Saturday, October 14, 2023

'Retrograde,' 'Escape from Kabul,' and 'In Her Hands' — three News & Doc Emmy winners about Afghanistan


Change of plans today. Instead of blogging about the solar eclipse happening today, I'm writing about Retrograde's three News & Doc Emmy Awards as I promised in 'The Janes' wins Best Documentary at the News & Doc Emmy Awards.* I begin with my reaction to its trailer from 'Retrograde' about the final 9 months of the U.S. in Afghanistan earned 6 nominations at the News & Doc Emmy Awards.
Retrograde joins Escape from Kabul and In Her Hands as nominated documentaries about the final days of the U.S. operations in Afghanistan. It's the most nominated of the three, earning recognitions for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Outstanding Direction: Documentary, Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary, Outstanding Editing: Documentary, Outstanding Sound, and Outstanding Promotional Announcement.
Retrograde won Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary, and Outstanding Editing: Documentary. In addition, Escape from Kabul and In Her Hands won their outstanding documentary categories, the former for Outstanding Investigative Documentary and the latter for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary.

Follow over the jump for the tweets announcing the three films' wins and revisit what I wrote about them and the categories they won.

The first tweet I'm embedding announced its win for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary. 'Retrograde' about the final 9 months of the U.S. in Afghanistan earned 6 nominations at the News & Doc Emmy Awards.
Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary
11 Minutes Paramount+
Endangered HBO Max
POV Let the Little Light Shine PBS
POV Wuhan Wuhan PBS
Retrograde National Geographic
The Trapped 13: How We Survived The Thai Cave Netflix
The other five nominees have only their nominations in this category, while Retrograde has six, as I've already mentioned. That's enough for me to call this category for Retrograde.
And I was right, although that didn't work for Good Night Oppy, which lost to How to Survive a Pandemic for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary. Still, that shows this criterion has some merit, even if its not infallible. Remember, electorates matter.

The next tweet announced its win for Outstanding Editing: Documentary. Now my analysis.
Here's what I wrote about it in Two Emmy-nominated documentaries about Watergate for Veep Day.
Only one nominee in this category has nominations in other categories, In Her Hands, which also earned nominations for Outstanding Direction: Documentary and Outstanding Editing: Documentary. I think that makes it the favorite to win this category (Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary), but I don't think it will win its other categories. My preliminary prediction is that will lose both categories to Retrograde, the most nominated documentary at these awards that is not also nominated for Best Documentary.
My pick is still Retrograde...
I got that one right, too.

The final embedded tweet announced its win for Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary. I wrote "Again, my pick is still Retrograde." I got that one right as well, although I thought Retrograde might pick up a fourth Emmy for Outstanding Direction: Documentary, which The Janes won. I'm only surprised that a documentary with so much archival footage won for direction; I guess the interviews and overall vision convinced the voters. Still three for four — five for six for calling that it wouldn't win the rest of its categories, even if I didn't call the winners correctly — isn't bad at all. Yay me and congratulations to the director, editor, and crew of Retrograde!

Now to examine the Emmy Awards for Escape from Kabul and In Her Hands.

Here's my analysis from Emmy-nominated documentary 'Escape from Kabul' for the fall of Kabul two years later.
Escape From Kabul is the only nominee for this award with a nomination in another category, which just happens to be Best Documentary. On that basis alone, I'm considering it the front runner for this award, just like a related documentary, In Her Hands, is the favorite to win Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary.
Wow, what a perfect pre-written transition! Time to put it to use.

Now for my analysis from Two Emmy-nominated documentaries about Watergate for Veep Day.
Only one nominee in this category has nominations in other categories, In Her Hands, which also earned nominations for Outstanding Direction: Documentary and Outstanding Editing: Documentary. I think that makes it the favorite to win this category, but I don't think it will win its other categories.
...
Watergate means something to the United States, but this story means something to the world. That's one of the reasons I think this will win Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary.
And it did. Again, yay me and congratulations to the producers, directors, and crews of Escape from Kabul and In Her Hands!

Before I end this entry, I'm reminding my readers of what they can do for the subjects of these documentaries.
What a tragedy...I did some research on Charity Navigator to find a nonprofit that assists the evacuees. The organization I found with the most complete information is #AfghanEvac, "a coalition of organizations working with US government partners on sustained relocation and resettlement efforts to fulfill the United States’ duty to at-risk Afghans." Here is the link to their site. If my readers want to support our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, I recommend the USO. Do something useful to alleviate the horror of the situation for those who escaped and survived.
I'll return to the News & Doc Emmy Awards but only after I post the highlights of Saturday Night Live returning tonight and cover its Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy nominations for the Sunday entertainment feature. Stay tuned.

*That's despite my having been in the path of an annular solar eclipse nearly 30 years ago. Other than the rings of sunlight dappling the sidewalks under the trees, it didn't look much different outdoors. Indoors, it was noticeably darker. That caught my attention. I wonder if the people watching today's eclipse observed the same thing.

Previous posts about the 2023 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)