‘You Can See Everything’ Sweeps Critics Choice Documentary Awards With Five Wins
A24’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary “You Can See Everything” completed a clean sweep at the 11th Critics Choice Documentary Awards on Sunday, winning all five categories in which it was nominated, including best documentary feature.
The ceremony took place at the Edison Ballroom in New York City and was hosted by television host and producer Ross Mathews. The film, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, also won best director, best cinematography for David Bolen, best editing for Adam Locke-Norton and best score for Ari Balouzian.
The film follows Holmes, the founder of the blood-testing company Theranos, and her partner Billy Evans through the 34 days before she began an 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors. It has become one of the most unlikely box office stories of the year, taking the top spot at the North American box office over the Halloween weekend and now set to cross 80 million dollars domestically, in a season that has also seen Godzilla Minus Zero set a record opening for a foreign-language film.
Harlem takes three prizes
Neon’s “Once Upon a Time in Harlem”, directed by David Greaves, was the night’s second-biggest winner, with three awards: best first documentary feature, best historical documentary and best archival documentary.
The true crime category ended in a tie between Netflix’s “The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare” and Investigation Discovery’s “Lost Women of Alaska”. Elsewhere, Alex Gibney’s “Musk” won best biographical documentary, “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” took best music documentary, “NAZA” won best political documentary, “Everest: The Other Side” won best sports documentary, “Nuisance Bear” won science and nature, and John Wilson’s “The History of Concrete” won best narration.
The favourite that went home empty-handed
Ava DuVernay’s “14th” arrived with the most nominations of any film, six, and left with none. It was the night’s sharpest contrast: the film tipped to lead the field was shut out while “You Can See Everything” won everything it was entered for.
What the sweep means for the Oscars
A24 is campaigning for “You Can See Everything” to be nominated for best documentary and best picture, and the sweep gives that campaign its strongest talking point yet. But the Critics Choice documentary prizes have a weak record as a predictor of Academy Awards success. Only two winners in the past decade went on to win the documentary feature Oscar, “O.J.: Made in America” in 2016 and “Summer of Soul” in 2021, and the other eight were not even nominated.
The main Critics Choice Awards, the 32nd annual ceremony, will be held on 3 January 2027 and broadcast live on E! and USA Network. See TheWrap’s full list of winners and AwardsWatch for the full rundown of the documentary awards.
Honours beyond the competitive awards
Ron Howard received the Critics Choice Impact Award, presented by Frank Oz. Filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, known for “The Square” and “The Vow”, received the Pennebaker Award, presented by D.A. Pennebaker’s widow and collaborator Chris Hegedus.
