This article lists the winners and nominees for the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Documentary. This award is given to the directors and was first awarded during the 2010 ceremony.
Winners and nominees Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.
2010s Year Film Director Ref 2010 Good Hair Jeff Stilson 2010 Black Reel Awards Michael Jackson's This Is It Kenny Ortega More than a Game Kristopher Belman Passing Strange Spike Lee Tyson James Toback 2011 Waiting for "Superman" Lesley Chilcott 2011 Black Reel Awards The Lottery Madeleine Sackler Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy Robert Townsend My Mic Sounds Nice: The Truth About Women in Hip Hop Ava DuVernay 2012 Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest Michael Rapaport 2012 Black Reel Awards Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey Constance Marks The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 Göran Hugo Olsson The Interrupters Steve James Undefeated Daniel Lindsay and T. J. Martin 2013 The Central Park Five Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon Bad 25 Spike Lee Brooklyn Castle Katie Dallamaggiore Marley Kevin MacDonald Searching for Sugar Man Malik Bendjelloul 2014 20 Feet from Stardom Morgan Neville Free Angela and all Political Prisoners Shola Lynch God Loves Uganda Roger Ross Williams The Trials of Muhammad AliBill Siegel Venus and Serena Maiken Baird and Michelle Major 2015 Anita: Speaking Truth to the Power Freida Lee Mock 2015 Black Reel Awards I Am Ali Clare Lewins Keep On Keepin' On Alan Hicks Nas: Time Is Illmatic One9 Virunga Orlando von Einsiedel 2016 What Happened, Miss Simone? Liz Garbus 2016 Black Reel Awards A Ballerina's Tale Nelson George The Amazing Nina Simone Jeff L. Lieberman The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution Stanley Nelson Jr. Sweet Micky for President Ben Patterson 2017 13th Ava DuVernay 2017 Black Reel Awards I Am Not Your Negro Raoul Peck Life, Animated Roger Ross Williams Miss Sharon Jones! Barbara Kopple O.J.: Made in America Ezra Edelman 2018 Step Amanda Lipitz 2018 Black Reel Awards Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary John Scheinfeld Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992 John Ridley Strong Island Yance Ford Whose Streets? Sabaah Folayan & Damon Davis 2019 Quincy Rashida Jones & Alan Hicks 2019 Black Reel Awards Amazing Grace Sydney Pollack Hale County This Morning, This Evening RaMell Ross Minding the Gap Bing Liu Whitney Kevin Macdonald
2020s Year Film Director Ref 2020 The Black Godfather Reginald Hudlin 2020 Black Reel Awards The Apollo Roger Ross Williams Knock Down the House Rachel Lears Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool Stanley Nelson Jr. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am Timothy Greenfield-Sanders 2021 Time Garrett Bradley All In: The Fight for Democracy Liz Garbus & Lisa Cortes John Lewis: Good Trouble Dawn Porter MLK/FBI Sam Pollard The Way I See It Dawn Porter 2022 Ailey Jamila Wingot Citizen Ashe Rex Miller & Sam Pollard My Name is Pauli Murray Betsy West & Julie Cohen Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It Mariem Perez Riera Summer of Soul Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
Multiple nominations and wins
Multiple nominations
3 Nominations Stanley Nelson Roger Ross Williams
2 Nominations Ava DuVernay Liz Garbus Alan Hicks Spike Lee Kevin Macdonald Sam Pollard Dawn Porter
References