By Marlena Telvick
Three veterans of UC Berkeley Journalism’s documentary film program have each been nominated in the Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards for their films on Hurricane Katrina, the world’s most dangerous black markets and civil rights. The awards honor the year’s finest achievements in documentaries released in theaters, on TV, and on major digital platforms.
Academy Award-nominated director Traci A. Curry (’05) received two nominations for “Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time” (National Geographic), one for Best Historical Documentary and the other for Best Limited Documentary Series.
Producer Niema Jordan (MJ/MPH ’16) also received two nominations, for Best Historical Documentary and Best Limited Documentary Series for the six-part HBO documentary series “Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977–2015.”
Showrunner and Executive Producer Jeffrey Plunkett (’05) received a nomination for Best Ongoing Documentary Series for “Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller” (National Geographic).
“There is immense pride in seeing the alumni of the documentary program recognized for their extraordinary contributions to non-fiction storytelling,” Jennifer Redfearn, professor and director of the documentary program, said. “Knowing that the training and mentorship they received at Berkeley Journalism played an important part in their development as filmmakers and editors is deeply rewarding.”
Niema Jordan on the red carpet at DOC NYC November 14, 2024 in New York City. Photo: Vane Lopera.
“The original ‘Eyes On The Prize’ series has meant so much to so many people throughout the decades,” Jordan said. “To study documentary film under Jon Else and Orlando Bagwell and then follow in their footsteps by producing ‘Eyes On The Prize III’ has been an honor.”
The “Eyes on the Prize” series, which originally began broadcasting in 1987, is widely regarded as one of the most influential visual retellings of the US Civil Rights Movement.
Berkeley Journalism alums and former faculty played key roles in the third series of the epic documentary. In addition to Jordan, emeritus Professor Else served as a series advisor; Rafael Roy (’18) was the director of photography for episode 5; and Katie Bernstein (’21) was lead assistant editor and post-supervisor across the series.
“It’s been close to a decade since my time at the J-School. I often go back to the advice I received from Jon and Orlando when in production. But for this series, I leaned on their words even more. They were — and are — a constant source of inspiration.”
Orlando Bagwell and Niema Jordan.
Director of Photography on several Emmy and Oscar-nominated projects, Rafael Roy (’18) was mentored at UC Berkeley Journalism by original “Eyes On The Prize” filmmakers and DP’s, Orlando Bagwell and Jon Else. (Photo by Producer Niema Jordan)
Katie Bernstein (’21)
Plunkett is modest about all the attention. He’s proud of the series while ambivalent about what
J-School veterans of the industry who’d lived through the vagaries of taste and ego warned him about years ago when he was just getting his sea legs.
“I’m reminded of the speech that (Professor) Bob Calo gave at our graduation back in 2005,” Plunkett said. “He said: ‘Don’t worry, you’ll all win awards. Journalists love to give each other awards.’ It was very Bob. And also very true. But it still feels good to get recognized, especially when you’ve put in the time on a project.”
That project is “Trafficked,” a documentary series that’s just finished a remarkable 5-season, 48-episode run on National Geographic. “It’s been a huge part of my life the last six years. Six years that coincided with the arrival of my two daughters. Six years that saw me surfing the dissonance between black markets and Cocomelon,” Plunkett said.
The series also received a whopping 55 Emmy nominations, 9 Emmy wins and a Critics Choice Award for Best Crime & Justice Show in 2024.
LOS ANGELES – AUGUST 21: Moderator Janelle Riley, Mariana van Zeller, and Jeff Plunkett, Showrunner, Co-Owner Muck Media speak at National Geographic’s “Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller” Screening at Millwick on August 21, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup for National Geographic)
Plunket said that it’s been a “wild ride” that almost never happened. When his team got the initial green light for the show, National Geographic didn’t want him to be the showrunner, preferring someone with more experience. But Mariana van Zeller, the series’ host, his partner at Muck Media, and a longtime collaborator since his Current TV days, fought for him.
“She has a way of getting what she wants,” Plunkett said. “Over the years, we built a field and post team committed to telling really difficult stories from difficult locations with a surprising amount of heart. I think that’s always been ‘Trafficked’’s secret sauce. We tried to give people a fair shake, leaning into the humanity of these stories and the complexity of these lives. Proud of the work. Proud of the team. And eager to find the next thing.”
Mariana van Zeller, the host and executive producer of Trafficked, posted a heartfelt note about Plunkett, her “partner in crime”, who “shaped every story, fought every legal battle, sharpened every script, (dodged every logistical call) and poured his brilliant story mind into every single episode”, on Instagram in August.
Curry (‘05), who directed “Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time” recently told Democracy Now how she framed her film as an environmental justice story, not a story narrowly focused on a storm:
… “one of the things that we really wanted to show in the film is that it really wasn’t the storm itself, that the storm, in fact, was sort of a catalyst that revealed and exacerbated all of these sort of preexisting systemic and structural failures that had actually been failing people long before the storm ever came. And the storm comes along and sort of rips away any sort of sense that there was safety and protection for these people.”
Traci A. Curry. Photo courtesy of National Geographic.
Critics Choice winners will be revealed at the Awards Gala on Sunday, November 9, in New York City. The ceremony will be live-streamed on the Critics Choice Association’s YouTube, X and Facebook channels.
About the Critics Choice Awards
The Critics Choice Documentary Awards are an offshoot of the Critics Choice Awards, which are bestowed annually by the CCA to honor the finest in cinematic and television achievement. Historically, the Critics Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of Academy Award nominations.
