Today, the Cinema Eye Honors has shared a raft of exciting new announcements and its last batch of nominees for the 19th Annual Cinema Eye Awards Ceremony, recognizing artistic achievement in nonfiction and documentary films and series.
First up: the creation of a brand new honorary award — billed the Cinema Eye-Con Award for Career Achievement — and its first recipient. Danish editor Janus Billeskov Jansen will receive the inaugural Cinema Eye-Con Award at the 19th Annual Cinema Eye Awards Ceremony, to be held Thursday, January 8, 2026, at the New York Academy of Medicine.
“Janus Billeskov Jansen is one of the world’s greatest living editors,” said Cinema Eye Founding Director AJ Schnack in an official statement to IndieWire. “His work across nonfiction and fiction over five decades has changed the way we look at film and has positioned Danish cinema as among the most exciting and vital in the world.”
Among Jansen’s many achievements are long-running collaborations with filmmakers Bille August and Thomas Vinterberg, including their Oscar-winning films “Pelle the Conqueror” and “Another Round,” as well as some of the most vital nonfiction films of the past two decades. These include Cinema Eye winners and Oscar nominees “Burma VJ,” “The Act of Killing,” “Strong Island,” and “Flee.”
“I see myself as a storyteller,” said Jansen in a statement. “In fiction I can reshape characters freely, but in documentary films I hold a moral responsibility: the people in our films are real individuals whose lives continue long after the credits. They’re not narrative devices, and every cut has the power to shape how they’re seen — even how they see themselves. In the edit room, I search for that one true moment where reality and story meet. Editing always involves selection, omission, and framing, and each choice influences the viewer’s understanding of what is ‘true.’ I must constantly negotiate the tension between narrative clarity and factual integrity.”
The organization has also announced that four influential documentaries will be added to the organization’s Legacy Award canon, plus the final nominations for the 2026 Awards in the categories of Nonfiction Short Film and the Heterodox Award.
The four films added to the Legacy Award canon are “Portrait of Jason” by Shirley Clarke, “Burden of Dreams” by Les Blank, “Sans Soleil” by Chris Marker, and “Tongues Untied” by Marlon Riggs. The nominees in the Heterodox Award category are “BLKNWS: Terms and Conditions” by Kahlil Joseph, “East of Wall” by Kate Beecroft, “Peter Hujar’s Day” by Ira Sachs, “To a Land Unknown” by Mahdi Fleifel, “The Voice of Hind Rajab” by Kaouther Ben Hania, and “The Rehearsal” (Season 2) by Nathan Fielder.
The nominated nonfiction short films are “All the Empty Rooms” by Joshua Seftel, “Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud” by Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud, “The Devil Is Busy” by Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton, “Mama Micra” by Rebecca Blöcker, “perfectly a strangeness” by Alison McAlpine, and “We Were the Scenery” by Christopher Radcliff.
With this nomination, Geeta Gandbhir is nominated for three different projects this year — the first time this has occurred in Cinema Eye history. She is also nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature and Direction for “The Perfect Neighbor,” as well as in the Anthology Series category for “Harlem Ice.”
Also of note: documentary film fans have just a few hours remaining to vote for this year’s Audience Choice Prize. Already, more than 100,000 votes have been cast to determine this year’s winner. Fans around the world have until 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT today, Monday, December 15, 2025, to vote for the Audience Choice Prize. You can see the list of nominees here.
