'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

I told my readers to "Stay tuned for the nominees of this year's Critics Choice Documentary Awards." Since today is World Food Day, I'm featuring the one category with food nominees.

BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES

30 for 30 (ESPN)
American Masters (PBS)
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (Netflix)
The Food That Built America (History)
Hazardous History with Henry Winkler (History)
Independent Lens (PBS)
Untold (Netflix)

30 for 30 has won this award four years in a row, so it's my pick to repeat. That works for today also being National Sports Day, as does the nomination of America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, but I chose this category for The Food That Built America. In addition, American Masters includes chefs among the artists and performers it profiles, including Marcella Hazan last year, and Independent Lens has featured documentaries about food, including King Corn, which my students can watch for extra credit.

Speaking of my students, they watched Food, Inc. 2 this week. As I wrote on Talk Like A Pirate Day, I plan on writing a guide to answers to Food, Inc. 2 worksheet on National Food Day, but I'm linking to the entries now as a preview of coming attractions: Think about the fast food workers on National Fast Food Day, Vox explains 'The salmon dilemma', and New guidelines flip the food pyramid on its head. My students and I will go over the answers next week in lab, then I'll write the entry for anyone who missed class.

Follow over the jump as I shift gears from food to sports.


Everest: The Other Side leads with four, followed by The Dynasty: UConn Huskies and Rafa tied at two, Give Me the Ball!, Standout: The Ben Kjar Story, and Tyson with one each. On that basis, I'm picking Everest: The Other Side as the favorite. The most likely to upset would be Rafa, which earned an Emmy nomination, but I doubt that will overcome Everest: The Other Side's nomination for Best Documentary Feature.


I'm quoting from the Critics Choice Association's (CCA) press release for this category.

14th leads the pack with six nominations, including Best Documentary Feature. The film’s other nominations are Ava DuVernay for Best Director, Spencer Averick for Best Editing, and Jason Moran for Best Music Score, along with Best Political Documentary, and Best Historical Documentary.

14th is a sequel to 13th, which won four Emmy Awards. On those bases, I think it's the favorite. I'll re-examine this category when I blog about Best Political Documentary and Best Biographical Documentary. On to the other nominations for Everest: The Other Side, The Dynasty: UConn Huskies and Rafa!


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.


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.


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.


One final category has a sports nominee, Miller Night Football. I plan on examining it and the other nominees in the final entry before the awards, but my preliminary favorite is Oh, Whale! based on the detonation of the Florence, Oregon, whale. That was unintentionally hilarous.

I'll have more Critics Choice Documentary Awards coverage the day after tomorrow for the Sunday entertainment feature. In the meantime, stay tuned for Sweetest Day.