The Peabody Award nominations are out for the best work of 2017, and among the nominated documentaries are two films with New York Film Academy (NYFA) pedigrees.
77th Annual #Peabody Awards nominate best in storytelling for 2017: https://t.co/KcXhxcVUXf pic.twitter.com/Xeo0qXfHCm
— Peabody Awards (@PeabodyAwards) April 10, 2018
The Netflix original short doc Heroin(e), edited by NYFA Documentary Filmmaking instructor Kristen Nutile, has received a Peabody Award nomination following it’s Academy Award nomination earlier in the year. Directed by Elaine Mcmillion, the short doc follows three community leaders in Huntington, West Virginia, as they struggle against the city’s opioid epidemic and face an overdose rate 10 times the national average. A fire chief, a judge, and a charity worker — all of them women — work tirelessly to help rescue those in their city struggling with addiction.
A prolific editor, Nutile has worked on two dozen films as well as directing six of her own, in addition to teaching at NYFA New York’s Documentary Filmmaking school, which is on The Independent Magazine’s list of Top 10 Academic Programs for Documentary Filmmakers.
The second NYFA-related Peabody nomination is for Newtown, associate produced/associate post-produced by NYFA Documentary Filmmaking grad Laura Snow. Newtown premiered at Sundance in 2016. Directed by Kim A. Snyder, Newtown investigates the aftermath throughout the community of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six educators were murdered. In the light of the March for Our Lives movement and rallies led by youth nationwide throughout 2018, Newtown remains a tragically and searingly timely film.
Honored to have #Newtown included with such stellar fellow nominees! https://t.co/3gWz3x4nVs #PeabodyAwards @MariaCuomoCole @ITVSIndies @NicoleHockley @sandyhook @MomsDemand
— Newtown (@newtowndoc) April 12, 2018
In addition to Newtown, Laura Snow has produced Leave-Taking and American Takedown, with additional documentary filmmaking credits including Morgan Spurlock Inside Man, 7 Deadly Sins, American Takedown, and The Hermit.
Originally established in 1940, the prestigious Peabody Award honors the most powerful, compelling, and enlightening stories in television, radio, and online media — stories that engage people not only as consumers, but as citizens.
As Walter Cronkite once famously put it, “You count your Emmys, you cherish your Peabodys.”
The New York Film Academy is delighted to congratulate Kristen Nutile and Laura Snow for this incredible achievement.