“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “Promising Young Woman” are also among the big winners in Los Angeles.
Voting for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) Best Movies and Best Performances of 2020 took place virtually on Sunday. The awards were announced via the group Twitter account. Top prizes went to Steve McQueen’s Amazon Prime Video anthology film series “Small Axe” for Best Picture, as well as Best Director Chloe Zhao, Best Actor Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) and Best Actress Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”) See the full list below.
LAFCA’s vote comes on the heels of Friday’s announcements from the New York Film Critics Circle, which crowned Kelly Reichardt’s ‘First Cow’ as the best film of the year, and Chloé Zhao as the best female director of the year. for “Nomadland”.
These awards are a chance for voters to spotlight underrated gems or support films that are already gaining traction in a long awards season ahead. With the Oscars postponed to April 25, there’s still plenty of time for new films, or even forgotten films, to resurface and make an impact. As December draws to a close, critics will also drop their year-end Top 10 list, another opportunity to draw attention to films otherwise likely to get lost in the shuffle of larger titles.
Last year’s LAFCA Grand Prize went to Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” and it also won Best Director. Those wins were repeated at the 2020 Oscars. Other LAFCA winners last year included Antonio Banderas for Best Actor for “Pain and Glory,” and a more idiosyncratic (but no less deserved) Mary Kay Place pick for Best Actress. for “Diane,” as well as Song Kang Ho for Best Supporting Actor, “Parasite,” and Jennifer Lopez for Best Supporting Actress, “Hustlers.” In 2018, “Roma” won the award for LAFCA Best Picture, and Debra Granik won Best Director for “Leave No Trace.”
As previously announced for this year, the winners of the LAFCA 2020 Career Achievement Award are Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Harry Belafonte. Meanwhile, legend Norman Lloyd is honored with the organization’s first-ever Legacy Award. LAFCA is led by Claudia Puig as president, with more than 60 other journalists among the voters.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Little Axe”, Shabier Kirchner
Finalist: “Nomadland”, Joshua James Richards
HIGH SCORE/MUSIC
“Soul”, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Finalist: “Lovers Rock”, Mica Levi
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Glynn Turman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Finalist: Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Mank, Donald Graham Burt
Finalist: “Beanpole”, Sergey Ivanov
BEST EDITING
“The Father”, Yorgos Lamprinos
Finalist: “Time”, Gabriel Rhodes
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Youn Yuh-jung, “Minari”
Finalist: Amanda Seyfried, “Mank”
BEST ANIMATION
“Wolves Walkers”
Finalist: “Soul”
DOUGLAS EDWARDS EXPERIMENTAL FILM AWARD
“His socialist smile”, John Gianvito
BEST SCENARIO
“Promising Young Woman”, Emerald Fennell
Finalist: “Never rarely sometimes always”, Eliza Hittman
BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Weather”
Finalist: “Collective”
BEST ACTOR
Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Finalist: Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal”
BEST ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”
Finalist: Viola Davis, “My Rainey’s Black Bottom”
BEST DIRECTOR
Chloe Zhao, “Nomadland”
Finalist: Steve McQueen, “Little Axe”
NEW GENERATION
Radha Blank, “The 40-Year-Old Version”
BEST PICTURE
“Little Axe”
Finalist: “Nomadland”
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Beanpole”
Finalist: “Martin Eden”
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