2021 Oscar Predictions: FILM EDITING (February)

Erik Anderson February 16, 2021

We seem to be back in the era where a film editing nomination is crucial to a Best Picture win. Back in the day, it was an absolute must. 1980’s Ordinary People was the last to manage it without one until 2014’s Birdman. But since then, every BP winner had secured one, even if editing wasn’t as showy a factor of the film as it was with other nominees, like 2015’s Spotlight and 2018’s Green Book.

There’s a very real chance that Nomadland, a Best Picture frontrunner, could find itself out. As Chloé Zhao is writer, director and editor of her film, we could see what happened to Alfonso Cuarón just a few years ago with Roma. That film earned 10 nominations, with Cuarón himself earning four nominations from it: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography. He won director and cinematography but as the film’s editor he was snubbed. It’s not like the editing branch hasn’t nominated directors who edit their own films before; the Coen Brothers, who go by the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes for their editing work, have made it in for Fargo and No Country for Old Men.

The American Cinema Editors (ACE) don’t announce their nominations until March 11, just four days before Oscar nominations. That’s cutting it a little too close to the wire for me.

Here are my ranked 2021 Oscar predictions in Film Editing for February.

Green – moves up ↑; Red – moves down ↓; Blue – new or re-entry this month +; Black – no change ↔

1. The Trial of the Chicago 7 ↔ (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
Alan Baumgarten

2. Nomadland ↔ (Searchlight Pictures) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
Chloé Zhao

3. Mank ↔ (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
Kirk Baxter

4. News of the World ↔ (Universal Pictures) – BAFTA longlist
William Goldenberg

5. Tenet ↑ (Warner Bros) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
Jennifer Lame

6. Sound of Metal ↑ (Amazon Studios) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
Mikkel E.G. Nielsen

7. The Father ↔ (Sony Pictures Classics) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
Yorgos Lamprinos

8. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ↔ (Netflix)
Andrew Mondshein

9. Promising Young Woman + (Focus Features) – BAFTA longlist
Frédéric Thoraval

10. Da 5 Bloods ↓ (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist
Adam Gough

Other Contenders

I’m Thinking of Ending Things ↔ (Netflix)
Robert Frazen

Judas and the Black Messiah ↓ (Warner Bros) – BAFTA longlist
 Kristan Sprague

The Midnight Sky ↓ (Netflix)
Stephen Mirrione

Minari ↔ (A24)
Harry Yoon

One Night in Miami… ↔ (Amazon Studios)
Tariq Anwar

Palm Springs ↔ (Hulu/Neon)
Andrew Dickler and Matt Friedman

The White Tiger + (Netflix)
Jay Rabinowitz

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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), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) 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.