Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards

This week the UK’s leading film critics announced their nominees for the 41^st London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, and female filmmakers came out top. Films by writer-directors Rose Glass, Sarah Gavron, Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell swept the board with the most nominations for the awards, which will be presented virtually in early February.

Rose Glass’ dramatic horror Saint Maud led with eight nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenwriter, Best Actress (Morfydd Clark) and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Ehle). In addition, the film is nominated for British/Irish Film of the Year, and Clark is nominated for British/Irish Actress of the Year with a body of work award that includes her appearance in Eternal Beauty.

Leading contender Sarah Gavron’s London coming-of-age story Rocks earned six nominations, and Chloé Zhao’s improvised American road movie Nomadland took five. Emerald Fennell’s provocative, blackly comical thriller Promising Young Woman was nominated for four awards, along with David Fincher’s Hollywood biopic Mank and Steve McQueen’s house-party drama Lovers Rock. McQueen is also up for Director of the Year for his five Small Axe films.

Rounding out the ten nominees for Film of the Year are Roy Andersson’s reflective comedy About Endlessness, Alexander Nanau’s journalism documentary Collective, Charlie Kaufman’s existential black comedy I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Kevin Macdonald’s arresting Guantanamo drama The Mauritanian and Lee Isaac Chung’s Korean-American immigrant saga Minari.

The late Chadwick Boseman received nominations both for his lead role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and his supporting role in Da 5 Bloods. Other multiple acting nominees include Morfydd Clark, Anthony Hopkins, Carey Mulligan, Riz Ahmed, Vanessa Kirby, Sacha Baron Cohen and Rocks newcomer Bukky Bakray.

The nominations were announced online today by actors Darci Shaw, who played the young Judy Garland alongside Renée Zellweger in Judy, and Henry Lloyd-Hughes, who appeared opposite Keira Knightley in Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina. The two are starring together in Netflix’s upcoming supernatural Sherlock Holmes series The Irregulars, in which Lloyd-Hughes plays the iconic detective.

Due to the pandemic, the entry criteria were altered to include more films released directly to streaming services, and the qualifying release dates were extended into March, as long as films had been screened in 2020 to critics or at festivals. “This additional eligibility has put an extra strain on our members this year, watching more films than usual,” says Rich Cline, chair of the Critics’ Circle Film Section. “And, indeed, we named 224 features across our ballots, out of which 49 were nominated. As always, there are some surprises that make our shortlists stand out, even in this year’s rather unusual awards season. And it’s great to see such a range of talent recognised, spread across genders, ethnicities and production budgets.”

The 41^st London Critics’ Circle Film Awards will be presented virtually with winners announced on Sunday 7^th February. A physical event will be held later in the year, working with the awards’ longstanding sponsor The Mayfair Hotel to celebrate the winners and present this year’s Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Cinema.

Full list of nominations:

Film of the Year
About Endlessness
Collective
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Lovers Rock
The Mauritanian
Minari
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Rocks
Saint Maud

Foreign-language
About Endlessness
Another Round
Collective
Les Misérables
Minari

Documentary
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
Collective
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Time
The Truffle Hunters

The Attenborough Award for British/Irish Film
The Father
Lovers Rock
Mangrove
Rocks
Saint Maud

Director
David Fincher – Mank
Rose Glass – Saint Maud
Kevin Macdonald – The Mauritanian
Steve McQueen – Small Axe
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

Screenwriter
Jack Fincher – Mank
Rose Glass – Saint Maud
Charlie Kaufman – I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

Actress
Morfydd Clark – Saint Maud
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

Actor
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods
Tahar Rahim – The Mauritanian

Supporting Actress
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman
Essie Davis – Babyteeth
Jennifer Ehle – Saint Maud
Amanda Seyfried – Mank

Supporting Actor
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods
Aldis Hodge – Clemency
Ben Mendelsohn – Babyteeth
Shaun Parkes – Mangrove

British/Irish Actress (for body of work)
Bukky Bakray – Rocks
Jessie Buckley – I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Misbehaviour
Morfydd Clark – Eternal Beauty, Saint Maud
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman, The World to Come
Carey Mulligan – The Dig, Promising Young Woman

British/Irish Actor (for body of work)
Riz Ahmed – Mogul Mowgli, Sound of Metal
Sacha Baron Cohen – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, The Trial of the Chicago 7
John Boyega – Red, White and Blue
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Cosmo Jarvis – Calm with Horses, Nocturnal

The Philip French Award for Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker
Henry Blake – County Lines
Fyzal Boulifa – Lynn + Lucy
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Rose Glass – Saint Maud
Remi Weekes – His House

Young British/Irish Performer
Kosar Ali – Rocks
Bukky Bakray – Rocks
Millie Bobby Brown – Enola Holmes
Conrad Khan – County Lines
Molly Windsor – Make Up

British/Irish Short Film
Filipiñana – Rafael Manuel, director
Hungry Joe – Paul Holbrook, director
Lizard – Akinola Davies Jr, director
The Long Goodbye – Aneil Karia, director
The Shift – Laura Carreira, director

Technical Achievement
Ammonite – Stéphane Fontaine, cinematography
Birds of Prey – Deborah Lamia Denaver and Adruitha Lee, makeup and hair
Lovers Rock – Mica Levi, music
Mank – Donald Graham Burt, production design
Nomadland – Joshua James Richards, cinematography
Rocks – Lucy Pardee, casting
Soul – Pete Docter, animation
Sound of Metal – Phillip Bladh, sound design
Tenet – Jennifer Lame, film editing
WolfWalkers – Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, animation

Nominations by film:

Eight nominations
Saint Maud (StudioCanal)

Six nominations
Rocks (Altitude)

Five nominations
Nomadland (Disney)

Four nominations
Lovers Rock (BBC)
Mank (Netflix)
Promising Young Woman (Universal)

Three nominations
Collective (Dogwoof)
The Father (Lionsgate)
I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix)
Mangrove (BBC)
The Mauritanian (STX)
Pieces of a Woman (Netflix)
Sound of Metal (Vertigo)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)

Two nominations
About Endlessness (Curzon)
Babyteeth (Picturehouse)
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon)
County Lines (BFI)
Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Minari (Altitude)
Red, White and Blue (BBC)

One nomination
Alex Wheatle (BBC)
Ammonite (Lionsgate)
Another Round (StudioCanal)
Birds of Prey (Warner)
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Netflix)
Calm With Horses (Altitude)
Clemency (Bohemia)
Dick Johnson Is Dead (Netflix)
The Dig (Netflix)
Education (BBC)
Enola Holmes (Netflix)
Eternal Beauty (Bulldog)
His House (Netflix)
Lynn + Lucy (BFI)
Make Up (Curzon)
Misbehaviour (Pathe)
Les Misérables (Altitude)
Mogul Mowgli (BFI)
Nocturnal (Wildcard)
Soul (Disney)
Tenet (Warner)
Time (Amazon)
The Truffle Hunters (Sony)
The World to Come (Sony)
WolfWalkers (Wildcard)

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