'14th' leads all documentaries with six nominations at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards

I promised "I'll return for the 14th's nominations as the Sunday entertainment feature" twice. I begin by quoting from the Critics Choice Association's (CCA) press release.

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.

I'm kicking off with a category I haven't covered before, Best Historical Documentary.

BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY

14th (Netflix)
Once Upon a Time in Harlem (Neon)
Rehearsals for a Revolution (Sony Pictures Classics)
SCTV: The Greatest Show You’ve Never Heard Of (Netflix)
Soul Patrol (Kino Lorber)
Turning Point: Generation 9/11 (Netflix)

As mentioned in the press release, 14th leads with six nominations, followed by Once Upon a Time in Harlem with five, Rehearsals for a Revolution with four, and SCTV: The Greatest Show You’ve Never Heard Of, Soul Patrol, and Turning Point: Generation 9/11 tied at one each. I couldn't find a trailer for 14th, but I did retrieve Ava DuVernay Reveals How the 14th Amendment Defines Our Lives | Art of the Doc from IndieWire.

In her follow up to the Oscar Nominated "13th," director Ava DuVernay uncovers the power the 14th amendment has over us all. At the Art of the Doc event in Los Angeles, presented by National Geographic, DuVernay sat down with IndieWire's Chris O'Falt to discuss her new film. What started as a document of the administration's attacks on 14th amendment rights evolved into a discovery of a "second constitution" hidden in our laws.

Listening to Ava DuVernay describe how Donald "Pervert Hoover" Trump and his maladministration, inspired by Project 2025, have been attacking birthright citizenship and the rest of the 14th Amendment reminds me of what I wrote in Vox, MSNBC, and PBS NewsHour explain 'Exactly how Trump could ban abortion'.

I don't recall Yang or Kay mentioning the 14th Amendment and searching the video's transcript doesn't retrieve any mention of it, either, but Vox explained that an expanded interpretation of it forms the basis for fetal personhood. I have very little respect for that idea, since the same people pushing for fetal personhood on that basis are not supporting enforcing Section 3, the Insurrection Clause, on convicted criminal Donald Trump and favor ending birthright citizenship, guaranteed by Section 1. They want to pick and choose which parts of the 14th Amendment to enforce. Hmph. May my complaint from Stephen Colbert returns after his illness with Liz Cheney stand in their way: "I think the insurrection clause applies, but, like much of the rest of the 14th Amendment, the courts are too timid or ideologically opposed to enforce it."

DuVernay has literally documented the attempt to reverse the "second constitution" of the 14th Amendment. May her film inspire the rest of us to protect it.

Next, Once Upon a Time in Harlem - Official Trailer - In Theaters October 16 by NEON.

A decade after his death, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves has one last trick up his sleeve with what he considered the most important event he captured on film: a 1972 party he engineered with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. For four hours, this extraordinary group – many of whom had not seen each other in fifty years – reminisced, critiqued, argued, laughed and drank while wrestling with their place in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape. Shot on 16mm film, newly restored and now directed by Greaves’ son David, this landmark film is at once a self-exploration and an inquiry into the heart of the critical mass of energy called the Harlem Renaissance. William Greaves’ intent was not only to document these artists and intellectuals as they spoke about their lives and work but also to plumb the meaning of the extraordinary creative period in which they lived to help us better understand how culture has been passed on from one generation to another and the role that the artist plays in keeping it alive.

That's impressive. I can see and hear why Gold Derby thinks it is almost certain to be nominated at the Oscars, while 14th is on the bubble waiting for the Documentary Branch to wrestle with its issues about whether to nominate Alex Gibney for Musk after he's already won an Oscar. That 14th doesn't seem to have a trailer on YouTube isn't helping it.

Moving on to the documentary Gold Derby ranks immediately behind 14th in its odds, Rehearsals For A Revolution - Official Trailer.

Set against the backdrop of the Iran-Iraq War, sixteen-year-old Caroline takes a final car ride with her father to the Iranian countryside.

This documentary has turned out to be timely.

Now for the nominees with just one nomination. The first alphabetically is SCTV: The Greatest Show You've Never Heard Of | Official Trailer | Netflix.

Legendary "SCTV" cast members reunite in this documentary for a funny and heartfelt celebration of how a scrappy Canadian sketch show made comedy history.

This documentary, which feels out of place in this field, won't win here, but it looks like exactly what the Creative Arts Emmy Awards would nominate. I'm looking forward to seeing it next July.

Next, Soul Patrol – Official Teaser Trailer.

Soul Patrol uncovers a hidden chapter of American military history by focusing on the Vietnam War's first Black special ops team, an elite unit operating deep behind enemy lines. With unprecedented access to this once-secretive group of African-American veterans, director J.M. Harper reconstructs their journey with an immediacy rarely seen in Vietnam War storytelling, using raw Super 8 footage, photographs, and audio recordings from their personal archives. Opening on the war’s 50th anniversary, the surviving members reunite in a hotel that becomes a surreal liminal space, where memory, brotherhood, and unresolved trauma collide. As the men reflect on their experiences, the film interrogates the contradictions of fighting for freedom abroad while facing inequality at home. Winner of the Directing Award for U.S. Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, Soul Patrol is not just a war story, but a reckoning – an intimate portrait of survival, memory, and the enduring cost of war on those asked to fight it.

That looks intense.

Speaking of intense, watch Turning Point: Generation 9/11 | Official Trailer | Netflix.

Twenty-five years after 9/11, this documentary explores how a single day shaped the next generation. From children who lost their parents in the attacks to journalists who cut their teeth on the original War on Terror to young Afghans and Marines forced to deal with the fallout of America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan - their gripping stories reveal that the legacy of 9/11 is measured not only by history, but by the lives it continues to shape.

I expect this to be nominated at the next News & Doc Emmy Awards, just like Turning Point: The Vietnam War. It should do well there, even if I doubt it will win here.

Speaking of which, 14th, Once Upon a Time in Harlem, and Rehearsals for a Revolution are all also nominated for Best Documentary Feature, so one of them will win. 14th may be the most urgent, but I think Once Upon a Time in Harlem may be a better film, so I expect it will win this category. If so, and 14th also misses being nominated at the Oscars, I think it will do very well at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominations for 14th, Once Upon a Time in Harlem, and Rehearsals for a Revolution.

I'm revisiting the categories I covered in 'Musk' leads Best Biographical Documentary at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

14th (Netflix)
Everest: The Other Side (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Everybody to Kenmure Street (Icarus Films)
The History of Concrete (Magnolia Pictures)
Musk (Bleecker Street)
NAZA (The Guardian / mk2 films)
Once Upon a Time in Harlem (Neon)
Rehearsals for a Revolution (Sony Pictures Classics)
Remake (Music Box Films)
You Can See Everything (A24)

I'm beginning my analysis by recycling my reaction from '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.

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.

I looked at Best Biographical Documentary and am examining Best Political Documentary next, so it's time. Since World Food Day, I found Gold Derby's Oscar Predictions page, which is modeling a different electorate than the CCA. Still, I find it useful. The most likely to win is either NAZA, favored by the editors, or You Can See Everything, favored by the experts and users. The tiebreaker might be the odds for Best Picture, where You Can See Everything ranks eighth, making it likely the first documentary to be nominated for Best Picture. 14th and Once Upon a Time in Harlem are the only other nominees being picked by either experts or editors to win, so they're the spoilers, not the leaders. Other than being nominated, Musk isn't even in the running.

Critics Choice is running a poll on its X account asking "What doc will be the big winner?" You Can See Everything leads with 69.9%, followed by NAZA at 19.5%, Once Upon a Time in Harlem at 8%, and something else at 2.7%. I feel more confident that You Can See Everything will win tonight. Its only problem is that it's not nominated in a best subject area category. It could have been either biographical or, even better, true crime.

BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY

14th (Netflix)
American Doctor (Watermelon Pictures)
Ask E. Jean (Abramorama)
Everybody to Kenmure Street (Icarus Films)
Musk (Bleecker Street)
NAZA (The Guardian / mk2 films)
Union Town (Cabin Creek Films)

14th, NAZA, and Musk are also nominated for Best Documentary Feature, so they're the favorites, although I think 14th has a better chance of winning this category than Best Documentary Feature. I'll examine this category again when I cover Best Historical Documentary, where 14th is the leading nominee.

NAZA could edge out 14th for this category.

Next, a category I covered in 'Nuisance Bear' leads Best Science/Nature Documentary at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

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.

I have one more trailer to watch for this category, REMAKE | Official Trailer | In Select Theaters July 10 by Music Box Films.

Filmmaker Ross McElwee has spent forty years recording himself and his family, creating documentaries that chronicle the shifting contours of American society through the lens of personal history. His son Adrian grew up inside those films, and eventually began experimenting with the camera himself. When a Hollywood producer acquires the rights to adapt McElwee's 1986 breakthrough SHERMAN’S MARCH into a work of fiction, twenty-year-old Adrian sees a chance for his father to finally reach a wider audience. As the adaptation stalls, Adrian gets swept into a deepening drug addiction and dies from a fentanyl overdose, leaving behind hours of personal video footage. Retracing Adrian’s final years, McElwee reckons with what his camera captured and what remained hauntingly out of frame. As he reflects on a lifetime behind the camera, Ross’s own effort to remix and remake the movie that Adrian never got to finish takes on new significance. An ever-expanding hall of mirrors built from decades of home movies, REMAKE is both McElwee's attempt to hold onto his son, and to let him go.

I found Pegah Ahangarani's narration in the trailer for Rehearsals for a Revolution to be the most moving and best written. Too bad it's in French, which might hurt with an Anglophone electorate.

Speaking of Rehearsals for a Revolution, its fourth nomination is in a category I covered in 'EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert' leads Best Music Documentary nominees at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, as is one of the nominations for Once Upon a Time in Harlem.

BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (Neon)
Making Marie Antoinette (Mubi)
Man on the Run (Amazon MGM Studios)
Once Upon a Time in Harlem (Neon)
Rehearsals for a Revolution (Sony Pictures Classics)
Remake (Music Box Films)

The other nomination for Man on the Run and one of the three other nominations for EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is for Best Archival Documentary. I doubt either will win this category. Instead, I believe it will be one of the three nominees also nominated for Best Documentary, Once Upon a Time in Harlem, Rehearsals for a Revolution, and Remake. I might reassess this category when I cover Best Historical Documentary, but until then, my provisional pick is Once Upon a Time in Harlem, which earned five nominations, while Rehearsals for a Revolution and Remake have four. For what it's worth, Gold Derby has Once Upon a Time in Harlem second in its odds to earn an Oscar nomination for Documentary Feature, Rehearsals for a Revolution seventh, and Remake eleventh, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert 18th, and Man on the Run 21st, which reinforces my intuition. Making Marie Antoinette isn't even rated. That written, Gold Derby is second-guessing a different electorate, and electorates matter.

I'm even more convinced that Once Upon a Time in Harlem will win this award. Speaking of which...

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 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.

I still think so.

Just like Best Archival Documentary, I'm even more convinced Once Upon a Time in Harlem will win this category, too.

I'm continuing with a category I examined 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 and revisited in 'Nuisance Bear' leads Best Science/Nature Documentary at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

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.

I picking Tapia de Veer for Nuisance Bear.

I close with two categories I haven't covered before.


What a bunch of great directors! My gut says Nathan Fielder & Lance Oppenheim for You Can See Everything.


My gut says Once Upon a Time in Harlem.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned to see if I cover the winners tomorrow.

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
• 'Nuisance Bear' leads Best Science/Nature Documentary at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards
• Nominees for Best True Crime Documentary at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards
• 'EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert' leads Best Music Documentary nominees at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards
• 'Musk' leads Best Biographical Documentary at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards