‘Leaving Neverland’ Wins Emmy for Top Documentary Special

Steve Greene

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Adding to an acclaim-filled 2019, “Leaving Neverland” took home the top award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at Saturday night’s Creative Arts Emmys.

The two-part series chronicles the accounts of James Safechuck and Wade Robson, who each allege that as children they were victims of sexual abuse by Michael Jackson. Each of them recount their experiences, explaining the pattern of action and manipulation they say culminated in criminal and predatory action on Jackson’s part.

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Accepting the award at Saturday evening’s ceremony was director Dan Reed, who was also nominated in the Documentary/Nonfiction Directing category as well. The film was nominated for three additional awards: Editing, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.

Other nominees in the category include Chris Smith’s Netflix project “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” HBO’s “Jane Fonda in Five Acts”; “Love, Gilda,” the CNN film on original “Saturday Night Live” cast member Gilda Radner; “Minding the Gap,” Bing Liu’s semi-autobiographical film about growing up in a Chicago suburb; and the Alex Gibney doc “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley” about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.

The Creative Arts Emmys honor outstanding artistic and technical achievement in a variety of television program genres, guest performances in weekly series, as well as exceptional work in the animation, reality, and documentary categories.

More than 50 trophies are given out over the two-day period, and FXX will air a condensed version of the ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. ET.

The 70th Primetime Emmys will air Sunday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Check out IndieWire’s Emmy predictions to see what series and which stars are expected to walk away with the gold, and keep checking IndieWire for the most accurate power rankings out there. Follow IndieWire on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest Emmys news, including live updates as the awards air Sunday night.

Check out the full winners’ list for the Creative Arts Emmys.

Launch Gallery: Creative Arts Emmy Awards 2019: The Best of the 2019 Red Carpet

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