American Doctor and You Can See Everything lead Cinema Eye Honors nominations with seven each
The two documentaries have seven nominations each for the 20th Cinema Eye Honors, Time and Water six and NAZA five. Winners are named January 11 in New York.
By 2020 Movie Reviews Team ·
In short
- Cinema Eye Honors has named the feature film nominations for its 20th awards; American Doctor and You Can See Everything lead with seven each.
- The seven Outstanding Nonfiction Feature nominees include NAZA, Once Upon a Time in Harlem and To Hold a Mountain.
- By our count, four of the seven are on the IDA’s 16-film shortlist, and three were named European Film Awards documentary nominees on November 14.
- HBO, National Geographic and Netflix each have 12 nominations, Cinema Eye says; the ceremony is on January 11, 2027, at the Times Center in New York.
Cinema Eye Honors, which recognizes artistic achievement in nonfiction films and series, has announced the feature film nominations for its 20th awards. Poh Si Teng’s American Doctor and You Can See Everything, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, lead with seven nominations each. Sara Dosa’s Time and Water has six, and NAZA, by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, has five. The winners will be named on Monday, January 11, 2027, at the Times Center in New York City. Cinema Eye’s release is datelined Los Angeles, November 12, 2026, while its website dates the page November 10.
The seven Nonfiction Feature nominees
| Film | Director(s) | Total nominations | On IDA shortlist | European Documentary nominee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Doctor | Poh Si Teng | 7 | No | No |
| My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile | Julia Loktev | Not stated | Yes | No |
| NAZA | Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor | 5 | No | Yes |
| Once Upon a Time in Harlem | William Greaves, David Greaves | 3 | No | No |
| Rehearsals for a Revolution | Pegah Ahangarani | 3 | Yes | Yes |
| To Hold a Mountain | Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić | Not stated | Yes | Yes |
| You Can See Everything | Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim | 7 | Yes | No |
Cinema Eye says You Can See Everything, a portrait of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes as her prison term approaches, is the first film in the awards’ history to be nominated for Nonfiction Feature, Direction, Editing, Production, Cinematography and Original Score. American Doctor, which follows three US surgeons who travel to Gaza to treat patients, is Poh Si Teng’s first feature. Cinema Eye counts her as this year’s most nominated individual, with five nominations, against four each for Fielder and Oppenheim.
Directors, debuts and distributors
The Direction nominees are Poh Si Teng for American Doctor, Michal Marczak for Closure, John Wilson for The History of Concrete, Abraham and Szor for NAZA, Pegah Ahangarani for Rehearsals for a Revolution, Sara Dosa for Time and Water, and Fielder and Oppenheim for You Can See Everything. The Debut Feature category lists American Doctor, Barbara Forever by Brydie O’Connor, Bucks Harbor by Pete Muller, The History of Concrete and Nuisance Bear by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden.
Eight films have three nominations each: Barbara Forever, Closure, Everest: The Other Side, Musk, Nuisance Bear, The Oldest Person in the World, Once Upon a Time in Harlem and Rehearsals for a Revolution. Counted by distributor, Cinema Eye says HBO, National Geographic and Netflix each have 12 nominations across all categories, Neon has nine, and A24 and Watermelon Pictures seven each.
How the list compares with other documentary awards
By our comparison, four of the seven Nonfiction Feature nominees, My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile, Rehearsals for a Revolution, To Hold a Mountain and You Can See Everything, are among the 16 features the International Documentary Association shortlisted on October 8. The IDA names its five Best Feature nominees on November 17 and presents its awards on December 4 at The Ebell of Los Angeles; our guide to the IDA shortlist lists all 16. Three of the seven, NAZA, Rehearsals for a Revolution and To Hold a Mountain, were also among the five films the European Film Academy nominated for European Documentary on November 14.
Cinema Eye also says the last eight winners of the Oscar for documentary feature were all first contenders for its Audience Choice Prize. This year’s ten Audience Choice nominees include American Doctor, NAZA, Time and Water, Wild Inside and You Can See Everything, and a second round of voting in December decides the winner.
What happens next
The ten films on Cinema Eye’s Shorts List screen at DCTV in New York on Wednesday, December 2, and at Vidiots in Los Angeles on Saturday, December 5. The short film nominees are announced on Monday, December 14, when final Audience Choice voting also opens, and Cinema Eye Week/end begins in New York on Friday, January 8. At the January 11 ceremony, Steve James’s Hoop Dreams receives the Legacy Award, which Cinema Eye gives to a classic nonfiction film that still inspires filmmakers working today. James will accept it on behalf of his team.
Nominations and dates are as Cinema Eye Honors’ release on its feature film nominations gives them, read on November 14, 2026. The comparisons with the International Documentary Association’s shortlist of October 8, 2026, and the European Film Academy’s nominations of November 14, 2026, are ours.
Sources
- Cinema Eye Honors Announces Feature Film Nominations for 20th Annual Awards Ceremony Cinema Eye Honors, November 12, 2026
- 42nd IDA Documentary Awards Shortlists Announced for Best Features and Shorts International Documentary Association, October 8, 2026
- Here come the nominees for the European Film Awards 2027! European Film Academy, November 14, 2026
Researched and drafted with AI assistance, then checked against the 3 sources above in a separate fact-check on November 14, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.