CHLOÉ ZHAO’S NOMADLAND LEADS CHICAGO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION 2020 AWARD NOMINATIONS
DA 5 BLOODS, FIRST COW and I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS also notch numerous nods; Chadwick Boseman posthumously earns dual acting nominations.
Chicago, IL (December 18, 2020) — The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) today announces nominees for their top film honors of 2020; winners will be announced at the organization’s annual awards ceremony, a virtual event for Association members to be held on Monday, December 21. Leading with seven total nominations is Chloé Zhao’s NOMADLAND; Spike Lee’s DA 5 BLOODS, Kelly Reichardt’s FIRST COW and Charlie Kaufman’s I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS each earned six nominations, while MANK and PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN are each recognized with five. A complete list of nominees is below.
Comprised of voting members who represent outlets including the Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, RogerEbert.com, The A.V Club, Vulture, NPR, and many more, the Chicago Film Critics Association annually presents traditional awards including Best Picture, Director, Actor and Actress, among others. With a particular focus on emerging talents, the CFCA also presents breakthrough awards to both an actor and filmmaker with the most promise for future career achievements. As each awards-giving body individually responded to 2020’s shifting theatrical release calendar due to the pandemic, the CFCA opted to maintain their calendar-based awards eligibility timeline. The nominees were selected from films with planned theatrical releases (virtual or otherwise) through December, so long as they were made available to voting members for consideration.
A reliably diverse voting body, the 2020 Chicago Film Critics Awards again honor a broad list of films and creators, with a total of 43 films nominated across nineteen categories. With 28 nominations, Netflix is the most recognized studio; Amazon and A24 share the second and third most nominations with 16 and 15, respectively. Fully one third of the nominees this year are women (19 of the 58 nominated individuals); filmmakers Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell each boast three nominations while Kelly Reichardt and Maria Bakalova each have two. In a first for the CFCA, the Best Director category is comprised entirely of women and POC: Emerald Fennell, Spike Lee, Steve McQueen, Kelly Reichardt and Chloé Zhao. And finally, composing duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross achieve a rare double nomination in the same category, earning Best Original Score nominations for their work in both Soul and Mank.
The complete list of 2020 Chicago Film Critics Awards nominations is as follows:
BEST PICTURE
Da 5 Bloods | First Cow | Lovers Rock | Nomadland | Promising Young Woman
BEST DIRECTOR
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Spike Lee, Da 5 Bloods
Steve McQueen, Lovers Rock
Kelly Reichardt, First Cow
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
BEST ACTOR
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods
Steven Yeun, Minari
BEST ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley, I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Carrie Coon, The Nest
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods
Bill Murray, On the Rocks
Leslie Odom, Jr., One Night in Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
David Strathairn, Nomadland
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Toni Collette, I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Letitia Wright, Mangrove
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Da 5 Bloods by Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee
Never Rarely Sometimes Always by Eliza Hittman
Promising Young Woman by Emerald Fennell
Soul by Pete Docter, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers
The Trial of the Chicago 7 by Aaron Sorkin
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Father by Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller
First Cow by Jonathan Raymond & Kelly Reichardt
I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Charlie Kaufman
Nomadland by Chloé Zhao
One Night in Miami by Kemp Powers
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Onward | A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon | Soul | The Wolf House | Wolfwalkers
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Collective | David Byrne's American Utopia | Dick Johnson is Dead | The Social Dilemma | Time
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A tie in the nominations process resulted in six nominees in this category.
Another Round | Bacurau | Beanpole | Collective | La Llorona | Vitalina Varela
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
First Cow, Christopher Blauvelt
Lovers Rock, Shabier Kirchner
Mank, Erik Messerschmidt
Nomadland, Joshua James Richards
The Vast of Night, Miguel Ioann Littin Menz
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Da 5 Bloods, Terence Blanchard
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Branford Marsalis
Mank, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Soul, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste
Tenet, Ludwig Goransson
BEST ART DIRECTION
Birds of Prey | Emma. | First Cow | I'm Thinking of Ending Things | Mank
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Birds of Prey | Emma. | First Cow | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | Mank
BEST USE OF VISUAL EFFECTS
I'm Thinking of Ending Things | The Invisible Man | The Midnight Sky | Possessor | Tenet
BEST EDITING
I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Robert Frazen
Lovers Rock, Chris Dickens & Steve McQueen
Nomadland, Chloé Zhao
Tenet, Jennifer Lame
The Trial of the Chicago 7, Alan Baumgarten
MILOS STEHLIK AWARD FOR PROMISING FILMMAKER
Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Darius Marder, Sound of Metal
Andrew Patterson, The Vast of Night
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Kingsley Ben-Adir, One Night in Miami
Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Kelly O'Sullivan, Saint Frances
Helena Zengel, News of the World
NOMINATION TOTALS
7 - Nomadland
Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actress | Best Supporting Actor | Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Editing | Best Cinematography
6 - Da 5 Bloods
Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actor | Best Supporting Actor | Best Original Screenplay
Best Original Score
First Cow
Best Picture | Best Director | Best Adapted Screenplay | Best Costume Design | Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Best Actress | Best Supporting Actress | Best Adapted Screenplay | Best Use of Visual Effects
Best Editing | Best Art Direction
5 - Mank
Best Supporting Actress | Best Costume Design | Best Art Direction | Best Original Score
Best Cinematography
Promising Young Woman
Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actress | Best Original Screenplay | Breakthrough FIlmmaker
4 - Lovers Rock
Best Pictures | Best Director | Best Editing | Best Cinematography
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Best Actress | Best Actor | Best Costume Design | Best Original Score
3 - Minari
Best Actor | Best Supporting Actress | Breakthrough Filmmaker
One Night in Miami
Best Supporting Actor | Best Adapted Screenplay | Most Promising Performer
Soul
Best Animated Film | Best Original Score | Best Original Screenplay
Sound of Metal
Best Actor | Best Supporting Actor | Breakthrough Filmmaker
Tenet
Best Editing | Best Use of Visual Effects | Best Original Score
2 - Birds of Prey - Best Costumes | Best Art Direction
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm - Best Supporting Actress | Most Promising Performer
Collective - Best Documentary | Best Foreign Film
Emma. - Best Costumes | Best Art Direction
The Father - Best Actor | Best Adapted Screenplay
Never Rarely Sometimes Always - Best Original Screenplay | Most Promising Performer
The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Best Original Screenplay | Best Editing
The Vast of Night - Breakthrough Filmmaker | Best Cinematography
1 - A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon - Best Animated Film
Another Round - Best Foreign Language Film
Bacurau - Best Foreign Language Film
Beanpole - Best Foreign Language Film
David Byrne's American Utopia - Best Documentary
Dick Johnson is Dead - Best Documentary
The Forty-Year-Old Version - Breakthrough Filmmaker
The Invisible Man - Best Use of Visual Effects
La Llorona - Best Foreign Language Film
Mangrove - Best Supporting Actress
The Midnight Sky - Best Use of Visual Effects
The Nest - Best Supporting Actress
News of the World - Most Promising Performer
On the Rocks - Best Supporting Actor
Onward - Best Animated Film
Possessor - Best Use of Visual Effects
Saint Frances - Most Promising Performer
The Social Dilemma - Best Documentary
Time - Best Documentary
Vitalina Varela - Best Foreign Language Film
The Wolf House - Best Animated Film
Wolfwalkers - Best Animated Film
