Today, Thom Powers, Documentary Programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival, and AJ Schnack (filmmaker of Kurt Cobain: About a Son and blogger of All These Wonderful Things) announced the launch a new award for nonfiction filmmaking, to be held in March at the IFC Center in New York. Nominees in eight categories will be announced in Park City on January 20.
The new awards are a direct response to the Oscars. From recent debates over confusing (and shifting) eligibility guidelines, to its long history of jaw-dropping omissions (e.g., neither Hoop Dreams nor The Thin Blue Line were even nominated their respective years), the Academy's treatment of the genre has long been a source of consternation and disappointment for many within the documentary community. That's not to say that many worthy films haven't been nominated and awarded over the years... but clearly the AMPAS doesn't give documentary the attention that it does to fictional feature films.
Hats off to AJ and the others behind this initiative.
indieWIRE has the first report.