Critics Choice Awards

Apocalypse in the Tropics directed by Petra Costa
Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Narration, Best Political Documentary
In Apocalypse in the Tropics, Petra Costa now explores how Christian fundamentalism has seized political discourse in one of the world’s most populous nations. With stunning access to Lula, Bolsonaro and others, Costa distills the tumultuous recent chaos of Brazil’s politics into a clear-eyed and deeply troublesome vision of both brazen and unseen forces at work on a vulnerable population. Numerous international parallels are not difficult to make.

Art for Everybody directed by Miranda Yousef
Best First Documentary Feature
Thomas Kinkade’s pastoral landscapes made him the most collected painter of all time—and the most despised. Following his shocking death, his family discovers a vault of never-before-seen paintings that upend his entire image, revealing a multifaceted artist whose life and work embodies the divide between the two Americas.

Eyes on the Prize III directed by Geeta Gandbhir, Asako Gladsjo, and Smriti Mundhra
Best Historical Documentary, Best Limited Doc Series
A propulsive narrative chronicling the fight for racial justice in America, from Obama’s election to Black Lives Matter, highlighting the heroic individuals who sparked change.

Grand Theft Hamlet directed by Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane
Best First Documentary Feature
Grand Theft Hamlet is a feature documentary about two out of work actors attempting the impossible task of mounting a full production of Hamlet inside the ultra violent world of Grand Theft Auto. Shot entirely in game.

Mistress Dispeller directed by Elizabeth Lo
Best Cinematography
Desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up her husband’s affair. With strikingly intimate access, Mistress Dispeller follows this unfolding family drama from all corners of a love triangle.

The Librarians directed by Kim A Snyder
Best Political Documentary
As an unprecedented wave of book banning is sparked in Texas, Florida, and beyond, librarians under siege join forces as unlikely defenders fighting for intellectual freedom on the front lines of democracy.

The Perfect Neighbor directed by Geeta Gandbhir
Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Archival Documentary, Best True Crime Documentary 
Using bodycam footage from dozens of police visits, The Perfect Neighbor bears witness to a tight-knit community navigating one neighbor’s relentless harassment. But her hostility takes a sinister turn when it escalates into a fatal crime.

The Yogurt Shop Murders directed by Margaret Brown
Best True Crime Documentary, Best Limited Doc Series
This four-part docuseries explores the 1991 murder of four teenage girls and the enduring mystery that forever changed the city of Austin.

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish directed by Skye Borgman
Best True Crime Documentary
The film follows a teenage girl and her boyfriend who become the targets of relentless harassment from an anonymous phone number. As authorities dig deeper into the monthslong ordeal, they uncover a secret that challenges everything they originally believed about the case.