Awards Ceremony to Air Live on E! and Stream Next Day on Peacock; Chelsea Handler returns to host.
The Critics Choice Association (CCA) has announced that the 30th annual Critics Choice Awards will air live on E! on Sunday, January 12, 2025 from 7:00-10:00 pm ET / PT and will be available the next day on Peacock. Additionally, E! will air a one hour red carpet pre-show ahead of the telecast from 6:00-7:00 pm ET / PT.
Comedian, television host, six-time New York Times best-selling author and advocate Chelsea Handler will return as host for the third consecutive year. The star-studded awards show will once again be held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica and will continue its combined film and television awards format, honoring the best in cinematic, televised, and streaming achievement.
“We’re thrilled to be working with E! to present our landmark 30th annual Critics Choice Awards,” said CCA CEO Joey Berlin. “With the incredible Chelsea Handler returning as our host, we know this special 30th anniversary show is going to be our biggest and best show yet, and we couldn’t be more excited to be airing the show live on E! and available to stream on Peacock next day.”
“E!’s longstanding tradition being part of many of Hollywood’s biggest nights celebrating achievements across all of pop culture makes it the perfect home for the Critics Choice Awards,” said Jen Neal, Executive Vice President, Live Events and Specials, NBCUniversal Entertainment. “With Chelsea returning to E! as host of the telecast, this award show will be one of the most anticipated events of the season, and we look forward to partnering with the CCA in honoring Hollywood’s biggest stars across film and television.”
“Returning for the third year to host the Critics Choice Awards has been made even sweeter knowing it will now air on E!,” said Chelsea Handler. “I feel like I’m returning to my birthplace.”
TV nominations for the annual event will be announced on Thursday, December 5, 2024, while film nominations will be announced on Thursday, December 12, 2024.
Chelsea Handler is a comedian, television host, six-time New York Times best-selling author and advocate whose humor and candor have established her as one of the most celebrated voices in entertainment and pop culture. After a strong seven-year run as the host of E!’s top-rated Chelsea Lately, a tenure in which she was the only female late-night talk show host on-air, she launched her documentary series Chelsea Does followed by her talk show Chelsea on Netflix in 2016. She has penned six New York Times best-selling books, five of which have reached #1, including 2019’s Life Will Be the Death of Me.
In 2021, she launched her iHeartRadio advice podcast, Dear Chelsea, and embarked on the Vaccinated and Horny Tour, bringing her sensational stand-up set to over 90 cities with 115 shows across North America and winning “The Comedy Act of 2021” at the People’s Choice Awards. Following the success of her 2020 HBO Max comedy special Evolution, which earned Chelsea a GRAMMY nomination for Best Comedy Album, Handler made her return to Netflix with her critically acclaimed 2022 comedy special Revolution.
Handler also made two celebrated, back-to-back turns as host of the Critics Choice Awards in 2023 and again in 2024. Handler is currently on her stand-up tour, Chelsea Handler: Live. Most recently, she kicked off her Las Vegas residency Chelsea at the Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan, making history as the venue’s first female comedian residency.
The Critics Choice Awards are bestowed annually to honor the finest in cinematic and television achievement. Historically, they are the most accurate predictor of Academy Award nominations. The 30th annual Critics Choice Awards show will be executive-produced by Bob Bain Productions and Berlin Entertainment. The Critics Choice Awards are represented by Dan Black at Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Sponsors of the Awards include FIJI Water and Milagro Tequila.
Follow the 30th annual Critics Choice Awards on Twitter and Instagram @CriticsChoice and on Facebook/CriticsChoiceAwards. Join the conversation using #CriticsChoiceAwards.
“Oppenheimer” won at last year’s event.
About the Critics Choice Association (CCA)
The Critics Choice Association is the largest critics organization in the United States and Canada, representing more than 600 media critics and entertainment journalists. It was established in 2019 with the formal merger of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association, recognizing the intersection between film, television, and streaming content. For more information, visit:
E! is the only global, multi-platform brand for all things pop culture airing original series including breakout hit “House of Villains” and popular acquired comedy series. The “E! News” brand is the leading multi-platform publisher delivering breaking entertainment news and pop culture coverage 24/7 across linear, EOnline.com and all digital and social media. The brand’s programming slate includes “E! News” and “E! News’ The Rundown” on Snapchat. “Live from E!” covers signature red carpet events, keeping fans connected to their favorite stars on pop culture’s biggest nights and the “People’s Choice Awards” celebrates the best in pop culture and is the only award show for the people, by the people. E! is part of the NBCUniversal’s Entertainment portfolio which includes NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen True Crime, SYFY, Universal Kids, USA Network and Peacock. For more information, visit EOnline.com.
Lynn (Zipfel) Venhaus has had a continuous byline in St. Louis metro region publications since 1978. She writes features and news for Belleville News-Democrat and contributes to St. Louis magazine and other publications.
She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, currently reviews films for Webster-Kirkwood Times and KTRS Radio, covers entertainment for PopLifeSTL.com and co-hosts podcast PopLifeSTL.com…Presents.
She is a member of Critics Choice Association, where she serves on the women’s and marketing committees; Alliance of Women Film Journalists; and on the board of the St. Louis Film Critics Association. She is a founding and board member of the St. Louis Theater Circle.
She is retired from teaching journalism/media as an adjunct college instructor.
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL, KOKOMO CITY,AND STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIERECEIVE FIVE NOMINATIONS EACH
GALA TO HONOR AWARD WINNERS ON NOVEMBER 12, 2023AT THE EDISON BALLROOM IN MANHATTAN
The Critics Choice Association(CCA) has announced the nominees for the Eighth AnnualCritics Choice Documentary Awards (CCDA). The winners will be revealed at a Gala Event on Sunday, November 12, 2023 at The Edison Ballroom in Manhattan. The ceremony will be hosted for the second year in a row by longtime event supporter, actor, and standup comedian Wyatt Cenac.
American Symphony leads the pack with six nominations including in the category of Best Documentary Feature. The film’s other nominations are Matthew Heineman for Best Director, Tony Hardmon, Matthew Heineman, and Thorsten Thielow for Best Cinematography, Sammy Dane, Jim Hession, Matthew Heineman, and Fernando Villegas for Best Editing, Jon Batiste for Best Score, and Best Music Documentary.
20 Days in Mariupol, Kokomo City, and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie received five nominations each. The nominations for 20 Days in Mariupol are Best Documentary Feature, Best First Documentary Feature, Michelle Mizner for Best Editing, Mstyslav Chernov for Best Narration, and Best Political Documentary. The nominations for Kokomo City are Best Documentary Feature, Best First Documentary Feature, and D. Smith for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Score. The nominations for Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie are Best Documentary Feature, Davis Guggenheim for Best Director, Michael Harte for Best Editing, Michael J. Fox for Best Narration, and Best Biographical Documentary.
Cenac is an Emmy Award-winning comedian, actor, producer, and writer known for the HBO late-night comedy docuseries Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas. Additional credits include aka Wyatt Cenac,People of the Earth, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He has made four comedy albums: Wyatt Cenac: Comedy Person, the Grammy nominated Brooklyn, Furry Dumb Fighter, and One Angry Night in November, and hosted the televised stand-up variety series Night Train with Wyatt Cenac. He started his career in animation as a writer for Mike Judge’s King of the Hill, and has served as a consultant for South Park. Every now and again he pops up in a film, most notably Barry Jenkins’ Medicine for Melancholy.
The Critics Choice Documentary Awards will be live-streamed through Facebook, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter). Viewing links will be available on the Critics Choice Association website at 7:00 PM ET on Sunday, November 12.
In addition to the 18 award categories listed below, a prestigious honor, The Pennebaker Award (formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award), will be presented to esteemed documentarian Ross McElwee. The award is named for Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award winner D A Pennebaker, who passed away in 2019. The award will be presented by Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s producing partner and wife.
McElwee has made ten feature-length documentaries as well as a number of shorter films. Sherman’s March has won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. Sherman’s March was also chosen for preservation by the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2000 as a “historically significant American motion picture.” Bright Leaves premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight and was nominated for Best Documentary by both the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America. McElwee’s In Paraguay premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2008, and he returned to Venice in 2011 to premiere Photographic Memory.
In 2005, complete retrospectives of McElwee’s films were presented at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and later in many more cities. McElwee has received fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Film Institute, the LEF Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. McElwee received the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival’s Career Award in 2007. He is currently a Professor of the Practice of Filmmaking at Harvard University and is working on a documentary about the cable television remake of Sherman’s March.
The Critics Choice Association is honoring the year’s finest achievements in documentaries released in theaters, on TV, and on major digital platforms, as determined by the voting of qualified CCA members. The eighth annual awards ceremony is produced by Bob Bain of Bob Bain Productions and Joey Berlin of Berlin Entertainment.
For the fourth year in a row, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards welcomes back National Geographic Documentary Films as the Presenting Sponsor.
The Spirits Sponsor of the event is Milagro Tequila.
“We are thrilled with the number of exceptional documentaries released theatrically and on streaming this year and are very excited to introduce an overdue category honoring true crime films and series,” said Christopher Campbell, Vice President of Documentaries of The Critics Choice Association. “This event is about showcasing and celebrating the best in nonfiction, and I want to congratulate all of our nominees and thank them for making us see and think about the world in new ways.”
Carla Renata, Co-President of the Critics Choice Association Documentary Branch added, “We are also thrilled to witness a varied number of nominees spanning subjects represented across all genders (including Transgender Intersex) and genres, further solidifying the Critics Choice Documentary Awards’ commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the documentary landscape.”
At the Seventh Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, Good Night Oppy took home five trophies in all including the top award of the evening for Best Documentary Feature. The film’s other victories were Best Director for Ryan White, Best Score for Blake Neely, as well as Best Narration (written by Helen Kearns and Ryan White, performed by Angela Bassett), and Best Science/Nature Documentary.
“Still: A Michael J Fox Movie”
Nominees for the 8th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards Presented by National Geographic Documentary Films
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
20 Days in Mariupol (PBS) American Symphony (Netflix) Beyond Utopia (Roadside Attractions) The Deepest Breath (Netflix) The Eternal Memory (MTV Documentary Films) Judy Blume Forever (Amazon Studios) Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures) The Mission (National Geographic) Stamped from the Beginning (Netflix) Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+)
The Eternal Memory
BEST DIRECTOR
Maite Alberdi – The Eternal Memory (MTV Documentary Films) Madeleine Gavin – Beyond Utopia (Roadside Attractions) Davis Guggenheim – Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+) Matthew Heineman – American Symphony (Netflix) Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss – The Mission (National Geographic) Steve McQueen – Occupied City (A24)
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
20 Days in Mariupol (PBS) 26.2 to Life (Film Halau) Bad Press (Oklafilm) Bobi Wine: The People’s President (National Geographic) Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures) Orlando, My Political Biography (Sideshow) Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Greenwich Entertainment) The Thief Collector (FilmRise)
Anselm
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Tim Cragg – The Deepest Breath (Netflix) Tony Hardmon, Matthew Heineman, Thorsten Thielow – American Symphony (Netflix) Lennert Hillege – Occupied City (A24) Franz Lustig – Anselm (Sideshow) D. Smith – Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures) Toby Strong, James Boon, Bob Poole, Neil Fairlie, Wim Vorster, Joshua Tarr, Pete Allibone, Neil Harvey, Andreas Knausenberger – Secrets of the Elephants (National Geographic)
The Mission
BEST EDITING
Sammy Dane, Jim Hession, Matthew Heineman, Fernando Villegas – American Symphony (Netflix) Madeleine Gavin – Beyond Utopia (Roadside Attractions) Michael Harte – Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+ Michelle Mizner – 20 Days in Mariupol (PBS) D. Smith – Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures) Aaron Wickenden – The Mission (National Geographic)
The Last Repair Shop
BEST SCORE
Jon Batiste – American Symphony (Netflix) Danny Bensi & Saunder Jurriaans – The Mission (National Geographic) Nainita Desai – The Deepest Breath (Netflix) Philip Glass – The Pigeon Tunnel (Apple TV+) Katya Richardson & Kris Bowers – The Last Repair Shop (Breakwater Studios) D. Smith – Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures)
Secrets of the Elephants
BEST NARRATION
20 Days in Mariupol (PBS) Written and Performed by Mstyslav Chernov
32 Sounds (Abramorama) Written and Performed by Sam Green
The Disappearance of Shere Hite (IFC Films) Written by Nicole Newnham Performed by Dakota Johnson
John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial (Apple TV+) Performed by Kiefer Sutherland
Secrets of the Elephants (National Geographic) Written by Martin Williams Performed by Natalie Portman
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+) Written and Performed by Michael J. Fox
The Disappearance of Shere Hite
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
Being Mary Tyler Moore (HBO | Max) The Disappearance of Shere Hite (IFC Films) It Ain’t Over (Sony Pictures Classics) JFK: One Day in America (National Geographic) The Lady Bird Diaries (Hulu) The League (Magnolia Pictures)
BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
The 1619 Project (Hulu/Onyx Collective) JFK: One Day in America (National Geographic) The Lady Bird Diaries (Hulu) Lakota Nation vs. United States (IFC Films) The League (Magnolia Pictures) Occupied City (A24) Stamped from the Beginning (Netflix)
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
Being Mary Tyler Moore (HBO | Max) The Disappearance of Shere Hite (IFC Films) Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (HBO Documentary Films) Judy Blume Forever (Amazon Studios) Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (Hulu) Sly (Netflix) Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
American Symphony (Netflix) Carlos (Sony Pictures Classics) Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop (Netflix) Little Richard: I Am Everything (Magnolia Pictures/CNN Films) Love to Love You, Donna Summer (HBO | Max) Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (AMC Theatres) What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears? (Abramorama)
The Lady Bird Diaries
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
20 Days in Mariupol (PBS) Beyond Utopia (Roadside Attractions) Bobi Wine: The People’s President (National Geographic) Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court (Showtime) Every Body (Focus Features) Lakota Nation vs. United States (IFC Films) Silver Dollar Road (Amazon MGM Studios)
Wild Horses: Mustang Spirit of the West
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
32 Sounds (Abramorama) Between Earth & Sky (PBS) Life on Our Planet (Netflix) Path of the Panther (National Geographic) Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food (Netflix) Secrets of the Elephants (National Geographic) Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West (Gravitas Ventures)
It Ain’t Over
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
Black Ice (Roadside Attractions) BS High (HBO | Max) The Deepest Breath (Netflix) It Ain’t Over (Sony Pictures Classics) The League (Magnolia Pictures) Reggie (Amazon Studios) Stephen Curry: Underrated (Apple TV+) Welcome to Wrexham (FX)
BEST TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY
Burden of Proof (HBO | Max) The Jewel Thief (Hulu) John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial (Apple TV+) Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (Netflix) Telemarketers (HBO | Max) The Thief Collector (FilmRise) Victim/Suspect (Netflix)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
The ABCs of Book Banning (MTV Documentary Films) The Barber of Little Rock (Story Syndicate) Between Earth & Sky (PBS) Keys to the City (New Yorker) The Last Repair Shop (Breakwater Studios) Last Song From Kabul (MTV Documentary Films)
John Lennon: Murder without a Trial
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
The 1619 Project (Hulu/Onyx Collective) Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul (Netflix) Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court (Showtime) JFK: One Day in America (National Geographic) John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial (Apple TV+) Secrets of the Elephants (National Geographic) Shiny Happy People (Amazon Studios) Telemarketers (HBO | Max)
Welcome to Wrexham
BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
30 for 30 (ESPN) Frontline (PBS) Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (Netflix) POV (PBS) Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller (National Geographic) Welcome to Wrexham (FX)
About the Critics Choice Awards
The Critics Choice Documentary Awards are an offshoot of the Critics Choice Awards, which are bestowed annually by the CCA to honor the finest in cinematic and television achievement. Historically, the Critics Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of Academy Award nominations.
The Critics Choice Awards ceremony will be held on January 14, 2024 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, CA, and will be broadcast live on The CW.
About the Critics Choice Association (CCA)
The Critics Choice Association is the largest critics organization in the United States and Canada, representing more than 580 media critics and entertainment journalists. It was established in 2019 with the formal merger of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association, in recognition of the intersection between film, television, and streaming content. For more information, visit: www.CriticsChoice.com.
Lynn (Zipfel) Venhaus has had a continuous byline in St. Louis metro region publications since 1978. She writes features and news for Belleville News-Democrat and contributes to St. Louis magazine and other publications.
She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, currently reviews films for Webster-Kirkwood Times and KTRS Radio, covers entertainment for PopLifeSTL.com and co-hosts podcast PopLifeSTL.com…Presents.
She is a member of Critics Choice Association, where she serves on the women’s and marketing committees; Alliance of Women Film Journalists; and on the board of the St. Louis Film Critics Association. She is a founding and board member of the St. Louis Theater Circle.
She is retired from teaching journalism/media as an adjunct college instructor.
