This article lists the winners and nominees for the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Independent 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 Without Bias Kirk Fraser 2010 Black Reel Awards Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness Llewellyn M. Smith Still Bill Damani Baker and Alex Vlack 2011 For the Best and for the Onion Sani Elhadj Magori 2011 Black Reel Awards Gefilte Fish Shelly Kling One of These Mornings Valery Lyman 2012 Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat By the Door Christine Acham and Clifford Ward 2012 Black Reel Awards Brown Babies Regina Griffin Burn: The Evolution of An American City Harold Jackson III Gang Girl: A Mother's Journey to Save Her Daughter Valerie Goodloe The Manuscripts of Timbuktu Zola Maseko Zero Percent Tim Skousen 2013 Soul Food Junkies Byron Hurt BMF: The Rise and Fall of Hip-Hop Drug Empire Dan Sikorski Contradictions of Fair Hope S. Epatha Merkerson and Rockell Metcalf From Fatherless to Fatherhood Kobie Brown Justice for Sale Femeke and Isla van Velzen 2014 The New Black Yoruba Richen Africa: The Beat Javier Arias Bal, Polo Vallejo and Manuel Velasco I Want My Name Back Roger Paradiso Lenny Cooke Benny and Joshua Safdie Unheard: Black Women in Civil Rights Nev Nnaji 2015 25 to Life Mike Brown 2015 Black Reel Awards Evolution of a Criminal Darius Clark Monroe Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood Bayer Mack Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People Thomas Allen Harris 2016 Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band Carol Bush 2016 Black Reel Awards Adina Howard 20: A Story of Sexual Liberation Gezus Zaire Be Known Dwayne Johnson-Cochran Cody High: A Life Remodeled Project Walter V. Marshall Romeo is Bleeding Jason Zeldes 2017 colspan="3" 2018 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities Stanley Nelson Jr. 2018 Black Reel Awards Back to Natural: A Documentary Film Gillian Scott-Ward Quest Jonathan Olshefski Yemanja: Wisdom From the African Heart of Brazil Donna Roberts & Donna Reed Zo! Making of Skybreak! Donnie Seales Jr. 2019 Sammy Davis Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me Sam Pollard 2019 Black Reel Awards Basquiat: Rage to Riches David Schulman Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart Tracey Heather Strain
2020s Year Film Director Ref 2020 No Lye: An American Beauty Story Bayer Mack 2020 Black Reel Awards 16 Bars Sam Bathrick The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion Lisa Cortes & Farah X 2021 Mr. Soul! Melissa Haizlip The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show Yoruba Richen With Drawn Arms Glenn Kaino & Afshin Shahidi 2022 100 Years from Mississippi Tarabu Betserai Kirkland Big Chief, Black Hawk Jonathan Isaac Jackson I Still Breathe Alfred George Bailey Little Satchmo John Alexander Unzipped: An Autopsy of American Inequality Colin K. Gray
Multiple nominations and wins
Multiple nominations 2 Nominations Bayer Mack Yoruba Richen
References