City So Real | |
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Genre | Documentary |
Directed by | Steve James |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
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Network | National Geographic |
Release | October 29, 2020 |
City So Real is an American documentary miniseries directed by Steve James, revolving around the 2019 mayoral election in Chicago, Illinois, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and social upheaval following the murder of George Floyd. It consists of 5 episodes and premiered on October 29, 2020, on National Geographic. [1]
The series follows the 2019 mayoral election in Chicago, exploring corruption within the city, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and social upheaval following the murder of George Floyd. [2] [3]
No. | Title [4] | Directed by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
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1 | "Welcome to Chicago" | Steve James | October 29, 2020 | N/A |
2 | "Blood Sport" | Steve James | October 29, 2020 | N/A |
3 | "With All Due Respect to the Candidate" | Steve James | October 29, 2020 | N/A |
4 | "If You Want to Break the Machine" | Steve James | October 29, 2020 | N/A |
5 | "You Gotta Make It or You Gotta Take It" | Steve James | October 29, 2020 | N/A |
The series, originally just four episodes, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2020. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] In August 2020, National Geographic acquired distribution rights to the series. [10]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 100% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 9.38/10. [11] On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 93 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". [12]
Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
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2021 | Gotham Awards | Breakthrough Nonfiction Series | City So Real | Nominated | [13] |
IDA Documentary Awards | Best Multi-Part Documentary | Steve James, Zak Piper, Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Alex Kotlowitz, Gordon Quinn, Betsy Steinberg, and Jolene Pinder | Nominated | [14] | |
Independent Spirit Awards | Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series | City So Real | Nominated | [15] | |
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series | Diane Weyermann, Alex Kotlowitz, Gordon Quinn, Jolene Pinder, Steve James, and Zak Piper | Nominated | [16] [17] | |
Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program | Jackson James and Steve James ("Blood Sport") | Nominated | |||
TCA Awards | Outstanding Achievement in News and Information | City So Real | Nominated | [18] | |
2022 | Cinema Eye Honors | Outstanding Nonfiction Series | City So Real | Won | [19] [20] |
Outstanding Broadcast Editing | David E. Simpson and Steve James | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Broadcast Cinematography | Jackson James and Steve James | Nominated |