Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics Circle Film Awards

The UK’s leading film critics today announced the nominations for the 41st annual London Critics’ Circle Film Awards. Rose Glass’ dramatic horror Saint Maud was out front with 8 nominations, including Film, Director, Screenwriter, Actress (Morfydd Clark) and 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, a body-of-work award that includes her appearance in Eternal Beauty.

Other leading contenders include Sarah Gavron’s London coming-of-age story Rocks with 6 nominations, Chloé Zhao’s improvised American road movie Nomadland with 5, and Emerald Fennell’s provocative blackly comical thriller Promising Young Woman with 4. Also earning 4 nominations were David Fincher’s Hollywood biopic Mank and Steve McQueen’s house-party drama Lovers Rock. McQueen is up for Director of the Year for his five Small Axe films.

Rounding out the 10 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, more films released directly to streaming services were made eligible, 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 41st London Critics’ Circle Film Awards will be presented virtually on Sunday, 7th February. A physical event will be held later in the year, working with our long-standing sponsor The May Fair 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 FILM OF THE YEAR

• About Endlessness
• Another Round
• Collective
• Les Misérables
• Minari

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

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

The Attenborough Award

BRITISH/IRISH FILM OF THE YEAR

• The Father
• Lovers Rock
• Mangrove
• Rocks
• Saint Maud

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

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

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR

• 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 OF THE YEAR

• 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 OF THE YEAR

• 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 OF THE YEAR

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

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR

• 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 OF THE YEAR (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 OF THE YEAR (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

• 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 & Adruitha Lee, makeup & 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 & Ross Stewart, animation

Winners will be announced virtually on Sunday, 7th February.

– – – – – – – – – –

NOMINATIONS BY FILM:

8:

• Saint Maud (StudioCanal)

6:

• Rocks (Altitude)

5:

• Nomadland (Disney)

4:

• Lovers Rock (BBC)
• Mank (Netflix)
• Promising Young Woman (Universal)

3:

• 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)

2:

• 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)

1:

• 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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