'Eagle' feathers nest with PGA Awards nomination; 'OJ' mega-doc in the running

Dancer, Tower and Life, Animated also make cut for Producers Guild honor

Aisholpan, the 13-year-old subject of "The Eagle Huntress," releases the bird or prey she trained. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

The Eagle Huntress is on a roll. The documentary by Otto Bell finished number one at the documentary box office over the weekend and today it earned another honor: a nomination as best feature documentary of the year from the Producers Guild of America.

The film about a Mongolian girl's attempt to become the first female eagle hunter in her country's history was produced by Stacey Reiss and Sharon Chang. Morgan Spurlock and actress Daisy Ridley are among the executive producers; Ridley also narrates the film.

The 464-minute long documentary O.J.: Made in America also scored a nomination. Ezra Edelman directed and produced the film, which was released in theaters and aired on ESPN. Deirdre Fenton, Libby Geist and Nina Krstic are among the other producers on the O.J. team.

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PGA Awards doc nominations also went to Tower, directed by Keith Maitland, an exploration of the infamous 1966 mass shooting incident at the University of Texas in Austin. Maitland produced, along with Megan Gilbride and Susan Thomson.

Maitland paired rotoscope animation with actual audio from police and other first responders as well as witnesses to put viewers back at the U of T that day in August, when a student climbed a tower that dominates the campus and began firing on people below.

The tower building on the University of Texas campus in Austin, where student Charles Whitman opened fire August 1, 1966

The remaining two contenders for the PGA documentary award are Dancer and Life, Animated.

Dancer is the story of ballet virtuoso Sergei Polunin, acclaimed by many as the top male dancer of his generation. But at age 25 he stepped away from ballet, overwhelmed by the attention that swirled around him. Steven Cantor directed; Gabrielle Tana produced.

Life, Animated, directed by Roger Ross Williams and produced by Williams and Julie Goldman, centers on Owen Suskind who as a small boy suddenly stopped speaking. He was diagnosed with regressive autism, and spent years unable to communicate before his parents found a common language with him, through Disney animated films.

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Related: Roger Ross Williams on the subject of his film: 'Owen can only tell the truth'

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