Sunday, April 26, 2026

'Songs from the Hole' leads arts and culture documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards


I promised the next installment of my series on the News & Doc Emmy Awards as today's Sunday entertainment feature, so I'm resuming with the nominees for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary.
Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
Amblin Documentaries [Nedland Films | National Geographic]
The Merchants of Joy
Dial Tone Films [Amazon MGM Studios | Dial Tone Films | Artists Equity | Boat Rocker Studios | Matador Content | Epic Magazine]
The New Yorker at 100
Netflix [Netflix | Marshall Curry | Apatow]
Songs From the Hole
Netflix [Cocomotion Pictures | Question Culture | Impact Partners | Artemis Rising Foundation | Netflix]
Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan
Delirio Films [MPS LEGACY PRODUCTIONS | SOFA Entertainment | Mass Appeal | Diamond Docs | MRC]
Tiler Peck: Suspending Time
Great Performances
Late Autumn Productions, LLC. [THIRTEEN Productions LLC]
WE WANT THE FUNK!
Independent Lens
Firelight Films [ITVS]
Songs From the Hole leads with four nominations, WE WANT THE FUNK! sits in second with two nominations, and the rest have this one nomination. On that basis, I consider Songs From the Hole to be the favorite. I'm also embedding Songs From The Hole | Official Trailer | Netflix first to reflect its number of nominations.

Songs from the Hole is an innovative documentary/visual album composed by JJ’88, a musician incarcerated at 15 and serving a life sentence. Told through first-person narration and lyrical journal entries, the film explores his identity and untangles the complex emotions stemming from his crime and the loss of his brother.
In addition to Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, Songs from the Hole earned nominations for Outstanding Writing: Documentary, Outstanding Art Direction: Documentary, and Outstanding Music Composition: Documentary. This moving trailer shows why it is competing in all these categories.

On another note, Songs from the Hole reminds me of Art & Krimes by Krimes, which also straddled the line between Arts and Culture and Crime and Justice. It won, so that's another good sign for Songs from the Hole.

Next, the trailer for WE WANT THE FUNK! with two nominations, Soul, Afrofuturism, & Black Empowerment in FUNK Music ?? | Independent Lens | PBS.

“WE WANT THE FUNK!,” a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spans from gospel, soul, highlife, and early jazz roots, to its rise and impact on new wave and hip-hop, as funk music has been transcendent for creators and listeners alike. Revolutionary moments in the movement are captured in James Brown's dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, and other influential musicians of the genre.
"Gotta have that funk!" This probably won't win either of its nominated categories, the other being Outstanding Sound: Documentary, but it sure looks like fun.

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story | Official Trailer | National Geographic is the first of the nominees with one nomination in alphabetical order.

JAWS @ 50: THE DEFINITIVE INSIDE STORY is the authorized documentary celebrating the film that redefined Hollywood, 50 years after its premiere. Alongside Steven Spielberg, JAWS @ 50 charts the extraordinary journey from Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel to one of the most iconic films ever made. Featuring rare archival footage and interviews with acclaimed Hollywood directors, top shark scientists, and conservationists, the documentary uncovers the behind-the-scenes chaos and how the film launched the summer blockbuster, inspired a new wave of filmmakers, and paved the way for shark conservation that continues today.
This also looks like lots of fun. I also think it's nominated at the wrong Emmy Awards. I think it would have done better at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards; Hollywood loves a good show about itself!

Of all the trailers for the next film, "The Merchants of Joy" Trailer by majorfilmevents had the best description, which was enough to overcome its less flashy preview image.

In the city that never sleeps, five families hustle each winter to turn sidewalks into holiday outposts. The Merchants of Joy follows these Christmas die-hards as they source, sell, and safeguard a family tradition at risk. It's a warm, grounded portrait of pride, grit, and the joy they bring—one tree, one customer, one season at a time.
This also looks like lots of fun and leans into culture more than art, which is probably why it wasn't nominated for Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary. Those can be fun, too, but they're more about the money. This is more about the joy of the season. Ho! Ho! Ho!

The next trailer stays in the Big Apple, The New Yorker at 100 | Official Trailer | Netflix.

For the first time, The New Yorker opens up its offices to Academy Award-winning director Marshall Curry, allowing unprecedented access to its newsroom at a pivotal moment for all media, offering a rare look at what it took to publish a century of intrepid journalism, generation-defining fiction, and unforgettable cartoons.
In contrast to Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, this documentary is nominated at the right Emmy Awards. The voters here are mostly journalists and this is a story about journalism. A lot of them are also based in New York. As I'm fond of writing about awards shows, electorates matter. Also, this trailer has the most views of any nominee in this category, 652,263 to 267,831 for Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story and 119,879 for Songs from the Hole. People are watching, which is a good sign and makes me think that this is the most likely to win in an upset.

I couldn't find a trailer for Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan, so I'm sharing Inside Edition's segment, New Documentary Examines the Legacy of Talk Show Host Ed Sullivan.

A new Netflix documentary, "Sunday Best," looks back at how Ed Sullivan fought to showcase Black performers at a time when discrimination was rampant on TV. Sullivan featured stars like James Brown, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Dionne Warwick. On December 14, 1969, the Jackson 5 made their network television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. Andrew Salt and his son Josh are the executive producers of the documentary. They spoke with Inside Edition.
This does show why this is an important documentary, but Inside Edition's reporting replaces the voice of the documentary that would be expressed in the trailer. That written, I can see why Inside Edition is interested; Ed Sullivan was on CBS, which is owned by the same parent company as Inside Edition. It's not just news and entertainment value that's driving this.

The final trailer I'm embedding today is Tiler Peck: Suspending Time | Official Trailer | SFDFF.

A world premiere documentary, Tiler Peck: Suspending Time offers a raw and deeply personal look at one of ballet’s most celebrated artists as she faces a career crossroads.

Following a series of life-altering events — a major injury, a pandemic, a personal loss — New York City Ballet prima ballerina Tiler Peck is forced to reckon with the unknown and reimagine her relationship to dance, to her body, and to herself.

Directed by Alex Ramsey, the film follows Tiler over the course of six years of her life, through rehearsal studios, stages, and quiet moments of reflection, as she fights to return stronger, not just as a prima ballerina, but also as a choreographer and creative force. Featuring original work by Peck alongside choreography from Alonzo King, William Forsythe, George Balanchine, and Christopher Wheeldon, the film blends vulnerability and resilience with artistic brilliance.
This documentary pushes a boundary one might not expect, between arts and culture on one side and science and technology, which covers health, on the other. STEAM in action! Also, I used to live in Bakersfield, so I feel a connection to Tiler Peck, enough of one that I can understand why she'd leave.

Follow over the jump for the other categories in which Songs from the Hole and WE WANT THE FUNK! earned their other nominations plus a retrospective continuing my examination of the most read entries about the Emmy Awards during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

I begin with categories I covered in 'Underdogs' earns four News & Doc Emmy Award nominations.

Outstanding Writing: Documentary
Bring Them Home / Aiskótáhkapiyaaya
Thunderheart Films [WETA-TV]
2000 Meters to Andriivka
FRONTLINE FEATURES | PBS [Associated Press]
Songs From the Hole
Netflix [Cocomotion Pictures | Question Culture | Impact Partners | Artemis Rising Foundation | Netflix]
The Stringer
Netflix [A Netflix Documentary | An XRM MEDIA | VII FOUNDATION Production | LinLay Productions]
Underdogs
Wildstar Films [Maximum Effort | National Geographic]
The trailer alone demonstrated that Underdogs deserved this nomination. Unfortunately, I doubt it will win this award. It's competing against 2000 Meters to Andriivka with six nominations including Best Documentary, Songs from the Hole with four nominations including Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, and The Stringer, also with four nominations including Outstanding Investigative Documentary. I expect grit will win over wit.
Songs from the Hole has plenty of grit, but it is facing stiff competition from 2000 Meters to Andriivka, The Stringer, and Underdogs. It might lose to one of the first two.

Secrets of the Penguins deserved this nomination, but I doubt it will win. Instead, I think it's between Turning Point: The Vietnam War with five total nominations and Love + War with four nominations. Both are also nominated for Best Documentary. The sounds of combat would probably impress the journalists and documentarians, possibly even more than the sounds of nature or music. If the entertainment professionals in the Creative Arts Emmys were voting, they might give WE WANT THE FUNK! the advantage. Not here; electorates matter.
I think the same of Underdogs' chances for Outstanding Sound: Documentary. Given the competition in its categories, it has an apt title.
I haven't changed my mind, but let's see how I feel after watching the war documentaries.

Working backwards through the series brings me to the next category I covered in 'Secrets of the Penguins' leads Outstanding Nature Documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for Earth Day.

This is the second nominated category for both The Last Rhinos: A New Hope and Pangolin: Kulu's Journey. Without listening to the score, I can't make an accurate assessment of the music. That written, my gut feels that it's between Vietnam: The War That Changed America and Chasing Time. The former has three nominations and the latter is the first short documentary I recall having a second nomination at these awards. Also, Exposure Labs has a strong track record with music, with Chasing Ice earning an Oscar nomination for its song and Chasing Coral earning a nomination for Music & Sound.
I've changed my mind. I now think that Songs from the Hole is the favorite. The journalists and documentarians might just vote for JJ’88. The composers might not, but I suspect there aren't a lot of them in this Televison Academy, especially voting for the News & Doc Emmy Awards.

I close with a category I covered in the first installment of the series, 'Sally' leads Science and Technology Documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards.

Sally might have a better chance here, but I'll wait until I watch all the trailers before I make a prediction.
The brief glimpse of animation impressed me, but I think that contributes to graphic design, not this category. So far, nothing besides the interview with JJ'88's mother has impressed me.

Now for more of the most read entries about the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.


Normal social media promotion plus strong web traffic during September 2025 earned Three shows with Conan O'Brien win Emmys from September 27, 2025 650 raw page views to rank 32nd among entries posted during the blogging year and 46th overall.


Normal social media promotion plus web search/traffic during August 2025 earned Gold Derby's predictions for guest actors and actresses at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards from August 30, 2025 214 default and 217 raw page views, ranking it tenth among entries posted during the month and twelfth overall by both measures. Strong web traffic during September 2025 helped it earn 375 default and 586 raw page views to rank twelfth by the first measure during the 15th year of the blog, 36th among entries posted during the blogging year, and 52nd overall.


Web search earned Nature documentary nominees are well photographed at the 2017 News and Documentary Emmy Awards from October 1, 2017 542 raw page views, placing this blast from the past 58th overall during the blogging year.


Normal social media promotion during July 2025 earned Emmy nominee 'Desi Lydic Foxsplains the Epstein Files' plus the rest of the short form nominees at the Emmy Awards from July 27, 2025 62 default and 65 raw page views, ranking it 22nd for July 2025 according to the first measure, tying it for 22nd among entries posted during the month, and tying it for 37th overall. Sharing the link at the Citizen Connect/Coffee Party USA Facebook page along with strong web traffic during September 2025 helped it gain the rest of its 540 raw page views by March 20, 2026, placing it 41st among entries posted during the blogging year and 59th overall. It also earned 180 views on Instagram, the most for the year.

That's a wrap for today's retrospective and News & Doc Emmy Awards coverage. I plan on resuming one or both for Wayback Wednesday. In the meantime, stay tuned for something short and educational tomorrow.

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