The Canadian Screen Award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary is an annual award, presented as part of the Canadian Screen Awards program to honour the year's best cinematography in a documentary film. It is presented separately from the Canadian Screen Award for Best Cinematography for feature films.
On two prior occasions, at the 1st Genie Awards in 1980 and at the short-lived Bijou Awards in 1981, awards were presented for Best Cinematography in a Documentary (Non-Feature), covering short documentaries and television programs, but not for feature documentaries. Nonetheless, the winners and nominees in those years have been included below. In the 1960s, both short and feature documentary films were sometimes winners of the Canadian Film Award for Best Cinematography, as relatively few Canadian narrative features were made in that era, but this was not continued after 1969.
1980s Year Nominees Film Ref 1980 1st Genie Awards(Non-Feature) Roger Rochat Ice Birds (Le Pilier de cristal) Maria Topalovich, And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. . Ron Orieux Nails "NFB films get award nomination". Alberni Valley Times, March 19, 1980. Barry Perles, Douglas Kiefer Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed Charles Stewart Dieppe 1942 1981 Bijou Awards(Non-Feature) Robert Fresco Steady as She Goes "War Brides top Bijou winner". Regina Leader-Post, October 30, 1981.
2010s Year Nominees Film Ref 2014 3rd Canadian Screen Awards Patrick McLaughlin Everything Will Be Eric Volmers, "Calgary's Patrick McLaughlin, Wendy Partridge reflect on Canadian Screen Award wins". Calgary Herald, March 2, 2015. Geoffroy Beauchemin, Alex Margineanu, Sami Mermer, Francois Vincelette The Sower (Le semeur) "Canadian Screen Awards ’15: Theatrical documentary & short film". Playback, February 16, 2015. Nicolas Canniccioni, Jean-Pierre St-Louis Where I'm From (D’ou je viens) Nicolas Canniccioni Guidelines (La marche à suivre) Marie Davignon, Jessica Lee Gagné, Geneviève Perron All That We Make (Fermières) 2015 4th Canadian Screen Awards Arnaud Bouquet Last of the Elephant Men Sheldon Wiebe, "Room Full of Canadian Screen Awards!". Eclipse Magazine, March 14, 2016. Thomas Burstyn Some Kind of Love "2016 Canadian Screen Awards Nominees Announced". ET Canada, January 19, 2016. Daniel Grant, Amar Arhab The Messenger Léna Mill-Reuillard, Étienne Roussy Welcome to F.L. (Bienvenue à F.L.) Simon Schneider, Sasha Snow Hadwin's Judgement 2016 5th Canadian Screen Awards John Price I Am the Blues "'Orphan Black' wins big at Canadian Screen Awards". Hamilton Spectator, March 13, 2017. Joan Poggio Gun Runners "2017 Canadian Screen Awards Nominees Revealed". ET Canada, January 17, 2017. Derek Rogers The Skyjacker's Tale Chris Romeike Giants of Africa Van Royko Koneline: Our Land Beautiful 2017 6th Canadian Screen Awards Alfonso Maiorana Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World "Canadian Screen Awards, Thessaloniki hand out non-fiction prizes". RealScreen, March 12, 2018. Mike McLaughlin Unarmed Verses Pat Mullen, "Canadian Screen Awards Preview: Picks and Foolish Predictions". Cinemablographer, March 11, 2018. Duraid Munajim My Enemy, My Brother Carlo Guillermo Proto Resurrecting Hassan Vuk Stojanovic, François Jacob, Ilya Zima A Moon of Nickel and Ice (Sur la lune de nickel) 2018 7th Canadian Screen Awards Nicholas de Pencier Anthropocene: The Human Epoch Kelly Townsend, "CSAs ‘19: The Great Darkened Days leads film winners in Cinematic Arts gala". Playback, March 31, 2019. Nicolas Canniccioni First Stripes (Premières armes) "“Anthropocene”, “Amazing Race Canada” among Canadian Screen Award nominees". RealScreen, February 8, 2019. Christy Garland What Walaa Wants Étienne Roussy The Other Rio (L'autre Rio) Matthieu Rytz Anote's Ark 2019 8th Canadian Screen Awards Pedro Ruiz Havana, from on High Brent Furdyk, "Canadian Screen Awards 2020: Non-Fiction Winners Revealed". ET Canada, May 25, 2020. Mathieu Arsenault Head First (Tenir tête) "Canadian Screen Awards for Documentary & Factual". Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, May 25, 2020. Grant Baldwin This Mountain Life Léna Mill-Reuillard, Stéphanie Weber Biron, Étienne Boilard City Dreamers Pedro Pires Alexander Odyssey (Alexandre le fou)
2020s Year Nominees Film Ref 2020 9th Canadian Screen Awards Ryan Randall Workhorse Naman Ramachandran, "‘Schitt’s Creek,’ ‘Blood Quantum’ Triumph at Canadian Screen Awards". Variety, May 21, 2021. Jean-Philippe Archibald The Free Ones (Les libres) Glauco Bermudez, Mark Ó Fearghaíl Influence Renaud Philippe, Olivier Higgins Wandering: A Rohingya Story (Errance sans retour) Kiarash Sadigh Nahanni: River of Forgiveness 2021 10th Canadian Screen Awards Marianne Ploska Prayer for a Lost Mitten (Prière pour une mitaine perdue) Jamie Samhan, "2022 Canadian Screen Award Winners: Broadcast News And Documentary & Factual". ET Canada, April 4, 2022. Vince Arvidson The Magnitude of All Things Brent Furdyk, "2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, ‘Sort Of’ & ‘Scarborough’ Lead The Pack". ET Canada, February 15, 2022. Nicholas Castel, Gabriel Swift, Bronson Whytcross, John Fulton Coextinction Rita Leistner Forest for the Trees Patrick McLaughlin Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy 2022 11th Canadian Screen Awards Nicholas de Pencier The Colour of Ink Jackson Weaver, "To Kill a Tiger, We're All Gonna Die and BLK emerge as top winners at CSAs' opening night". CBC News, April 11, 2023. Noura Kevorkian Batata Pat Mullen, "2023 Canadian Screen Award Nominations for Documentary". Point of View, February 22, 2023. Katerine Giguère Scrap Jacquelyn Mills Geographies of Solitude Étienne Roussy Zo Reken 2023 12th Canadian Screen Awards Kaveh Nabatian Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones Connie Thiessen, "Canadian Screen Awards winners: Cinematic Arts". Broadcast Dialogue, May 30, 2024. Ben Giesbrecht, Luke Connor Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun Pat Mullen, "Canadian Screen Award Nominees in Documentary and Factual Categories". Point of View, March 6, 2024. Patrick McGowan, Jason Providence Coven Ernesto Pardo The White Guard (La Garde blanche) Étienne Roussy Beyond Paper (Au-delà du papier) 2024 13th Canadian Screen Awards Michael Toledano Yintah Jamie Casemore, "CSAs ‘25: Universal Language takes five at Cinematic Arts Awards". Playback, May 31, 2025. Sébastien Blais Okurimono Pat Mullen, "The Tragically Hip, Okurimono Lead Canadian Screen Award Documentary Nominees". Point of View, March 26, 2025. Ashley Iris Gill Disco's Revenge Christopher Nunn Intercepted Olivier Tétreault, Claude Demers, François Messier-Rheault Diary of a Father (Journal d'un père) 2025 14th Canadian Screen Awards Iris Ng There Are No Words Jamie Casemore, "CSAs ’26: R.T. Thorne’s 40 Acres leads cinematic arts winners". Playback, May 28, 2026. Glauco Bermudez, François Messier-Rheault Shifting Baselines Pat Mullen, "Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story Leads Canadian Screen Awards Documentary Nominations". Point of View, March 25, 2026. Marcel Mueller Circo Étienne Roussy Among Mountains and Streams (Parmi les montagnes et les ruisseaux) Kyle Sandilands Everest Dark
See also Prix Iris for Best Cinematography in a Documentary
References