The Critics Choice Association (CCA) has named filmmaker and documentarian Ron Howard as the recipient of the Critics Choice Impact Award.
Howard who successfully transitioned from a beloved household name on television to an Academy Award-winning director, co-founded Imagine Entertainment with Brian Grazer and has continued to champion nonfiction storytelling through Imagine Documentaries.
As a producer, his documentary credits include the Emmy-nominated “Marty, Life Is Short,” a profile of Martin Short, which received three Primetime Emmy nominations, including best documentary special.
His latest film “Avedon” is about the life, career, and legacy of legendary 20th-century American photographer Richard Avedon who transformed fashion, portraiture, and civil rights-era photojournalism.
“Documentary filmmaking has the extraordinary ability to illuminate our world through the people and stories that shape it, and this year’s honorees represent the very best of what the form can achieve,” said Christopher Campbell, VP, Documentary at the Critics Choice Association. “Ron Howard has brought his remarkable gifts as a storyteller to nonfiction filmmaking, finding the humanity at the heart of every story he tells and expanding the reach and visibility of the documentary form.
Other honorees include visionary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim who will receive the Pennebaker Award (formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award). Named in honor of D A Pennebaker, a trailblazer in the field, the award celebrates filmmakers whose careers have made a profound and lasting contribution to the art of the documentary.
Howard will be presented with award at the 11th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards gala on Sunday, November 8 at The Edison Ballroom in New York City.
