Mars Rover feature ‘Good Night Oppy’ wins big at 7th Critics Choice Documentary Awards

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The Critics Choice Association (CCA) unveiled the winners of the Seventh Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards at a gala event in New York City where Good Night Oppy took home five trophies in all including the top award of the evening, Best Documentary Feature. The film’s other victories were Ryan White for Best Director, Best Score for Blake Neely, as well as Best Narration (written by Helen Kearns and Ryan White, performed by Angela Bassett), and Best Science/Nature Documentary.

The film, which premiered at the 2022 Telluride Film Festival, follows Opportunity, the Mars Exploration Rover affectionately dubbed Oppy by her creators and scientists at NASA. Oppy was originally expected to live for only 90 days but she ultimately explored Mars for nearly 15 years. Good Night Oppy will premiere November 23 on Prime Video.

In a difference from years past, the CCA recognized the top three docs with Gold (Good Night Oppy), Silver and Bronze status. Fire of Love, the nomination leader with seven, was the Silver medal winner, while the Bronze medal went to Navalny. Fire of Love also won Best Archival Documentary and Navalny was named Best Political Documentary. Fire of Love is currently available to stream on Disney+ and Navalny can be seen on HBO Max.

After years of the CCA winner finding itself snubbed for an Oscar nomination, last season that changed when the overwhelming critics’ favorite and CCA winner Summer of Soul won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

On the television side, The Beatles: Get Back was another of the evening’s double award-winners, with wins for both Best Music Documentary and Best Limited Documentary Series.

At the ceremony, the Pennebaker Award was presented to acclaimed documentarian Barbara Kopple. The award, formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award, is named in honor of D A Pennebaker, a past winner. It was presented to Kopple by Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s long-time collaborator and widow.

Award-winning documentarian Dawn Porter received the Critics Choice Impact Award which recognizes documentarians whose work has resulted in tangible societal changes, presented by Jacqueline Glover, Head of Documentary at Disney’s Onyx Collective.

Christopher Campbell, Co-President of the Critics Choice Association’s Documentary Branch said, “Tonight was a whole new Doc Awards – hosting the ceremony in a new, bigger venue in Manhattan and streaming it live for the first time. We are thrilled to continue the celebration of so many groundbreaking and thought-provoking films while highlighting the works of so many brilliant filmmakers.”

“This evening was magical and we were once again able to celebrate an amazing talent pool of women like the legendary Barbara Kopple and the ferociously brave Dawn Porter.  Both women continue to blaze trails for the many generations poised to follow in their footsteps,” stated Carla Renata, Co-President of the Critics Choice Association’s Documentary Branch. “It has been thrilling to witness and honor such distinguished documentarians.  Their impressive art spanned subjects that made us weep or made our hearts swell, proving that documentary film – and its power to educate, inform, and inspire – remains a viable and pliable form of the cinematic landscape.”

Hosted by Wyatt Cenac, the event featured presenters and attendees including Rob McElhenney, Idina Menzel, Jeremy Sisto, Paul Shaffer, Brett Morgen, Kathy Ireland, Reginald Hudlin, Richard Kind, Reginald Hudlin, Caitlin Collins, Matt Heineman, Soledad O’Brien, Tonya Lewis Lee, Tamara Tunie, Ryan White, Erich Bergen, Andrew Jarecki, Shoshana Bean, and Willie Colón, among others, and live-streamed for the first time ever on the Critics’ Choice website.

Here is the complete list of winners:

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Gold: Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

Silver: Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)

Bronze: Navalny (HBO Max/CNN Films/Warner Bros. Pictures)

BEST DIRECTOR

Ryan White – Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

David Siev – Bad Axe (IFC Films)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Cinematography Team – Our Great National Parks (Netflix)

BEST EDITING

Brett Morgen – Moonage Daydream (Neon/HBO Documentary Films)

BEST SCORE

Blake Neely – Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

BEST NARRATION

Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

Written by Helen Kearns, Ryan White

Performed by Angela Bassett

BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY

Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)

BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY

Descendant (Netflix)

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY

Sidney (Apple TV+)

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY

The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)

BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY

Navalny (HBO Max/CNN Films/Warner Bros. Pictures)

BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY

Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY (TIE)

Citizen Ashe (HBO Max/CNN Films)

Welcome to Wrexham (FX)

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY

Nuisance Bear (The New Yorker Studios)

BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES

The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)

BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES

30 for 30 (ESPN)