Awards

Luna Productions honors include:

• 2 Emmy Awards
• 6 Emmy Award nominations
• Short listed for an Academy Award nomination
• Director’s Guild of America nomination for Directing
• Over 80 “Best Doc/Best Film” awards at Film Festivals
• Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award for excellence
• Our films have had primetime broadcasts and seen by millions of people around the world

Importantly, our films have also had real effects in the world.  Following the broadcast of our doc about a group of 12 Puerto Rican political prisoners, they received Presidential Clemency and were released from prison after over 19 years in jail.  Following a screening for US Congress and the broadcast of our doc on the civil war in El Salvador, Congress ceased funding that war; which directly lead to a cease fire and end of that war.  In the 10 year period of 2004-2014, our series of documentaries for non-profit organizations have helped to raise over $27 million for worthy causes.

Awards

National News & Documentary Emmy Award Nominee
Best Science Documentary of 2017
My Love Affair with the Brain

Best Film in 30 years
Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, 30th Anniversary selection of 5 best films from 1988-2017
The Story of Mothers & Daughters was one of the 5 chosen.

Two Emmy Award Nominations
Best Historical/Cultural Documentary
Outstanding Individual Achievement:  Writer
The Heiress and Her Chateau, 2015

Director’s Guild of America Nomination:
Best Documentary Directing, 1999
The Double Life of Ernesto Gómez Gómez

National News & Documentary Emmy Award Nominee
Outstanding Individual Achievement, Editing
Soldiers of Conscience, 2007

National News & Documentary Emmy Award Winner
Outstanding Individual Achievement, Editing
Loyalty and Betrayal: The Story of the American Mob, 1995

National Primetime Emmy Award Winner
Outstanding Individual Achievement, Editing
Earth and the American Dream, 1993

Academy Award Nomination
Short Documentary Subject,
Memorial: Letters from American Soldiers, 1991

Academy Award Nomination
Feature Length Documentary,
SuperChief:  The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren, 1989

Short-listed for Academy Award Nomination
Feature Length Documentary,
Maria’s Story, 1990

My Love Affair of the Brain:  The Life and Science of Dr. Marian Diamond has also received:

• BEST SCIENCE FILM OF 2017 – AAAS/Kavli Gold Medal, Science Journalism Awards
• BEST SCIENCE FILMs OF 2017 – Science Books & Film year-end list
• BEST EDUCATIONAL film of 2017, Pariscience Festival International du Films Scientifique, Prix ADAV
• American Library Association list of Notable Video for Adults, 15 best documentaries of 2019
• Best in Festival – Audience Award, RiverRun International Film Festival, Winston-Salem, NC
• Best in Festival – American Psychological Association film festival
• Best Documentary – Indigo Moon film festival
• Best Documentary – High Falls Film Festival, NY
• Best Documentary, Audience Award, Durango Film Festival
• Audience Favorite Award – Mill Valley Film Festival, CA
• WORLD PREMIERE – American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, CLOSING NIGHT special event, Feb., 14, 2016.

Soldiers of Conscience has also received:

• Best Documentary, Rhode Island Film Festival, 2007
• Best Film, Hamptons International film fest, Conflict and Resolution competition
• Best Documentary, Foyle Film fest
• Finalist, Best Documentary, Denver Film fest
• Best Documentary, Salem film fest
• and 15 other film festivals.

Three Women and a Chateau has also received:

• Best Documentary, Rhode Island Film Festival
• and an official selection for screenings at 11 other film festivals.

The Double Life of Ernesto Gómez Gómez has also received:

• 1^st place award-winner, Best Documentary, Big Muddy Film Festival, 1999
• Documentary Competition Winner, Athens International Film & Video Festival
• Winner, Best Documentary, San Antonio Cine Festival
• Grand Jury Prize, Best of Festival,  Image (Atlanta) Film & Video Festival
• Berlin Film Festival, official selection
• screened at Smithsonian Institute, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, American Museum of Natural History (NY)
• and screened at 15 other festivals

Earth and the American Dream has also received:

• Sundance Film Festival, Special Jury Prize for Superb Technical Achievement
• Golden Gate Award, San Francisco Film Fest.
• Best Nature/Environmental documentary, 1994 Cable Ace Awards
• Best Documentary, Environmental Media Awards.

SuperChief:  The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren also received:

• CINE Golden Eagle
• Emmy nomination
• Golden Apple Award, National Educational Film Festival
• Christopher Award
• International Documentary Association Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award

And The Band Played On has received:

• Emmy Award, Best Editing of a Mini-Series or Special
• Best Editing, Commercial TV, American Cinema Editor’s “Eddie” Awards, 1994
• Nominated for a Cable ACE Award, Best Edited Cable TV Movie.

Godfather III has received:

• Golden Reel nomination, Sound Effects Editing, Motion Picture Society of Sound Editors

Why Don’t You Dance has received:

• Best Narrative Film, Utah Film Fest.

The Road to Brown has received:

• Best Black History Award, American Film and Video Fest
• Outstanding 1990 Academic Non-print Materials, Choice’s Magazine

Ishi: The Last of His Tribe a screenplay, received:

• 1st place Bay Guardian Script-writing Competition, 1988
• Semi-finalist, Writer’s Guild of America East Fellowship Program, 1988

Maria’s Story has received:

• Edward R Murrow Award, Best Social documentary
• Best Documentary Award at San Antonio Film Festival, 1990
• Silver Hugo Award at Chicago Film Festival
• Best Documentary Award at Festival. of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, 1990
• Honorable Mention, San Francisco Film Festival.
• U.S Film Festival, Park City, Utah, 1990
• Mill Valley Film FestiVal, 1990
• Film Arts Festival, San Francisco, 1990
• Rotterdam Festival, 1991
• Leningrad Festival, 1991

Dear America:  Letters Home from Vietnam has received:

• Two National Emmy Awards:  Outstanding Informational Special,   Best Writing
• 1989 Peabody Award
• Best Documentary, San Francisco Film Festival
• Honorable Mention, U.S. Film Festival
• Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival, the first documentary ever to be so elected
• Best Documentary Special at ACE Awards
• Nomination, Best Documentary Editing at Cable ACE Awards
• Program-of-the-Year 87-88, Television Critics Association
• included, TV Guide list “100 Best Moments on Television”

Chicano Park has received:

• Gold Award, Houston Film Festival
• Best Northern California Film, National Education Film Festival
• Honorable Mention, San Francisco Film Festival
• CINE Golden Eagle

Celebrating the 7th was included in:

• Best-of-the-festival television broadcast, 1986 Latin American Film Festival

Songs from a Distant Jungle has received:

• CINE Golden Eagle
• Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival
• Silver Screen award, US Industrial Film Festival
• Best of Show, San Francisco Advertising Club Showcase Competition
• Silver “Cindy” from IFPA
• Best in Category and Bronze “Anvil ” Trophy, America Film Festival
• Honorable Mention at San Francisco International Film Festival

In the Name of Democracy has received:

• Best of the Festival at Philadelphia International Film Festival
• Red Ribbon at American Film Festival
• included in the Best of the Global Village Festival Exhibition

$20.01: A Chinese Food Odyssey has received:

• 1st place at Nevada City Film Festival
• 1st place at Carlsbad Film Festival
• screenings at Telluride Film Festival, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the San Francisco International Film Festival.