Emmys: Netflix Doc ‘The Remarkable Life of Ibelin’ Submitted for Exceptional Merit Award (Exclusive) (2025)

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, Norwegian filmmaker Benjamin Ree’s Peabody Award-nominated Netflix documentary about a physically-disabled and socially-isolated young man whose vibrant online friend-group is only discovered by his family after his death, has been submitted and accepted for consideration for the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking Emmy, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

For this special category, documentaries are submitted to the TV Academy’s documentary peer group for initial consideration, and must meet three criteria: (1) exemplary filmmaking, (2) profound social impact and (3) innovation of form. If they clear that hurdle, as Ibelin has, they become ineligible “in any other documentary/nonfiction special or series program area,” and are forwarded to a special jury, which ultimately picks three or four titles each year for a nomination. In other words, they either end up with a nomination in this category, or none at all.

Ibelin had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the audience award and directing prize in the World Cinema Documentary competition. It went on to receive noms for the top prizes at the IDA Awards, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards and the Cinema Eye Honors, and was also included on the best documentary feature Oscar shortlist.

THR previously broke the news that two HBO/Max docs, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Quad Squad, have also been submitted and accepted for consideration for the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking Emmy.