2021 Oscar Predictions: CINEMATOGRAPHY (November)

Minari is making moves this month in multiple categories, including popping into the top 5 for cinematography. Lachlan Milne’s laconic lensing might be too subtle for a branch that really likes things to pop and could go for the saturated colors of The Prom or Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom instead, the surprisingly lush photography in Hillbilly Elegy (which would make Maryse Alberti only the second woman ever nominated) or Sean Bobbitt’s rich look for Judas and the Black Messiah.

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

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

1. Mank (Netflix)
Erik Messerschmidt

2. Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Joshua James Richards

3. Tenet (Warner Bros)
Hoyte van Hoytema

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

5. Minari (A24)
Lachlan Milne

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

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

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

9. Hillbilly Elegy (Netflix)
Maryse Alberti

10. The Prom (Netflix)
Matthew Libatique

Other Contenders (alphabetical)

Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Newton Thomas Sigel

The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)
Ben Smithard

The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Martin Ruhe

Mulan (Walt Disney Pictures)
Mandy Walker

Nine Days (Sony Pictures Classics)
Wyatt Garfield

One Night in Miami… (Amazon Studios)
Tami Reiker

• Author
• Recent Posts

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.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• Frontrunner Friday Oscar Predictions: We Need to Talk About ‘Marty’ - January 30, 2026
• 2026 Sundance Film Festival: ‘Josephine’ Wins Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award - January 30, 2026
• Midnight Critics Circle (MCC) Awards: ‘Marty Supreme’ Wins Best Picture - January 28, 2026