Cinema Eye Honors, the organization that “recognizes outstanding artistic achievement in nonfiction and documentary films and series” has launched its 19th annual celebrations today with the announcement of its first round of honorees, nominees, and longlists for 2026.
Among today’s announcements: the 16 films on the Audience Choice Prize Longlist, the unveiling of this year’s Unforgettables Honorees, nominees in five Broadcast categories (which, full disclosure, this writer serves on the nominating committees for), and the annual Shorts List (which spotlights 10 of the year’s top documentary short films).
The annual list of the Unforgettables — “the on-camera collaborators” from seven of the year’s best docs — are the first official honorees of the season and often among the most touching of the entire year.
These winners include Noam Shuster-Eliassi from Amber Fares’ “Coexistence, My Ass!”; Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley from Ryan White’s “Come See Me in the Good Light”; Seymour Hersh from Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus’ “Cover-Up”; Sara Shahverdi from Sara Khaki and Mohammedreza Eyni’s “Cutting Through Rocks”; Pasha Talankin from David Borenstein’s “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”; Jacinda Ardern from Michelle Walsh and Lindsey Utz’s “Prime Minister”; and Fatma Hassouna from Sepideh Farsi’s “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk.”
The honors for Andrea Gibson and Fatma Hassouna are both posthumous. Gibson, an American poet and activist, died in July after a battle with cancer (that is depicted in the film). Hassouna, a Palestinian photojournalist and artist, was killed alongside 10 family members in an Israeli airstrike in April.
Elsewhere, today’s list includes Broadcast Film and Series announcements, with FX on Hulu’s “Social Studies,” by director Lauren Greenfield, leading with three nominations (Nonfiction Series, Broadcast Cinematography, and Broadcast Editing). Mariska Hargitay’s “My Mom Jayne” and Matt Wolf’s “Pee-Wee as Himself” both picked up two nominations, as did Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s “Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius),” Darius Clark Monroe’s “Dallas, 2019,” and Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim’s “Deaf President Now!”
“Deaf President Now!” also shows up as one of 16 films named to Cinema Eye’s annual Audience Choice Prize Longlist, where documentary fans and viewers from around the world cast their votes to determine this year’s ten nominees and ultimately the prize winner. The Longlist includes many of this year’s most acclaimed and talked about documentaries, including “Apocalypse in the Tropics”; “Coexistence, My Ass!”; “Cutting Through Rocks”; “The Eyes of Ghana”; “Folktales”; “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley”; “The Librarians”; “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore”; “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”; “Orwell: 2+2=5”; “The Perfect Neighbor”; and “The Tale of Silyan.”
The Audience Choice Prize is often a key harbinger for future documentary awards, including the Best Documentary Oscar. This year’s Oscar winner, “No Other Land,” was on the Longlist and the previous six Oscar winners were all Audience Choice nominees. Initial voting to determine this year’s nominees will open on Tuesday, October 28.
Lastly, Cinema Eye also announced the ten films on this year’s Shorts List, the organization’s annual list of semi-finalists for its Nonfiction Short Film Honor. Of those ten films, six will be announced as the official nominees. Last year, four of the nominees (and the eventual winner) for the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film were part of the Cinema Eye Shorts List.
Cinema Eye will return to the historic New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem for its 19th Annual Awards Ceremony, to be held on Thursday, January 8, 2026.
A full list of this year’s announcements and nominees follows.
Unforgettables Honorees
Noam Shuster-Eliassi
Coexistence, My Ass!
Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley
Come See Me in the Good Light
Seymour Hersh
Cover-Up
Sara Shahverdi
Cutting Through Rocks
Pasha Talankin
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
Jacinda Ardern
Prime Minister
Fatma Hassouna
Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk
Audience Choice Prize Longlist
Apocalypse in the Tropics
Directed By Petra Costa
Coexistence, My Ass!
Directed By Amber Fares
Come See Me in the Good Light
Directed By Ryan White
Cover-Up
Directed By Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus
Cutting Through Rocks
Directed By Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni
Deaf President Now!
Directed By Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim
The Eyes of Ghana
Directed By Ben Proudfoot
Folktales
Directed By Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley
Directed By Amy Berg
The Librarians
Directed By Kim A. Snyder
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore
Directed By Shoshannah Stern
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
Directed By David Borenstein
Orwell: 2+2=5
Directed By Raoul Peck
The Perfect Neighbor
Directed By Geeta Gandbhir
Prime Minister
Directed By Michelle Walsh and Lindsay Utz
The Tale of Silyan
Directed By Tamara Kotevska
Broadcast Film Nominees
Deaf President Now!
Directed by Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim
Apple TV+
Democracy Noir
Directed by Connie Field
SWR / ARTE / DR
Enigma
Directed by Zackary Drucker
HBO | Max
My Mom Jayne
Directed by Mariska Hargitay
HBO | Max
Pee-wee as Himself
Directed by Matt Wolf
HBO | Max
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)
Directed by Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson
Hulu
Nonfiction Series Nominees
Chimp Crazy
Directed by Eric Goode
HBO | Max
Couples Therapy
Directed by Pax Wassermann
Paramount+
Dallas, 2019
Directed by Darius Clark Monroe
PBS/Independent Lens
The Sing Sing Chronicles
Directed by Dawn Porter
MSNBC
Social Studies
Directed by Lauren Greenfield
FX on Hulu
The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth
Directed by Juliette Eisner
National Geographic
Anthology Series Nominees
Conan O’Brien Must Go
Executive Producers Conan O’Brien and Jeff Ross
HBO | Max
Harlem Ice
Executive Producers Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Robin Roberts and Geeta Gandbhir
Disney+
Omnivore
Executive Producers René Redzepi, Ben Liebmann, Chris Rice, Matt Goulding, Collin Orcutt and Mateo Willis
Apple TV+
Our Oceans
Executive Producers Jonathan Smith and James Honeyborne
Netflix
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night
Executive Producers Morgan Neville, Caitrin Rogers and Juaquin Cambron
Peacock
Tucci In Italy
Executive Producers Stanley Tucci, Lottie Birmingham, Amanda Lyon and Simon Raikes
National Geographic
Broadcast Editing Nominees
Deaf President Now!
Edited by Michael Harte
Apple TV+
My Mom Jayne
Edited by JD Marlow
HBO | Max
Pee-wee as Himself
Edited by Damian Rodriguez
HBO | Max
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)
Edited by Joshua L. Pearson
Hulu
Social Studies
Edited by Alyse Ardell Spiegel, Helen Kearns, Catherine Bull and Charles Little II
FX on Hulu
Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos
Edited by Andy Grieve
HBO | Max
Broadcast Cinematography Nominees
Chef’s Table: Legends
Director of Photography Will Basanta
Netflix
Dallas, 2019
Director of Photography Christine Ng
PBS/Independent Lens
No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski
Director of Photography Steve Lidgerwood
National Geographic
Omnivore
Director of Photography Tom Elliot, Sy Turnbull and Jurgen Lisse
Apple TV+
Our Oceans
Director of Photography Roger Munns, Roger Horrocks, Justin Maguire, Ryan Tidman and Jamie McPherson
Netflix
Social Studies
Director of Photography Bryan Donnell, Jenna Rosher and Jerry Risius
FX on Hulu
Shorts List
All The Empty Rooms
Directed by Joshua Seftel
Am I the skinniest person you’ve ever seen?
Directed by Eisha Marjara
Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Directed by Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud
Crying Glacier
Directed by Lutz Stautner
The Devil is Busy
Directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton
The Long Valley
Directed by Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and Robert Machoian
Mama Micra
Directed by Rebecca Blöcher
perfectly a strangeness
Directed by Alison McAlpine
We Were The Scenery
Directed by Christopher Radcliff
Who Loves The Sun
Directed by Arshia Shakiba