Awards
Academy Awards (Shortlist): Best Documentary Feature
News & Documentary Emmy Awards (3 Wins, 7 Nominations):
Best Documentary (Winner)
Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary (Winner)
Outstanding Editing: Documentary (Winner)
Outstanding Direction: Documentary
Outstanding Music Composition
Outstanding Sound
Outstanding Promotional Announcement
International Documentary Association Awards (Winner): Pare Lorentz Award
Montclair Film Festival (Winner): David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking
Philadelphia Film Festival (2 Wins): Best Documentary Feature (Feature Competition Award); Best Documentary Feature (Jury Award)
Utah Film Critics Association (Winner): Best Documentary Feature
Cinema Eye Honors Awards (Nominee): Outstanding Achievement in Production
Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards (2 Nominations): Best Editing, Best Science/Nature Documentary
Denver Film Critics Society (Nominee): Best Documentary Film
Georgia Film Critics Association (Nominee): Best Documentary Film
Hawaii Film Critics Society (Nominee): Best Documentary Film
Hollywood Music In Media Awards (Nominee): Best Original Song - “Breathe”
International Documentary Association Awards (Nominee): Outstanding Documentary Cinematography
Montclair Film Festival (Nominee): Bruce Sinofsky Prize for Documentary Feature
Music City Film Critics’ Association Awards (Nominee): Best Documentary Film
North Dakota Film Society (Nominee): Best Documentary Feature
Producers Guild of America Awards (Nominee): Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards (Nominee): Best Documentary
“Miraculous… breathless, soul-piercing… A courageous and astonishing cinematic time capsule.”
- Tomris Laffly, VARIETY
“A breathtaking testament to the fight to live, the calling to heal, and the power of human connection… Heineman’s masterfully crafted film is a work of high-impact drama… ”
- Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter
“Equally brutal and beautiful in its portrait of human resilience, The First Wave will surely be watched decades from now.”
- Brady Langmann, Esquire
“A concentrated and intimate look at the bottomless, unimaginable depths of loss as well as the indefatigable reservoir of hope that sustains humanity during its darkest moments.”
- Todd Gilchrist, The Wrap
“A moving, intelligent, deeply human documentary on the pandemic.”
- Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
“This is a masterful work… A horror film, an exposé of social justice, and a love letter… with real-time urgency.”
- Peter Maass, The Intercept
“One of the most important documentaries of all time.”
- Richard Valero, Music City Drive-In
“In choosing to narrow the focus of his latest project to a handful of stories, telling them well and with great compassion, the Cartel Land and City of Ghosts director renders a global issue human, intimate.”
- Matthew Anderson, Cine-Vue
SYNOPSIS
With exclusive access inside one of New York’s hardest hit hospital systems during the terrifying first four months of the pandemic, Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning director Matthew Heineman’s THE FIRST WAVE spotlights the everyday heroes at the epicenter of COVID-19 as they come together to fight one of the greatest threats the world has ever encountered. Leaving a devastating trail of death and despair, this once-in-a-century pandemic changed the very fabric of our daily lives and exposed long-standing inequities in our society.
Employing his signature approach of character-driven cinema vérité, Heineman embeds with a group of doctors, nurses and patients on the frontlines as they all desperately try to navigate the crisis. With each distinct storyline serving as a microcosm through which we can view the emotional and societal impacts of the pandemic, THE FIRST WAVE is a testament to the strength of the human spirit.
DISTRIBUTION
THE FIRST WAVE is a feature length documentary from Our Time Projects and Participant Media that was released in theaters by NEON and National Geographic Documentary Films on November 19th 2021, followed by a streaming release on Hulu on December 5th 2021.