Below is a partial list of awards bestowed upon Independent Lens films over the years:
Academy Award Nominations
Writing With Fire by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh — Best Documentary (2022)
Hale County This Morning, This Evening by RaMell Ross — Best Documentary (2019)
I Am Not Your Negro by Raoul Peck — Best Documentary (2017)
The Invisible War by Kirby Dick — Best Documentary (2013)
How to Survive a Plague by David France — Best Documentary (2013)
Hell and Back Again by Danfung Dennis — Best Documentary (2012)
Waste Land by Lucy Walker — Best Documentary (2011)
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room by Alex Gibney — Best Documentary (2006)
The Weather Underground by Sam Green and Bill Siegel — Best Documentary (2004)
Why Can’t We Be a Family Again? by Roger Weisberg and Murray Nossel — Best Documentary Short (2002)
Emmy Awards
When Claude Got Shot by Brad Lichtenstein – Primetime Emmy, Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking (2022)
Belly of the Beast by Erika Cohn — Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary (2021)
Feels Good Man by Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini — Outstanding Research: Documentary (2021)
I Am Not Your Negro by Raoul Peck – Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary (2019)
Dawnland by Adam Mazo and Ben Pender-Cudlip – Outstanding Research (2019)
Wildland by Kahlil Hudson and Alex Jablonski – Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary (2019)
Wildland by Kahlil Hudson and Alex Jablonski – Outstanding Editing: Documentary (2019)
TOWER by Keith Maitland – Best Historical Documentary (2018)
The Armor of Light by Abigail Disney – Outstanding Social Issue Documentary (2017)
Best of Enemies by Morgan Neville & Robert Gordon – Outstanding Historical Documentary (2017)
In Football We Trust by Tony Vainuku and Erika Cohn – Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary (2017)
(T)ERROR by Lyric R. Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe – Outstanding Investigative Documentary (2017)
The Homestretch by Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly – Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting – Long Form (2016)
Medora by Andrew Cohn and Davy Rothbart – Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting – Long Form (2015)
The Trials of Muhammad Ali by Bill Siegel – Outstanding Historical Documentary – Long Form (2015)
The Invisible War by Kirby Dick — Best Documentary (2014)
The Invisible War by Kirby Dick – Outstanding Investigative Journalism – Long Form (2014)
Detropia by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady — Outstanding Editing: Documentary and Long Form (2014)
Desert of Forbidden Art by Amanda Pope & Tchavdar Georgiev — Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music & Sound (2012)
The Woodmans by C. Scott Willis — Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming (2012)
Have You Heard From Johannesburg by Connie Field — Primetime Emmy Award for Special Merit in Nonfiction Film (2012)
Art & Copy by Doug Pray — Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming Emmy Award (2011)
Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life by Robert Levi — Best Documentary (2008)
A Lion in the House by Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar — Primetime Emmy, Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking (2007)
A Lion’s Trail by Francois Verster, Mark J. Kaplan, and Dan Jawitz — Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Programming (2006)
Be Good, Smile Pretty by Tracy Droz Tragos — Best Documentary (2004)
Sing Faster: The Stagehands’ Ring Cycle by Jon Else — Best Documentary (2000)
George Foster Peabody Awards
Writing With Fire by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh (2022)
Missing in Brooks County by Lisa Molomot and Jeff Bemiss (2022)
World Without Oil by Ken Eklund – Peabody Legacy Award Winner (2021)
9to5: The Story of a Movement by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar – Peabody Award Finalist (2021)
Storm Lake by Jerry Risius and Beth Levison – Peabody Award Nominee (2021)
Mr. SOUL! by Melissa Haizlip (2021)
Philly D.A. by Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, and Nicole Salazar (2021)
Belly of the Beast by Erika Cohn — Peabody Award Finalist (2020)
One Child Nation by Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang — Peabody Award Finalist (2019)
Hale Country This Morning, This Evening by RaMell Ross (2019)
I Am Not Your Negro by Raoul Peck – Peabody Award Finalist (2018)
Dolores by Peter Bratt (2018)
The Judge by Erika Cohn (2018)
The Bad Kids by Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe – Peabody Award Finalist (2017)
TOWER by Keith Maitland – Peabody Award Finalist (2017)
Newtown by Kim Snyder (2017)
Trapped by Dawn Porter (2016)
The Armor of Light by Abigail Disney and Kathleen Hughes — Peabody Award Finalist (2016)
The Black Panthers by Stanley Nelson — Peabody Award Finalist (2016)
1971 by Johanna Hamilton — Peabody Award Finalist (2015)
India’s Daughter by Leslee Udwin (2015)
Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People by Thomas Allen Harris — Peabody Award Finalist (2015)
Brakeless by Kyoko Miyake (2014)
The House I Live In by Eugene Jarecki (2013)
How to Survive a Plague by David France (2013)
The Invisible War by Kirby Dick (2013)
Summer Pasture by Lynn True and Nelson Walker (2012)
Park Avenue by Alex Gibney (2012) (won as part of the Why Poverty? series).
Solar Mamas by Mona Eldaief and Jehane Noujaim (2012) (won as part of the Why Poverty? series).
Bhutto by Duane Baughman (2011)
Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian by Neil Diamond (2010)
Between the Folds by Vanessa Gould (2009)
The Order of Myths by Margaret Brown (2009)
King Corn by Aaron Woolf, Curt Ellis, and Ian Cheney (2008)
Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita by Maria Finitzo (2008)
Sisters in Law by Kim Longinotto and Florence Ayisi (2007)
Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life by Robert Levi (2007)
Still Life with Animated Dogs by Paul Fierlinger (2001)
Travis by Richard Kotuk (1998)
duPont-Columbia Awards
Philly D.A. by Ted Passon and Yoni Brook (2022)
Bedlam by Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, M.D. (2021)
The Revisionaries by Scott Thurman (2014)
Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry by Alison Klayman (2013)
Hell and Back Again by Danfung Dennis (2012)
Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story by Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim (2008)
Seoul Train by Jim Butterworth and Lisa Sleeth (2006)
Sundance Film Festival Awards
Writing With Fire by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh — World Cinema Documentary Competition, Special Jury Award for Impact and Change (2021)
Feels Good Man by Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini — U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker (2020)
One Child Nation by Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang — Documentary Competition, Grand Jury Prize (2019)
Always in Season by Jacqueline Olive — Special Jury Award for Moral Urgency (2019)
The Force by Peter Nicks — Directing Award: U.S. Documentary (2017)
RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked The World by Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana – World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Masterful Storytelling (2017)
Unrest by Jen Brea — U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing (2017)
Winnie by Pascale Lamche — Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary (2017)
Trapped by Dawn Porter – Special Jury Award — Social Impact Filmmaking (2017)
Rich Hill by Tracy Droz Tragos & Andrew Droz Palermo — Grand Jury Documentary Prize
Happiness by Thomas Balmès — World Cinema Documentary Cinematography (2014)
Blood Brother by Steve Hoover — Audience Award (2013)
Blood Brother by Steve Hoover — Grand Jury Prize (2013)
The House I Live In by Eugene Jarecki — Grand Jury Prize (2012)
The Invisible War by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering — Audience Award (2012)
Love Free or Die by Macky Alston — Special Jury Prize (2012)
Detropia by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady — Best Editing (2012)
A Film Unfinished by Yael Hersonski — World Cinema Documentary Editing Award (2010)
Waste Land by Lucy Walker — World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary (2010)
Brother to Brother by Rodney Evans — Special Jury Prize, Drama (2004)
Imelda by Ramona Diaz — Excellence in Cinematography Award, Documentary (2004)
Sing Faster: The Stagehands’ Ring Cycle by Jon Else — Filmmaker’s Trophy (1999)
