Ava DuVernay's 14th Leads the 2026 Critics Choice Documentary Awards Nominations, With Once Upon a Time in Harlem Close Behind

Oct 13

Ava DuVernay closed the New York Film Festival with 14th just days ago. Now her companion to 13th leads the 11th Critics Choice Documentary Awards with six nominations, including Best Documentary Feature and Best Director.

The film, a look at citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment, also earned nods for Best Political Documentary, Best Historical Documentary, Best Editing for DuVernay's longtime editor Spencer Averick, and Best Music Score for jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran.

Right behind it: Once Upon a Time in Harlem

William Greaves and David Greaves's film, which I saw at Sundance, earned five nominations: Best Documentary Feature, Best First Documentary Feature for David Greaves, Best Editing, Best Historical Documentary and Best Archival Documentary. You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's Elizabeth Holmes documentary, and Nuisance Bear also landed five each.

Best Documentary Feature nominees

14th
Everest: The Other Side
Everybody to Kenmure Street
The History of Concrete
Musk
NAZA
Once Upon a Time in Harlem
Rehearsals for a Revolution
Remake
You Can See Everything

Best Director nominees

Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor, NAZA
Felipe Bustos Sierra, Everybody to Kenmure Street
Ava DuVernay, 14th
Nathan Fielder & Lance Oppenheim, You Can See Everything
Ross McElwee, Remake
Orlando von Einsiedel, The Cycle of Love

Netflix leads all distributors with 18 nominations, followed by National Geographic with 13 and Neon with 9.

The winners will be announced Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Edison Ballroom in New York, with Ross Mathews hosting. The ceremony streams live on YouTube, X, Facebook and CriticsChoice.com. Ron Howard receives the Critics Choice Impact Award, and Jehane Noujaim, director of The Square, receives the Pennebaker Award.

Follow Cup of Soul's Awards Tracker for more on the documentary race.

Kathia Woods