2021 Oscar Predictions: CINEMATOGRAPHY (January)

Beginning to feel pretty good about this top five, as it stays the same as last month. I toyed with the idea of Newton Thomas Sigel (Da 5 Bloods) replacing Dariusz Wolski (News of the World) here as the former is gaining and building at just the right time. News has been largely quiet on the critics’ front outside of today’s National Board of Review wins in Adapted Screenplay and Top 10 mention. The same NBR that gave Da 5 Bloods Best Film.

None of that changes the fact that NBR winner Joshua James Richard (Nomadland) remains the overwhelming critics’ fave with 17 wins. Erik Messerschmidt (Mank), Hoyte van Hoytema (Tenet), Christopher Blauvelt (First Cow) and Miguel I. Littin-Menz (The Vast of Night) are the only other cinematographers to grab one or more mentions so far this season.

Here are my ranked 2021 Oscar predictions in Cinematography for January.

Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – new entry this month

1. Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Joshua James Richards

2. Mank (Netflix)
Erik Messerschmidt

3. Tenet (Warner Bros)
Hoyte van Hoytema

4. News of the World (Universal Pictures)
Dariusz Wolski

5. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Phedon Papamichael

6. Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Newton Thomas Sigel

7. Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros)
Sean Bobbitt

8. Minari (A24)
Lachlan Milne

9. The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Martin Ruhe

10. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Tobias A. Schliessler

Other Contenders (alphabetical by film)

The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)
Ben Smithard

First Cow (A24)
Christopher Blauvelt

Hillbilly Elegy (Netflix)
Maryse Alberti

I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix)
Łukasz Żal

Mulan (Walt Disney Pictures)
Mandy Walker

The Prom (Netflix)
Matthew Libatique

One Night in Miami… (Amazon Studios)
Tami Reiker

Image courtesy of David Lee/Netflix

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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