'Belly of the Beast' and 'The Trade' are the most nominated documentaries at the 2021 News & Documentary Emmy Awards

I closed 'John Lewis: Good Trouble' earned 3 nominations at the 2021 News and Documentary Emmy Awards with the following paragraph.

Speaking of Best Documentary, my favorite to win that category is "Belly of the Beast" on PBS's Independent Lens. It has a total of four nominations, Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Outstanding Direction: Documentary, and Outstanding Editing: Documentary in addition to Best Documentary. That's the most of any single documentary, which makes it a good candidate for my next installment on this year's News and Documentary Emmy Awards. Stay tuned.

BELLY OF THE BEAST | DOCUMENTARY FILM | OFFICIAL TRAILER.

When an unlikely duo discovers a pattern of illegal sterilizations in women’s prisons, they wage a near impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. Filmed over seven years with extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently and formerly incarcerated people, BELLY OF THE BEAST exposes modern-day eugenics and reproductive injustice in California prisons.

It turns out that "Belly of the Beast" is not the only documentary with four nominations. Showtime's "The Trade" has four as well, Best Documentary, Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Outstanding Direction: Documentary, and Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary, so it's competing head-to-head with "Belly of the Beast" in three categories. Here's its trailer.

This four-part season follows Central Americans on an odyssey to the United States (and others heading back home after being deported), while also delving into the shadow industries that prey on them every step of the way. The series sheds light on the smugglers and traffickers who take advantage of the migrants' vulnerability, and law enforcement pursuing them at the border, while providing a look at the rarely-seen underbelly of the migrants’ world and their struggle to survive.

Both look like gripping exposés that deserve their nominations. Speaking of which, here are the nominees in the headline category.

Best Documentary

Athlete A (Netflix)

Born To Be (VOD)

FRONTLINE (PBS)
Once Upon A Time In Iraq

Independent Lens (PBS)
Belly of the Beast

POV (PBS)
Advocate

The Trade (Showtime)

I've set up this category and the next as contests between "Belly of the Beast" and "The Trade" and I'm not backing down from that. Based on the trailer, I suspect "Belly of the Beast" has the advantage. In addition, it's a PBS documentary and I think there are a lot more News & Doc Emmy voters associated with PBS than with Showtime, as PBS has 52 nominations to Showtime's seven, so that might make a difference — or maybe not, as PBS's "Frontline" and "POV" also have nominees in this field. They might split their ballots. Just the same, electorates matter.

All of the other nominees have two nominations, "Athlete A" for Outstanding Investigative Documentary, "Born To Be" for Outstanding Direction: Documentary, "Once Upon a Time in Iraq" for Outstanding Historical Documentary, and "Advocate" for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. As I wrote for "Once Upon a Time in Iraq" and "Advocate" in 'John Lewis: Good Trouble' earned 3 nominations at the 2021 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, the nomination for Best Documentary should help these movies in their other nominated categories, including "Athlete A" but not "Born To Be." The latter did not earn a nomination for a subject area documentary and has the misfortune to be competing against both "Belly of the Beast" and "The Trade" in its other category. I don't think it will be taking home any statuettes from the documentary ceremony the last Wednesday of this month.

Now for the other documentary category where "Belly of the Beast" and "The Trade" are competing against each other.

Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary

Father Soldier Son (Netflix)

FRONTLINE (PBS)
United States of Conspiracy

FRONTLINE (PBS)
Inside Italy’s COVID War

HBO Documentary Films (HBO)
Stockton on My Mind

Independent Lens (PBS)
Belly of the Beast

The Trade (Showtime)

Again, I think "Belly of the Beast" and "The Trade" are the favorites with their four nominations each. Only "Father Soldier Son" and "Inside Italy's COVID War" have other nominations, the former for Outstanding Editing: Documentary and the latter for Outstanding Direction: Documentary, both of which I examine over the jump.

Follow over the jump for the nominees in the three craft categories in which both movies earned nominations.

Outstanding Direction: Documentary

Born To Be (VOD)

FRONTLINE (PBS)
Inside Italy’s COVID War

Independent Lens (PBS)
Belly of the Beast

Independent Lens (PBS)
Rewind

The Trade (Showtime)

This is the third category in which "Belly of the Beast" and "The Trade" are competing directly against each other and it's the third in which I think they're the favorites. My pick to upset them is "Rewind," which also faces both in the next category. It's also nominated for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary, where it is the only nominee with multiple nominations. While I consider "Rewind" to have only an outside chance of edging out the favorites in Outstanding Direction: Documentary and a slightly better chance against "Belly of the Beast" for Outstanding Editing: Documentary, I think it's the favorite to win Outstanding Social Issue Documentary. Here's its trailer.

Digging through the vast collection of his father's home videos, a young man reconstructs the unthinkable story of his boyhood and exposes a dark secret passed through generations.

Wow.

Now the other category in which "Rewind" is competing against "Belly of the Beast."

Outstanding Editing: Documentary

Challenger: The Final Flight (Netflix)

Father Soldier Son (Netflix)

Independent Lens (PBS)
Rewind

Independent Lens (PBS)
Belly of the Beast

NOVA (PBS)
Human Nature

Based on its editing of archival footage, I think "Rewind" has a better shot to win this category than direction. However, I could say the same thing about "Challenger: The Final Flight." That written, PBS NOVA's "Human Nature" also has three nominations total, including Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary and Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction: Documentary in addition to Outstanding Editing: Documentary. I think it could upset both "Belly of the Beast" and "Rewind" in this category. It also would be a good choice for the subject of the next installment of this series.

I close with the final category in which "The Trade" earned a nomination.

Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary

Epic Animal Migrations: Mexico (Smithsonian Channel)

Hidden Kingdoms of China (National Geographic)

Nature (PBS)
Cuba’s Wild Revolution

The Last Ice (National Geographic)

The Trade (Showtime)

The Weekly (FX)
The Sicario

The good news for "The Trade" is that it's not contending with "Belly of the Beast" or "Rewind" in this category. The bad news is that four of the other nominees in this category are nature documentaries, which tend to be beautifully photographed. Consequently, my pick to win is "The Last Ice," which has three nominations, including Outstanding Nature Documentary, where I think it's the favorite, and Outstanding Research: Documentary, where I think it has a very good chance of beating "John Lewis: Good Trouble." I have "The Last Ice" and the rest of the nature documentaries on my to do list for these awards, too. They will have to wait, as tomorrow is Talk Like A Pirate Day. Stay tuned.

Previous posts in this series

• 'John Lewis: Good Trouble' earned 3 nominations at the 2021 News and Documentary Emmy Awards