Three Billboards and Paddington 2 win big at Critics’ Circle Awards: Interviews and winners list

The UK’s leading film critics handed out their annual prizes on Sunday night at the 38^th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards presented by Dover Street Entertainment at the May Fair Hotel in London. Hosted by actor-filmmakers Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, the star-studded black-tie event saw Martin McDonagh’s drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri named as Film of the Year, while McDonagh also collected Screenwriter of the Year and star Frances McDormand won Actress of the Year.

Several winners were on-hand to collect their awards: Timothée Chalamet was named Actor of the Year for Call Me By Your Name, Hugh Grant won supporting actor for Paddington 2, Lesley Manville won supporting actress for Phantom Thread, Harris Dickinson won the young performer prize for his work in Beach Rats, and God’s Own Country writer-director Francis Lee took the Philip French Award for Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker.

The evening’s high point was the presentation of the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film to Kate Winslet, introduced by her friend and costar Jude Law. The critics voted for Paul Verhoeven’s Elle as Foreign-Language Film of the Year, Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro as Documentary of the Year and Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk as the recipient of the Attenborough Award as British/Irish Film of the Year.

Sally Hawkins and Daniel Kaluuya were named British/Irish actress and actor, respectively; Sean Baker won best director for The Florida Project; Dennis Gassner won the Technical Achievement Award for his production design on Blade Runner 2049, and We Love Moses was named British/Irish Short Film of the Year. Nominees and guests in attendance included Armie Hammer, Florence Pugh, Luca Guadagnino, Paul King, Simon Farnaby, Fionn Whitehead, Emily Beecham, Josh O’Connor, Alec Secareanu, Jessica Barden, Noah Jupe, Dafne Keen and William Oldroyd.

We had the opportunity to speak with nominees and winners ahead of the ceremony, as well as in the weeks leading up to the awards.

Timothée Chalamet – Actor of the Year

Sean Baker – Director of the Year

Francis Lee – Breakthrough British Filmmaker

Martin McDonagh – Screenwriter of the Year

Harris Dickinson – Young Performer of the Year

Paul King – British Film of the Year nominee (Paddington 2)

Emily Beecham – British Actress of the Year nominee

Florence Pugh – Actress of the Year nominee

Josh O’Connor – British Actor of the Year nominee

Fionn Whitehead – Young British Performer of the Year nominee

Noah Jupe – Young British Performer of the Year nominee

Graeme Scott, co-founder of Dover Street Entertainment, said: “Dover Street Entertainment is honoured to be sponsoring the prestigious Critics’ Circle Film Awards. We consider ourselves to be storytellers and we are very proud to be part of an event that celebrates that achievement in both the UK and internationally. As an organisation, we hope to continue to support those who strive to tell the stories that need to be told.”

Hre’s the full list of winner:

FILM OF THE YEAR
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Elle

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
I Am Not Your Negro

BRITISH/IRISH FILM OF THE YEAR: The Attenborough Award
Dunkirk

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Sean Baker – The Florida Project

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR: Sponsored by Heaven Skincare
Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Timothée Chalamet – Call Me By Your Name

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Lesley Manville – Phantom Thread

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Sponsored by Cameo
Hugh Grant – Paddington 2

BRITISH/IRISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water/Maudie/Paddington 2

BRITISH/IRISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Sponsored by Millbank & CooperSearle
Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out

YOUNG BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR: Sponsored by The May Fair Hotel
Harris Dickinson – Beach Rats

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH/IRISH FILMMAKER: The Philip French Award
Francis Lee – God’s Own Country

BRITISH/IRISH SHORT FILM OF THE YEAR
We Love Moses – Dionne Edwards

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Blade Runner 2049 – Dennis Gassner, production design

EXCELLENCE IN FILM: The Dilys Powell Award
Kate Winslet

The editorial unit
VIdeos: Filippo L’Astorina