Black Reel Award for Outstanding Documentary

Black Reel Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature
Black Reel Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature
Country	United States
Presented by	The Black Reel Awards (BRAs)
First award	Black Reel Awards of 2010
Most recent winner	Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson ; Summer of Soul (Black Reel Awards of 2022)
Website	blackreelawards.com

CountryUnited States

Presented byThe Black Reel Awards (BRAs)

First awardBlack Reel Awards of 2010

Most recent winnerAhmir "Questlove" Thompson
Summer of Soul (Black Reel Awards of 2022)

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.

Year	Film	Director	Ref
2010
	Good Hair	Jeff Stilson	^[1]
	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	^[2]
	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	^[3]
	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	^[4]
	Bad 25	Spike Lee
	Brooklyn Castle	Katie Dallamaggiore
	Marley	Kevin MacDonald
	Searching for Sugar Man	Malik Bendjelloul
2014
	20 Feet from Stardom	Morgan Neville	^[5]
	Free Angela and all Political Prisoners	Shola Lynch
	God Loves Uganda	Roger Ross Williams
	The Trials of Muhammad Ali	Bill Siegel
	Venus and Serena	Maiken Baird and Michelle Major
2015
	Anita: Speaking Truth to the Power	Freida Lee Mock	^[6]
	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	^[7]
	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	^[8]
	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	^[9]
	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	^[10]
	Amazing Grace	Sydney Pollack
	Hale County This Morning, This Evening	RaMell Ross
	Minding the Gap	Bing Liu
	Whitney	Kevin Macdonald

Year	Film	Director	Ref
2020
	The Black Godfather	Reginald Hudlin	^[11]
	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	^[12]
	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	^[13]
	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

v t e Black Reel Awards
Film	Film Director Lead Performance Supporting Performance Breakthrough Performance Ensemble Screenplay Documentary International Film Independent Film Independent Documentary Cinematography Costume Design Editing Hairstyling & Makeup Original Score Original Song Original Soundtrack Production Design Voice Performance Short Film Emerging Director First Screenplay
Television	Comedy Series Drama Series Movie or Limited Series Documentary Variety, Sketch, or Talk – Series or Special Lead Performance in a Comedy Series Lead Performance in a Drama Series Lead Performance in a TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Performance in a Comedy Series Supporting Performance in a Drama Series Supporting Performance in a TV Movie/Limited Series Guest Performance in a Comedy Series Guest Performance in a Drama Series Directing, Comedy Series Directing, Drama Series Director, TV Movie/Limited Series Writing, Comedy Series Writing, Drama Series Writing, TV Movie/Limited Series Cinematography Costume Design Editing Makeup & Hairstyling Musical Score Music Supervision Original Song Production Design
Retired	Actor Actress Supporting Actor Supporting Actress Breakthrough Performance, Male Breakthrough Performance, Female Actor, Independent Film Actress, Independent Film Actor, Drama Series Actress, Drama Series Supporting Actor, Drama Series Supporting Actress, Drama Series Guest Actor, Drama Series Guest Actress, Drama Series Actor, Comedy Series Actress, Comedy Series Supporting Actor, Comedy Series Supporting Actress, Comedy Series Guest Actor, Comedy Series Guest Actress, Comedy Series Actor, TV Movie/Limited Series Actress, TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor, TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actress, TV Movie/Limited Series Original Television Program Film Poster
Ceremonies	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Black Reel Award for Outstanding Documentary

2010s

2020s

Multiple nominations and wins

Multiple nominations

References

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