“Ascension” continues to ascend. Already the recipient of honors at Tribeca Film Festival and Hamptons International Film Festival, Jessica Kingdon’s exploration of the contemporary “Chinese Dream” has tied for most nominations from the Critics Choice Documentary Awards. It received nods in six categories, including Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, and Best First Documentary Feature.
Other nominees in the Best Documentary Feature category include Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “The Rescue,” a look inside the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand, and recent BFI London Film Fest winner “Becoming Cousteau,” Liz Garbus’ portrait of undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau. Overall, 12 titles are in the running, and seven are directed or co-directed by women.
Seven films are being recognized in the Best Director category, and four of them are helmed or co-helmed by women. Besides Kingdon, Vasarhelyi, and Garbus, Traci A. Curry landed a nomination for co-directing “Attica,” an investigation into the 1971 Attica prison uprising.
Kingdon is one of four women up for Best First Documentary Feature, a category that includes seven nominees. She’s joined by Jessica Beshir (“Faya Day”), Rachel Fleit (“Introducing, Selma Blair”), and Kristine Stolakis (“Pray Away”).
Both Kingdon and Beshir are in the running for Best Cinematography.
Now celebrating its sixth edition, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards will take place November 14. Head over to The Hollywood Reporter to check out all of the nominees, which include “LFG,” the story of the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s fight for equal pay, and “My Name is Pauli Murray,” a tribute to the late activist and legal scholar, among others. Women-directed and co-directed nominees up for Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, and Best First Documentary Feature can be found below.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Attica (Showtime)
Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
A Crime on the Bayou (Augusta Films/Shout! Studios)
Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+)
My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios)
The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
BEST DIRECTOR
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin – The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Liz Garbus – Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse/National Geographic Documentary Films)
Jessica Kingdon – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry – Attica (Showtime)
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Jessica Beshir – Faya Dayi (Janus Films)
Rachel Fleit – Introducing, Selma Blair (Discovery+)
Jessica Kingdon – Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Kristine Stolakis – Pray Away (Netflix)
