The National Society of Film Critics called Chloé Zhao’s Nomadlandstarring Frances McDormand, the best film of 2020.
The runners-up in the category of best film were First cow and Never seldom sometimes always. Nomadland won big during Saturday’s annual voting ceremony, when Zhao came out with the win for best director and McDormand won the category of best actress.
The additional honorees were Da 5 Bloods‘Delroy Gorgeous and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Maria Bakalova, who won the awards for best actor and supporting actress of the ceremony, respectively.
The NSFC’s 55th annual voting meeting selected winners and runners-up in 11 categories through a weighted voting system.
Any film that premiered in the U.S. on a screen or streaming platform during the year is eligible for consideration. Last year, the group delivered Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite his main award, Best Film, a feat that the film doubled at the Oscars.
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NSFC’s 60 members include critics from major newspapers and vehicles in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, including vehicles Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, a Christian Science Monitor and NPR.
O LA Times‘Justin Chang is the current president of the organization.
See the full list of winners below.
Best movie:
WINNER: NOMADLAND (52 points)
RUNNERS-UP:
FIRST COW (50 points)
NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES EVER (41 points)
Director:
WINNER: Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND (58 points)
RUNNERS-UP:
Steve McQueen, SMALL AX (41 points)
Kelly Reichardt, FIRST COW (30 points)
Actress:
WINNER: Best actress: Frances McDormand, NOMADLAND (46 points)
RUNNERS-UP:
Viola Davis, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (33 points) S
Sidney Flanigan, NEVER RARELY TIMES EVER (29 points)
Actor:
WINNER: Best Actor: Delroy Lindo, DA 5 BLOODS (52 points)
RUNNERS-UP:
Chadwick Boseman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (47 points)
Riz Ahmed, METAL SOUND (32 points)
Supporting actress:
WINNER: Best Supporting Actress, Maria Bakalova, BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM (47 points)
RUNNERS-UP:
Amanda Seyfried, MANK (40 points)
Youn Yuh-jung, MINARI (33 points)
Supporting actor:
WINNER: Best Supporting Actor: Paul Raci, SOUND OF METAL (53 points)
RUNNER-UPS:
Glynn Turman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (36 points)
Chadwick Boseman, DA 5 BLOODS (35 points)
Script:
WINNER: Best screenplay: Eliza Hittman, NEVER RARELY TIMES EVER (38 points)
RUNNERS-UP:
Jon Raymond and Kelly Reichardt, FIRST COW (35 points)
Charlie Kaufman, I AM THINKING ABOUT THINGS END (29 points)
Nonfiction film:
Cinematography:
WINNER: Best Photograph: Joshua James Richards, NOMADLAND (47 points)
RUNNERS-UP:
Shabier Kirchner, LOVERS ROCK (41 points)
Leonardo Simões, VITALINA VARELA (34 points)
Foreign language film:
WINNER: COLLECTIVE (38 points) Runner-up:
RUNNERS-UP:
BACURAU and BEANPOLE (36 points)
VITALINA VARELA (32 points)
Nonfiction film:
WINNER: TIME (46 points)
RUNNERS-UP:
CITY HALL (28 points)
COLLECTIVE (22 points)
Film Heritage Award:
WINNERS:
Women make movies
Movie Commentary
Brattle Theater in Cambridge, MA
Film awaiting distribution in the USA: