“No Other Land” Leads Cinema Eye Honors 2025 with Three Wins in New York
The 18th annual Cinema Eye Honors, celebrating achievements in nonfiction filmmaking, took place on January 9, 2025, at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem, New York. Highlighting the year's best in documentary filmmaking, the ceremony awarded its top honor, Outstanding Nonfiction Filmmaking, to No Other Land, directed by Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor. The film also earned awards for Debut Feature and Unforgettables, recognizing Abraham and Adra’s on-screen presence.
The Audience Choice Prize was awarded to Porcelain War, directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev, while Incident by Bill Morrison was named Outstanding Nonfiction Short Film.
Several films on the Oscar shortlist were also honored, including Black Box Diaries, Queendom, and Will & Harper. These films were recognized for their "Unforgettables," a category highlighting remarkable on-screen subjects.
HBO won multiple awards in broadcast categories, including recognition for Telemarketers (Nonfiction Series) and How To with John Wilson (Anthology Series). Apple’s Girls State took home the award for Broadcast Editing, while Nate Hurtsellers won for Cinematography in Ren Faire.
The ceremony brought together filmmakers and creatives from around the globe for a week of events celebrating nonfiction filmmaking. Diane Becker, Lauren Domino, and other past nominees hosted the awards.
Complete Winners List:
Nonfiction Feature:
No Other Land
Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Julius Pollux Rothlaender, and Bård Harazi Farbu
Direction:
Mati Diop
for Dahomey
Editing:
Rik Chaubet
for Soundtrack to a Coup d’État
Production:
Brett Story, Stephen Maing, Mars Verrone, Samantha Curley, and Martin DiCicco
for Union
Cinematography:
Christopher LaMarca and Emily Kassie
for Sugarcane
Original Music Score:
Uno Helmersson
for The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
Sound Design:
Ranko Pauković and Alek Goosse
for Soundtrack to a Coup d’État
Visual Design:
Brendan Dawes
for Eno
Audience Choice Prize:
Porcelain War
Directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev
Debut Feature:
No Other Land
Directed by Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor
Unforgettables:
- Shiori Ito for Black Box Diaries
- Brian Eno for Eno
- Lhakpa Sherpa for Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa
- Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra for No Other Land
- Patrice Jetter for Patrice: The Movie
- Genna Marvin for Queendom
- Chris Smalls for Union
- Harper Steele for Will & Harper
Nonfiction Short:
Incident
Directed by Bill Morrison
Broadcast Film:
Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.
Directed by Jeremy O. Harris
Nonfiction Series:
Telemarketers
Directed by Adam Bhala Lough and Sam Lipman-Stern
Anthology Series:
How To with John Wilson (Season 3)
John Wilson, Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman, and Clark Reinking
Broadcast Editing:
Amy Foote
for Girls State
Broadcast Cinematography:
Nate Hurtsellers
for Ren Faire
Spotlight Award:
Black Snow
Directed by Alina Simone
Heterodox Award:
Songs from the Hole
Directed by Contessa Gayles