Spectacular nature films nominated at the 2025 Critics Choice Documentary Awards

As I promised yesterday, I'm beginning my examination of the nominees at the Tenth Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Science and nature first!

BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
The Americas (NBC)
Checkpoint Zoo (Abramorama)
The Last Rhinos: A New Hope (National Geographic)
Ocean with David Attenborough (National Geographic)
Octopus! (Prime Video)
Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey (Netflix)

I begin by bragging: "I think I will see [Octopus!] and maybe The Americas at another awards show, whether it's the EMA Awards, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, or even next year's News & Doc Emmy Awards." First, both of them earned nominations at the 2025 Environmental Media Association (EMA) Awards and The Americas won its category and now both of them earned nominations here. Two for two so far! Joining them are EMA Award nominee The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, Checkpoint Zoo, Ocean with David Attenborough, and Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey.

I couldn't find a trailer for The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, but I did find 66-Day Fetus Of Northern White Rhino Marks A Moment Of Hope For A Species On The Brink from IFLScience, the next best thing.

There are just two northern white rhinos left in the world: Najin and Fatu, a mother and daughter pair. They can’t continue the species alone, but a world-first attempt was made to bring a new northern white rhino calf into the world using frozen samples, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and a surrogate southern white rhino.

That surrogate was called Curra, and the successful world-first attempt at this kind of cross-species IVF was achieved by BioRescue, an initiative developing advanced reproduction technologies for saving critically endangered mammals. Jan Stejskal was one of the people who had just landed in Kenya to check on the status of her pregnancy when they received a worrying call: Curra was sick, and it was happening fast.

They’d never get to check if she was pregnant, as she died within an hour of falling ill. The team would later learn that this was the devastating outcome of a chain of unfortunate events. First, there was the shift in El Niño, which caused very heavy rains. Then, those rains washed away the top layer of soil in Kenya, resurrecting mummies that had been stored in the ground for centuries. Inside those carcasses was Clostridia bacteria that can live for 500 years, and that bacteria releases an extremely powerful toxin that can kill a rhino in just 60 minutes.

It was a devastating loss for the BioRescue team and even more so for the guardians who had cared for Curra and the other rhinos on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. There came, however, just one small glimmer of hope.
During an autopsy, the team found a 66-day fetus. It was a male northern white rhino, the last seen since the death of Sudan in 2018. There was nothing that could be done to save Curra or the developing fetus inside her, but it was proof that this kind of IVF was possible – something that had never been proven before.

This story of loss and hope is explored in the new National Geographic film, The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, which premieres Aug. 24 at 8/7c and streams next day on Disney+ and Hulu.

No wonder this earned an EMA Award nomination. I hope it gets nominated at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards next year.

Now for the real trailers, beginning with Checkpoint Zoo | Official Trailer from Leonardo DiCaprio.

Checkpoint Zoo documents a daring rescue led by a heroic team of zookeepers and volunteers, who risked their lives to save thousands of animals trapped in a zoo behind enemy lines during the initial days of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

Drawing from first-hand footage, Award-winning filmmaker Joshua Zeman's Checkpoint Zoo showcases a story of human compassion, bravery, and sacrifice during Ukraine's darkest hours -- shining a light on the best of humanity when it is all too easy to focus on the worst.

That's inspiring!

Next, Ocean with David Attenborough | Official Trailer | National Geographic.

The world’s leading natural historian draws on a lifetime of knowledge to reveal how Earth’s vast, interconnected waterways can be restored.

This has a second nomination for Best Cinematography and the trailer shows it.

I close the trailers with Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey | Official Trailer | Netflix.

A man finds new purpose when he helps rescue a baby pangolin, one of the most trafficked animals in the world, in a sting operation in South Africa. He leaves the city and embarks on a heartfelt mission to rehabilitate and prepare the vulnerable animal for a life of freedom in the wild. From the Academy Award-winning director of My Octopus Teacher comes Pangolin: Kulu's Journey, a poignant exploration of the connection between humans and the creatures we share our world with.

Netflix makes great trailers and this is no exception.

Based on the trailers and the second nomination for cinematography, I think Ocean with David Attenborough is the favorite, followed by The Americas, and Emmy winner Octopus! Both of the latter have second nominations for narration. No matter which film wins, all of them are ones I can recommend to my students. Welcome to blogging as professional development.

Follow over the jump for the second nominations for The Americas, Octopus!, and Ocean with David Attenborough.

The Americas and Octopus! earned their Emmy nominations for narration and earned equivalent nominations at these awards.

BEST NARRATION
2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)
Written by Mstyslav Chernov
Performed by Mstyslav Chernov

The American Revolution (PBS)
Written by Geoffrey C. Ward
Performed by Peter Coyote

The Americas (NBC)
Written by Michael Gunton, Holly Spearing, Steve Cole, Kathryn Jeffs, Matt Richards, Giles Badger, Victoria Buckley, Alex Griffiths, Hannah Hoare, Poppy Riddle, Gillian Taylor, Nikki Waldron, Evie Wright, Charlotte Bostock, Victoria Bobin, & Ingrid Kvale
Performed by Tom Hanks

Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)
Written by Petra Costa
Co-Writers: Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker, Tina Baz
Performed by Petra Costa

Octopus! (Prime Video)
Written by Gabriel Bisset-Smith
Performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)
Written by George Orwell, Adapted by Raoul Peck
Performed by Damian Lewis

Unlike the Emmys category, which rewards performers, this is at least as much about the quality of writing as its narration. Based on that, I think Orwell: 2+2=5, the most nominated documentary at these awards, is my early pick. Let's see if I continue to think that after listening to all the trailers.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ben Bernhard – Architecton (A24)
Jean Dakar – The Tale of Silyan (National Geographic)
Elizabeth Lo – Mistress Dispeller (Oscilloscope)
Lars Erlend Tubaas Øymo & Tor Edvin Eliassen – Folktales (Magnolia Pictures)
Brittany Shyne – Seeds (Interior Films)
Toby Strong, Doug Anderson (Underwater Photography) – Ocean with David Attenborough (National Geographic)

No favorite yet. I'll pick one after I watch all the trailers.

That's a wrap for today. I plan on posting something short, evergreen, and educational tomorrow, then returning to the Critics Choice Documentary Awards on Wednesday. Stay tuned.