On Thursday, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honored FRONTLINE, PBS’ award-winning investigative series housed at GBH in Boston, with nine News & Documentary Emmy Award nominations.

The recognized documentaries investigate past and present threats to democracy in the U.S. and around the world. They tell the stories of how American political leaders fed the public lies about the 2020 presidential election, how the Taliban cracked down on women in Afghanistan, how the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reverberated in both countries, and more.

FRONTLINE’s nine nods included five nominations for work that examines Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The 2022 short documentary Crime Scene: Bucha — in partnership with The Associated Press and SITU Research — earned two nominations. The film offers a visual investigation of the atrocities committed in the Ukrainian town of Bucha during Russia’s month-long occupation last year.

FRONTLINE’s major collaboration with The Associated Press, Putin’s Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes, was also recognized with two nominations — including a nod in the prestigious “Best Documentary” category. The feature documentary investigates evidence of possible war crimes in Ukraine and the challenges of trying to hold Putin and other Russian leaders to account.

American Reckoning, FRONTLINE and Retro Report’s 2022 documentary with support from WNET’s Chasing the Dream, was nominated in the “Outstanding Historical Documentary” category. The film, which is part of FRONTLINE’s award-winning multiplatform project Un(re)solved, investigates the unsolved 1967 murder of a local NAACP leader, Wharlest Jackson Sr., and reveals an untold story of the civil rights movement and Black resistance.

“These nominations are a testament to our intrepid journalists and filmmakers who’ve told these critical stories with care and courage, often in the face of danger,” says FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath. “We are honored to see these documentaries be recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and share this great news with our editorial partners, film teams and, of course, with GBH, PBS and CPB and our viewers, who support FRONTLINE in our ongoing pursuit for truth.”

In total, PBS was honored with 26 nominations, including seven nominations for POV and three nominations for NOVA, PBS’ science documentary series also produced at GBH in Boston. Read a full list of this year’s nominees here, and watch FRONTLINE’s nominated documentaries below:

Afghanistan Undercover (credits)
From award-winning correspondent Ramita Navai and director and producer Karim Shah, Afghanistan Undercover investigates the Taliban’s crackdown on women in Afghanistan — finding and speaking with women who are being punished by the regime and confronting Taliban officials. Navai reveals the harsh realities of life for women under the Taliban’s rule — meeting a group of female lawyers forbidden from working, riding along with an underground network of female activists who go on dangerous rescue missions and secretly filming in a jail where women are being held by the Taliban without trial or charge. (Aired on PBS August 2022).

American Reckoning (credits)
In partnership with Retro Report, with support from WNET’s Chasing the Dream, the feature-length documentary investigates the unsolved 1967 murder of a local NAACP leader, Wharlest Jackson Sr., and follows the Jackson family’s search for answers. Directors, producers and journalists Brad Lichtenstein and Yoruba Richen reveal an untold story of the civil rights movement and Black resistance, drawing on rarely seen footage filmed by Ed Pincus and David Neuman more than 50 years ago in Natchez, Mississippi, and made available through the Amistad Research Center. (Aired on PBS February 2022)

Crime Scene: Bucha (credits)
In partnership with The Associated Press and SITU Research, this short documentary offers a visual investigation of the atrocities committed in the Ukrainian town of Bucha during Russia’s month-long occupation in early 2022. Drawing on hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, intercepted phone calls and a 3D model of Bucha, producers Jon Nealon, Erika Kinetz, Tom Jennings and Annie Wong map the scope of the carnage with forensic detail to show how Russian soldiers ran “cleansing” operations. (Aired on PBS December 2022)

Lies, Politics and Democracy (credits)
From FRONTLINE’s veteran filmmaker Michael Kirk and his award-winning documentary team, Lies, Politics and Democracy investigates American political leaders and choices they’ve made that have undermined and threatened democracy in the U.S. The two-hour documentary special, which premiered ahead of the 2022 midterms, examines how officials fed the public lies about the 2020 presidential election and embraced rhetoric that led to political violence. (Aired on PBS September 2022)

Putin’s Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes (credits)
A collaboration with The Associated Press, this documentary goes inside Russia’s war on Ukraine, tracing a pattern of atrocities committed by Russian troops with a focus on the Kyiv suburbs, such as Bucha, where some of the most shocking carnage was found. The joint documentary, directed by Tom Jennings and produced by Jennings, Annie Wong and AP global investigative reporter Erika Kinetz, draws on original footage, as well as interviews with Ukrainian citizens and prosecutors, top government officials and international war crimes experts. The documentary also includes detailed forensic analysis and a 3-D model carried out with the collaboration of SITU Research to help see the scope of the killings in Bucha. (Aired on PBS October 2022)

Putin’s War at Home (credits)
This documentary introduced audiences to some of the defiant Russians pushing back against President Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on critics of the war in Ukraine. Producers Gesbeen Mohammad and Vasiliy Kolotilov tell the inside stories of activists and journalists risking arrest and imprisonment to protest and speak out about the Kremlin’s war effort. (Aired on PBS November 2022)

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