apollo 11 (Neon)

Best Biographical Documentary – Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Magnolia)

Best Music Documentary – Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (Greenwich)

Best Political Documentary – American Factory (Netflix)

Best Science/Nature Documentary – Apollo 11 (Neon)

Best Sports Documentary – Maiden (Sony Pictures Classics)

Most Innovative Documentary – They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros.)

Best Short Documentary – Period. End of Sentence. (Netflix)

The D A Pennebaker Award – Frederick Wiseman

The Landmark Award – Michael Apted

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.