The Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch has announced its winners for the Seventh Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Good Night Oppy took home the most trophies with five trophies in total, including the Gold trophy for Best Documentary Feature. The other four categories the film was awarded for were Ryan White for Best Director, Best Score for Blake Neely, as well as Best Narration (written by Helen Kearns and Ryan White, performed by Angela Bassett), and Best Science/Nature Documentary.

Fire of Love was the Silver medal winner, while the Bronze medal went to Navalny.

At the ceremony, the Pennebaker Award was presented to Barbara Kopple, known for documentaries such as Harlan County, U.S.A., Miss Sharon Jones!, and more. The award, formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award, is named in honor of D.A. Pennebaker, a past winner. It was presented to Kopple by Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s long-time collaborator and widow.

Award-winning documentarian Dawn Porter received the prestigious Critics Choice Impact Award which recognizes documentarians whose work has resulted in tangible societal changes, presented by Jacqueline Glover, Head of Documentary at Disney’s Onyx Collective, who has released such documentaries as last year's Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which went on to win Best Documentary Feature at that year's Oscars.

Christopher Campbell, Co-President of the Critics Choice Association’s Documentary Branch said, “Tonight was a whole new Doc Awards – hosting the ceremony in a new, bigger venue in Manhattan and streaming it live for the first time. We are thrilled to continue the celebration of so many groundbreaking and thought-provoking films while highlighting the works of so many brilliant filmmakers.”

“This evening was magical and we were once again able to celebrate an amazing talent pool of women like the legendary Barbara Kopple and the ferociously brave Dawn Porter. Both women continue to blaze trails for the many generations poised to follow in their footsteps,” stated Carla Renata, Co-President of the Critics Choice Association’s Documentary Branch. “It has been thrilling to witness and honor such distinguished documentarians. Their impressive art spanned subjects that made us weep or made our hearts swell, proving that documentary film – and its power to educate, inform, and inspire – remains a viable and pliable form of the cinematic landscape.”

Hosted by Wyatt Cenac, the star-studded event featured presenters and attendees including Rob McElhenney, Idina Menzel, Jeremy Sisto, Paul Shaffer, Brett Morgen, Kathy Ireland, Reginald Hudlin, Richard Kind, Reginald Hudlin, Caitlin Collins, Matt Heineman, Soledad O’Brien, Tonya Lewis Lee, Tamara Tunie, Ryan White, Erich Bergen, Andrew Jarecki, Shoshana Bean, and Willie Colón, among others.

For the second year in a row, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards welcomed National Geographic Documentary Films as the Presenting Sponsor.

The Catalyst Sponsors for the Seventh Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards were Netflix, Peacock, and Showtime Documentary Films.

In its six-year history, the Critics Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature has successfully predicted the film that won the Oscar that year. Once in 2017 for O.J.: Made in America, and again in 2021 for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).

It's not the greatest success rate, but I would attribute this to The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) not allowing for documentaries distributed outside theaters (television, pay-per-view, video on demand, DVD, inflight, and over the internet, ie, streaming) to be eligible for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar. Documentaries can get around this by playing in theaters in New York City and Los Angeles for a week and then releasing on a streaming service, which is how many Netflix movies have been eligible.

Click below to see the winners (which are bolded).

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Aftershock (Hulu)

The Automat (A Slice of Pie Productions)

Descendant (Netflix)

Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon) - Silver Trophy

Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down (Briarcliff Entertainment)

Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios) - Gold Trophy

The Janes (HBO)

Moonage Daydream (HBO/Neon)

Navalny (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures) - Bronze Trophy

Sidney (Apple TV+)

BEST DIRECTOR

Judd Apatow, Michael Bonfiglio – George Carlin’s American Dream (HBO)

Margaret Brown – Descendant (Netflix)

Sara Dosa – Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)

Reginald Hudlin – Sidney (Apple TV+)

Brett Morgen – Moonage Daydream (HBO/Neon)

Laura Poitras – All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (HBO/Neon)

Daniel Roher – Navalny (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Ryan White – Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Andrea Arnold – Cow (IFC Films)

Lisa Hurwitz – The Automat (A Slice of Pie Productions)

Jono McLeod – My Old School (Magnolia Pictures)

Amy Poehler – Lucy and Desi (Amazon Studios)

Alex Pritz – The Territory (National Geographic Documentary Films)

David Siev – Bad Axe (IFC Films)

Bianca Stigter – Three Minutes: A Lengthening (Neon)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Benjamin Bernhard, Riju Das – All That Breathes (HBO)

Magda Kowalczyk – Cow (IFC Films)

Lucas Tucknott – McEnroe (Showtime)

Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman, Sam Holling – Nuisance Bear (The New Yorker)

The Cinematography Team – Our Great National Parks (Netflix)

Alex Pritz, Tangãi Uru-eu-wau-wau – The Territory (National Geographic Documentary Films)

BEST EDITING

Jabez Olssen – The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)

Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput – Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)

Joe Beshenkovsky – George Carlin’s American Dream (HBO)

Helen Kearns, Rejh Cabrera – Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

Brett Morgen – Moonage Daydream (HBO/Neon)

Langdon Page, Maya Daisy Hawke – Navalny (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Katharina Wartena – Three Minutes: A Lengthening (Neon)

BEST SCORE

Hummie Mann – The Automat (A Slice of Pie Productions)

Nicolas Godin – Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)

Blake Neely – Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

Max Avery Lichtenstein – The Janes (HBO)

David Schwartz – Lucy and Desi (Amazon Studios)

Marius de Vries, Matt Robertson – Navalny (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures)

BEST NARRATION

Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story (Fin and Fur Films)

Written by Ben Masters

Performed by Matthew McConaughey

Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)

Written by Shane Boris, Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput, Sara Dosa

Performed by Miranda July

Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

Written by Helen Kearns, Ryan White

Performed by Angela Bassett

Our Great National Parks (Netflix)

Performed by Barack Obama

Riotsville, U.S.A. (Magnolia Pictures)

Written by Tobi Haslett

Performed by Charlene Modeste

Three Minutes: A Lengthening (Neon)

Written by Bianca Stigter

Performed by Helena Bonham Carter

BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY

The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)

Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)

Moonage Daydream (HBO/Neon)

Nothing Compares (Showtime)

Riotsville, U.S.A. (Magnolia Pictures)

Three Minutes: A Lengthening (Neon)

BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY

The Automat (A Slice of Pie Productions)

Descendant (Netflix)

The Janes (HBO)

Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (Peacock)

Still Working 9 to 5 (Mighty Fine Entertainment)

Three Minutes: A Lengthening (Neon)

The U.S. and the Holocaust (PBS)

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY

George Carlin’s American Dream (HBO)

The Last Movie Stars (HBO Max)

Lucy and Desi (Amazon Studios)

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Peacock)

Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams (Sony Pictures Classics)

Sidney (Apple TV+)

Sr. (Netflix)

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY

The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song (Sony Pictures Classics)

If These Walls Could Sing (Disney Original Documentary)

Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues (Apple TV+)

Moonage Daydream (HBO/Neon)

Nothing Compares (Showtime)

The Return of Tanya Tucker – Featuring Brandi Carlile (Sony Pictures Classics)

BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY

Aftershock (Hulu)

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (HBO/Neon)

Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down (Briarcliff Entertainment)

The Janes (HBO)

Navalny (HBO/CNN/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Retrograde (National Geographic Documentary Films)

Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (Netflix)

BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY

All That Breathes (HBO)

Cow (IFC Films)

Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary Films/Neon)

Good Night Oppy (Amazon Studios)

Nuisance Bear (The New Yorker)

Return to Space (Netflix)

The Territory (National Geographic Documentary Films)

BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY (Tie)

Citizen Ashe (Magnolia/HBO)

Hockeyland (Greenwich Entertainment)

Kaepernick & America (Dark Star Pictures)

McEnroe (Showtime)

The Redeem Team (Netflix)

Welcome to Wrexham (FX/Hulu)

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY

38 at the Garden (HBO)

Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices From a Plantation Prison (MTV Documentary Films)

The Flagmakers (National Geographic Documentary Films)

Four Seasons Total Documentary (MSNBC)

My Disability Roadmap (The New York Times Op Docs)

Nuisance Bear (The New Yorker)

Stranger at the Gate (The New Yorker)

BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES

The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)

Hostages (HBO)

The Last Movie Stars (HBO Max)

The Lincoln Project (Showtime)

Our Great National Parks (Netflix)

The U.S. and the Holocaust (PBS)

We Need to Talk About Cosby (Showtime)

BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES

30 for 30 (ESPN)

American Masters (PBS)

Cheer (Netflix)

The Circus (Showtime)

Unsolved Mysteries (Netflix)

Welcome to Wrexham (FX/Hulu)

Until next time!

Thanks to Thomas Stoneham-Judge from Movies For Reel, Shane Conto, Joseph Davis, David Walters, Ambula Bula, Matthew Simpson, Thom Blackburn, and Beatrice AKA Shakesqueer, for supporting Austin B Media on Patreon!