Baz Luhrmann is about as far from a beginner as a movie director gets.
His first feature film, “Strictly Ballroom,” came out in 1992. After that came “Romeo + Juliet” in 1996 and “Moulin Rouge!” in 2001. He made “Australia” in 2008 and “The Great Gatsby” in 2013. Then, in 2022, he gave us “Elvis,” his big movie about the King. It earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Austin Butler.
So it’s a surprise to see where his name turned up this fall.
On Oct 13, the Critics Choice Association announced the nominees for its 11th Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Luhrmann is on the list for his new Elvis concert film, “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.” If you haven’t seen it yet, the trailer shows you what kind of film this is.
The official trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis concert film
This time, the Elvis on screen is the real one. Luhrmann and his editor, Jonathan Redmond, built it from some 59 hours of never-before-seen footage from the Warner Bros. vaults, plus material from the Graceland archive. It runs 97 minutes and focuses on Elvis’s concert years, with much of it from his Las Vegas shows.
Redmond told The Commercial Appeal newspaper why they made it for theaters: “The big man with the big voice deserves the big screen.”
Plenty of people bought a ticket. “EPiC” opened in IMAX on Feb 20, 2026, and took in $23.5 million worldwide.
In this sit-down with Moviefone, Luhrmann talks about making the film.
Baz Luhrmann sits down with Moviefone to talk about “EPiC”
Now for the award. “EPiC” has a few nominations, but one stands out. Luhrmann is nominated for Best First Documentary Feature.
That’s right. The man who made “Moulin Rouge!” is up for a prize that usually goes to beginners.
It makes sense once you know the rule. For this award, “the ‘first feature’ designation is applied to the director.” “EPiC” is Luhrmann’s first documentary, so more than 30 years after “Strictly Ballroom,” he counts as a newcomer.
He’s in good company. The other nominees are David Greaves for “Once Upon a Time in Harlem,” Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman for “Nuisance Bear,” Xander Robin for “The Python Hunt,” Poh Si Teng for “American Doctor” and John Wilson for “The History of Concrete.” Each of them is up for their first documentary feature too.
If you’d like to hear more from Luhrmann about the project, he went deeper with the film site Next Best Picture.
Baz Luhrmann talks through the “EPiC” project with Next Best Picture
Famous names have taken this award home before. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson won it for “Summer of Soul” in 2021. Mariska Hargitay won it for “My Mom Jayne” in 2025.
The winners will be named this Sunday, Nov 8, at a gala at The Edison Ballroom in Manhattan. It starts at 4 PM PT, 7 PM ET.
Until then, Luhrmann is simply nominated, like everyone else on that list. While you wait, this chat with IndieWire has him talking about finding so much unseen Elvis footage.
Baz Luhrmann on discovering unseen Elvis footage
We’ll know Sunday night if the director of “Elvis” goes home with a rookie award. Either way, it’s a fun thing to see on his list after more than three decades of making movies.