'Nuisance Bear' leads Best Science/Nature Documentary at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards

I promised "more Critics Choice Documentary Awards coverage tomorrow as the Sunday entertainment feature," so here are the nominees for science and nature documentary.

BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist (Focus Features)
Ghost Elephants (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Lion (National Geographic)
Nuisance Bear (Mubi)
Secrets of the Bees (National Geographic)
Time and Water (National Geographic Documentary Films)

Nuisance Bear leads with five nominations, followed by Lion with four, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist and Time and Water tied at two, then Ghost Elephants and Secrets of the Bees with just this one. I'm embedding their trailers in that order, beginning with NUISANCE BEAR | Official Trailer | Coming Soon.

Who is the real nuisance? Watch the official trailer for NUISANCE BEAR—the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary from directors Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden.

In theaters November 6 in Los Angeles, December 4 in New York, Canada and the UK. A MUBI Release.

This should look familiar to those of my readers who were following this blog in 2023, when it earned two News&Doc Emmy Award nominations and when I wrote that it had won Best Short Documentary at the 2022 Critics Choice Documentary Awards, so this electorate is familiar with it and liked it the first time. Remember, electorates matter. This is a feature-length treatment of the same material, and, based on its film festival awards, the expanded content is substance and not mere filler.

I can't recommend Nuisance Bear to my students, as it won't be available to them before the end of the semester, but I can recommend the next nominee. Watch LION | Official Trailer | National Geographic.

From “The Lion King” director Jon Favreau and BBC Studios executive producer Mike Gunton comes the extraordinary true story of a lion cub named Kio on his epic journey to become a king. Filmed over four years, this sweeping saga of family, hope and courage follows Kio as he grows from a vulnerable cub into a powerful leader. Along the way, he faces loss, exile and fierce rivals in a fight to survive. Combining cinematic storytelling with groundbreaking natural history filmmaking, this series captures the complete coming-of-age story of a lion — and the remarkable making of a king.

Welcome to the kind of project one can expect when Disney controls the National Geographic Channel. Fortunately, it looks like a hit with more than four million views on the trailer alone. It also looks like the kind of documentary series that would do well at next year's Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

I return to theaters with THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters March 27 from Focus Features.

"The most urgent film of our time.” THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST is only in theaters March 27. Watch the trailer now.

From the Academy Award®-winning filmmakers behind Everything Everywhere All at Once and Navalny; a father-to-be tries to figure out what is happening with all this AI insanity. The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist is a hand-made, eye-opening documentary about the most powerful technology humanity has ever created... and what’s at stake if we get it wrong.

Holy crap! That was scary! It made me revisit what I wrote in 'Prophets of Doom' a dozen years ago.

Both [James Howard] Kunstler and Ruppert gave their familiar peak oil perspectives on the future. Of the rest, the one who worried about the farthest off catastrophe was De Garis, whose fear was of The Singularity, the surpassing of human intelligence by artificial intelligence. When he discussed his take on the future, I figured that Kunstler would likely have none of it. Sure enough, he told De Garis that he thought that the resources and finances needed to support the research for artificial intelligence would dry up before the technology reached that point. The result was that Kunstler didn't budge, but De Garis came away convinced that the other issues were fair more pressing than his particular worry. In particular, he became most concerned about water shortages.

Now I'm thinking De Garis was right and Kunstler was wrong. Based on his Wikipedia article, he became wrong about a lot of things in 2020, just after I stopped reading him. I'm glad I did!

Now the other nominee with a second nomination, Time and Water | Official Trailer | National Geographic Documentary Films.

Renowned Icelandic poet and author, Andri Snær Magnason, is chasing something elusive. As the glacial ice of his homeland melts, he constructs a cinematic time capsule to hold onto this moment and send it to the future, before everything he loves slips away. Using his own collected archives, his grandparents’ photographs and films as well as traditional songs and folktales, Andri interlaces his family’s story with that of the land around him. From Academy Award®-nominated director Sara Dosa, TIME AND WATER is a universal reflection on the power of home and what it means to be alive amid profound epochal change.

I can see the resemblance to Fire of Love, the personal meaning of natural phenomena. I can also recommend it to my students. Welcome to blogging as professional development.

I didn't embed Ghost Elephants | Official Trailer | National Geographic Documentary Films in 'Oceans with David Attenborough' tied with 'Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!' for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, but I'm embedding it here.

For over a decade, Dr. Steve Boyes, conservation biologist and National Geographic Explorer, has been in search of a mysterious, elusive herd of Ghost Elephants in the highlands of Angola, deep within its forests. From acclaimed director Werner Herzog (“Grizzly Man”), GHOST ELEPHANTS follows Boyes on an epic journey as he sets out with some of the best master trackers in the world, in pursuit of an animal long believed to be a myth.

I can hear why Herzog earned a nomination for Outstanding Narrator at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Too bad he didn't repeat here, but at least he earned a nomination for his film.

I'm recycling what I wrote in 'Secrets of the Bees' for World Honey Bee Day for the final nominee in this category.

I'm celebrating by sharing Secrets of the Bees | Official Trailer | Narrated by Bertie Gregory | National Geographic.

National Geographic Explorer Bertie Gregory explores the extraordinary lives of bees — among the planet’s most important animals. Over three years, special cameras opened a rare window into a single hive, revealing their hidden world. With more than 20,000 bee species pollinating one-third of the world’s food, this series uncovers their astonishing architecture and intelligence, unlocking their secrets.

This is part of the same series that includes Secrets of the Whales, Secrets of the Elephants, Secrets of the Octopus, and Secrets of the Penguins, the last of which won two News & Documentary Emmy Awards in May.
...
I'm looking forward to blogging about this show two or three more times, when it's nominated for Outstanding Nature Documentary and Outstanding Cinematography - Documentary next spring, on World Bee Day, and maybe when and if it wins an Emmy or two. In the meantime, I can recommend the series to my students. Welcome to blogging as professional development.

I didn't include the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, but here it is. Also, I have been recommending it to my students, although none has submitted any extra credit yet.

After watching the trailers, I think Nuisance Bear is the most likely to win with The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist and Time and Water as the most likely to upset it. Lion may have more nominations than either of the latter, but I think it's more likely to win the limited series category.

BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

David Greaves – Once Upon a Time in Harlem (Neon)
Baz Luhrmann – EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (Neon)
Gabriela Osio Vanden & Jack Weisman – Nuisance Bear (Mubi)
Xander Robin – The Python Hunt (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Poh Si Teng – American Doctor (Watermelon Pictures)
John Wilson – The History of Concrete (Magnolia Pictures)

Nuisance Bear and Once Upon a Time in Harlem co-lead this category with five nominations each, followed by EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert and The History of Concrete tied at four, then American Doctor and The Python Hunt tied at two. Two of these, The History of Concrete and The Python Hunt, don't have nominations in categories I will examine in the future, so I'm embedding them here, beginning with The History of Concrete - Official Trailer | Directed by John Wilson | In Theaters September 18.

Following the finale of his acclaimed HBO series “How To with John Wilson”, NYC documentarian John Wilson looks to the bedrock of his beloved New York City for inspiration and structure. Concrete, the world's most widely used building material, appears as an ever-present life force, and John sets out to make the definitive documentary on the matter. After attending a workshop on how to write and sell a Hallmark movie, he decides to use the industry-approved Hallmark formula to tell this seemingly drab story and increase his movie’s appeal. But his foundation soon begins to crumble—literally and figuratively—as he struggles to balance artistic freedom with the realities of the modern film industry.

Directed by John Wilson

This looks more interesting than I expected. Also, while there is definitely are science, technology, and infrastructure angles and I mention concrete in my lectures, I can't tell from the trailer if I can recommend this to my students. On the other hand, I'm sure I can recommend The Python Hunt - Official Trailer - Oscilloscope Laboratories HD.

In an attempt to save the threatened ecosystem, the Florida government hosts an annual competition to remove invasive pythons from the Everglades. For ten grueling nights, python-mania overtakes the ‘glades as an eclectic group of amateur hunters contends with unforgiving terrain, aggressive nocturnal creatures and their own desires and demons that push them into the swamp, searching for slithering glory.

Directed by Xander Robin
Produced by Xander Robin, Lance Oppenheim, Lauren Cioffi, Melissa Oppenheim

I blogged about the Florida python hunt three times and every time it looked like wild fun in the service of biodiversity and sustainability. I think my students will generally enjoy watching this as long as killing snakes doesn't bother them.

Two nominees also earned nominations for Best Documentary, Once Upon a Time in Harlem and The History of Concrete, so they're my picks to win Best First Documentary Feature. I think the former has the inside track, but I'll re-examine this category when I cover Best Historical Documentary and Best Archival Documentary.

BEST NARRATION

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist (Focus Features)
Written by Daniel Roher & Caroline Lindy
Performed by Daniel Roher & Caroline Lindy

The History of Concrete (Magnolia Pictures)
Written by John Wilson
Performed by John Wilson

Lorne (Focus Features)
Written by Morgan Neville, Alan Lowe, Jake Hostetter
Performed by Chris Parnell

Nuisance Bear (Mubi)
Written by Mike Tunalaaq Gibbons
Performed by Mike Tunalaaq Gibbons

Rehearsals for a Revolution (Sony Pictures Classics)
Written by Pegah Ahangarani
Performed by Pegah Ahangarani

Remake (Music Box Films)
Written by Ross McElwee
Performed by Ross McElwee

I'm waiting until I hear all the narration from the trailers before making my pick in this category.

Follow over the jump for the categories I covered in 'The Food That Built America,' '30 for 30,' and other nominees at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards for World Food Day and National Sports Day.

Look at all the nature documentaries! I'll even count Everest: The Other Side among them, as it's human vs. nature (PVE) not human vs. human (PVP). I'll also consider it the provisional favorite as one of the nominated cinematographers is Jimmy Chin, who won an Oscar and earned two Emmy nominations for Free Solo. I'll have more to say when I cover Best Science/Nature Documentary.

After watching the trailers, I think Nuisance Bear could beat Everest: The Other Side, but You Can See Everything might surprise me.

I think this category is between four-time Emmy winner Cristobal Tapia de Veer and two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer. Again, I'll have more to say when I cover Best Science/Nature Documentary.

Both Tapia de Veer and Zimmer do outstanding jobs of capturing the local culture in their music in the service of telling the story. It will come down to whether the critics like subtle or bombastic.

The Dynasty: UConn Huskies and Rafa are both competing in this category for their second nominations, but I think Lion, which has four nominations, is the likely winner. Again, I'll have more to say when I cover Best Science/Nature Documentary.

I still think it will be Lion.

That's a wrap for this installment. Stay tuned for something shorter tomorrow, like the nominees for Best True Crime Documentary.

Previous posts about the 11th Critics Choice Documentary Awards

• 'The Food That Built America,' '30 for 30,' and other nominees at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards for World Food Day and National Sports Day