American Doctor and You Can See Everything lead this year’s nominations for the Cinema Eye Honors. Both documentaries earned seven nominations, including the top prizes of Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking and Direction for Poh Si Ten and Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, respectively. The nominations were announced today via a release.
The Cinema Eye Honors nominations represent the breadth of documentaries considered as American Doctor offers a vérité portrait of front line workers in Gaza and activists championing their cause in the USA, while You Can See Everything is a shape-shifting take on convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes told through a mix of observational footage and dramatic interpretations. This year marks the second time that the Cinema Eye Honors’ Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking category has cited key creatives and film participants alongside directors and producers, making Holmes and husband Billy Evans a pair of unlikely nominees.
Joining the docs in the top category are My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile, director Julia Lotkev’s look at journalists fighting to put the truth on the airwaves in Putin-era Russia; NAZA, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s haunting study of the genocide in Palestine, as told from the perspectives of anonymous IDF players; and Once Upon a Time in Harlem, William Greaves and David Greaves’ decades-in-the-making take on the voices of the Harlem renaissance; Rehearsals of a Revolution, Pegah Ahangarani’s personal study of protest in Iran; and To Hold a Mountain, Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić’s look at a woman and her niece weathering winds of change on their Montenegro farm.
Today’s nominations also tighten the competition for the Audience Award. Moving on to the next phase of balloting from the October 22 longlist are American Doctor; Cookie Queens; The Cycle of Love; Everest: The Other Side, NAZA, The Oldest Person in the World; Steal this Story, Please!; Time and Water; Wild Inside; and You Can See Everything. Also previously announced were the non-competitive “Unforgettables” honours recognizing notable figures in the documentaries.
The Cinema Eye Honors also tapped several Canadian films among the nominees. Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden’s Nuisance Bear scored nominations for its score and sound, while Sophy Romvari’s Blue Heron and Matt Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie landed in the Heterodox category recognizing doc-adjacent films.
The 2026 Cinema Eye Honors nominations are:
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
American Doctor – Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad, Chris Rentaria, Ibrahim Al Otla, Ramzy Haddad, Christopher White, Ema Ryan Yamazaki, Suad Bushnaq, Kristian Selin Eidnes Andersen, Patrick Svaneberg Vejen, Jacob Langkjær Davidsen, Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa
My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile – Julia Loktev, Michael Taylor, Anna Nemzer, Ksenia Mironova, Elena Kostyuchenko and Valeria Ratnikova
NAZA – Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Harry Davies, Robert Farr and Anonymous
Once Upon a Time in Harlem – William Greaves, David Greaves, Liani Greaves, Anne de Mare, Tamar-kali, Clive Davidson, Roland Mitchell, Mike Frank, Matthew J. Hoffman, and Bella Racklin
Rehearsals for a Revolution – Pegah Ahangarani, Kaveh Farnam, Adria Mones, Arash Ashtiani, Neda Mohseni and Dani Zacarias
To Hold a Mountain – Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić, Quentin Laurent, Rok Bicek, Eva Kraljević, George Cragg, Draško Adžić, Julij Zornik, Samo Jurca, Mileva Gara Jovanović and Nada Stanišić
You Can See Everything – Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim, Tatiana Bears, Maggie Ambrose, Jack Davis, David Bolen, Adam Locke-Norton, Ari Balouzian, Richard Carlos, Paul Hsu, Elizabeth Holmes, Billy Evans and Amanda Seyfried
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Poh Si Teng – American Doctor
Michal Marczak – Closure
John Wilson – The History of Concrete
Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor – NAZA
Pegah Ahangarani – Rehearsals for a Revolution
Sara Dosa – Time and Water
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim – You Can See Everything
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Jeff Malmberg – The Bend in the River
Colin Monie – Everybody to Kenmure Street
Anne de Mare and Lynn True – Once Upon a Time in Harlem
Ross McElwee and Joe Bini – Remake
Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput and Mark Harrison – Time and Water
Adam Locke-Norton – You Can See Everything
Outstanding Achievement in Production
Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod and Reem Haddad – American Doctor
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Shannon Dill, Anna Barnes and Bob Eisenhardt – Everest: The Other Side
Jessie Deeter, Erin Edeiken and Alex Gibney – Musk
Julia Loktev – My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile
Nominees to be determined – NAZA
Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim, Tatiana Bears, Maggie Ambrose and Jack Davis – You Can See Everything
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Nathan Golon, Pete Muller and Mark Unger – Bucks Harbor
Michal Marczak – Closure
Clair Popkin, Jimmy Chin and Christopher Murphy – Everest: The Other Side
Stephen Maing and Eric Daniel Metzgar – The Great Experiment
Eva Kraljević – To Hold a Mountain
David Bolen – You Can See Everything
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
Suad Bushnaq – American Doctor
Daniel Pemberton – Musk
Cristóbal Tapia De Veer – Nuisance Bear
William Ryan Fritch and T. Griffin – The Oldest Person in the World
Dan Deacon – Time and Water
Ari Balouzian – You Can See Everything
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Gisela Fulla Silvestre and Eli Cohn – Barbara Forever
Katarzyna Szczerba and Konrad Błaszczyk – Closure
Robert Farr – NAZA
David Rose, Lou Solakofski and Reid Goobie – Nuisance Bear
Mark Mangini – The Oldest Person in the World
Björn Viktorsson, Atli Arnarsson and Jón Atli Magnússon – Time and Water
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design
Will Hodgson – 14th
Philip Eddolls, Michael Enzbrunner and Aisha Ghali – The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist
Mohammad Lotfali – A Fox Under a Pink Moon
Anthony Konigbagbe, Yibi Hu and Daisy Evans – Jean-Michel Basquiat
Nominees to be Determined – Musk
Lucy Munger – Time and Water
Outstanding Achievement in Archival Artistry
Brydie O’Connor – Barbara Forever
Wyatt Stone, Viridiana Lieberman and Rebecca Adorno Dávila – Jean-Michel Basquiat
Paula Vaccaro, Aaron Brookner and Tomas Baltazar – Nova ‘78
Anne de Mare, Lynn True, Matthew J. Hoffman and Bella Racklin – Once Upon a Time in Harlem
Arash Ashtiani – Rehearsals for a Revolution
Helen Macgowan, Byron Leon, Niles Howard and Gabriela Tessitore – Soul Patrol
Outstanding Achievement in Debut Feature Filmmaking
American Doctor – Directed by Poh Si Teng
Barbara Forever – Directed by Brydie O’Connor
Bucks Harbor – Directed by Pete Muller
The History of Concrete – Directed by John Wilson
Nuisance Bear – Directed by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden
Spotlight Award
Jaripeo – Directed by Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig
Joybubbles – Directed by Rachael J. Morrison
My NDA – Directed by Juliane Dressner and Miriam Shor
TheyDream – Directed by William D. Caballero
The Whole World is a Lie – Directed by Charlie Birns
Wood Street – Directed by Caron Creighton
Heterodox Award
Blue Heron – Directed by Sophy Romvari
A Child of My Own – Directed by Maite Alberdi
Dao – Directed by Alain Gomis
I Heard That They Are Not Going to See Each Other Anymore – Directed by Ka Ki Wong
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie – Directed by Matt Johnson
Whispers in May – Directed by Dongnan Chen
Audience Choice Prize
American Doctor – Directed by Poh Si Teng
Cookie Queens – Directed by Alysa Nahmias
The Cycle of Love – Directed by Orlando von Einsiedel
Everest: The Other Side – Directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
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
You Can See Everything – Directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim
