2022 Black Film Critics Circle winners: ‘The Woman King’ is Best Film, Ensemble, Best Director for Gina Prince-Bythewood

The Black Film Critics Circle has named The Woman King its Best Film of 2022, Danielle Deadwyler Best Actress for Till and Gina Prince-Bythewood won Best Director for The Woman King. The film was also named Best Ensemble.

Everything Everywhere All At Once, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and The Whale were double winners and special signature awards went to Viola Davis winning the Pioneer Award, Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul‘s Adamma Ebo winning Rising Star and Nanny director Nikyatu Jusu winning Special Mention.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Film
The Woman King

Best Director
Gina Prince-Bythewood – The Woman King

Best Actor
Brendan Fraser – The Whale

Best Actress
Danielle Deadwyler – Till

Best Supporting Actor
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Supporting Actress
Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Best Original Screenplay
Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Adapted Screenplay (tie)
The Whale and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Best Cinematography
Top Gun Maverick

Best Documentary
Fire of Love

Best Animated
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Best Foreign Film
RRR

Best Ensemble
The Woman King

Top 10 Films of 2022

1. The Woman King

2. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

3. Top Gun: Maverick

4. Everything Everywhere All At Once

5. RRR

6. Nope

7. Avatar: The Way of Water

8. Women Talking

9. Till

10. The Batman

SIGNATURE AWARDS

Pioneer
Viola Davis

This year’s BFCC Pioneer Award is given to Viola Davis who, to quote BFCC Member K.A. GRANT (KAGrant.com), “The Woman King was truly a labor of love for her as a producer and as an actress. Not only did she work tirelessly to bring this story to life, but she changed her physical appearance to be combat ready for the film. Her contribution is immeasurable in what she has done for black women on the big screen. Her passion, and dedication to her craft embodies the very essence of the word Pioneer.”

Rising Star
Adamma Ebo

This year’s BFCC Rising star Award for producing, writing, directing, goes to Adamma Ebo for her feature-length directorial debut for Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul to quote BFCC Member Harrison Martin (FLIXFROG), “A truly outstanding film that is well-written, acted, and directed. This is a great example of improving on a short film while keeping the same message.”

SPECIAL MENTION
Nikyatu Jusu

Special Mention this year goes to Nikyatu Jusu, for her horror film Nanny which was the first horror film to win Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize, is a deeply personal look at the American immigrant experience through the eyes of its lead character Immigrant nanny Aisha. 

• 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), 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.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• 2025 Cinema Eye Honors Nominations: ‘Sugarcane,’ ‘Dahomey,’ ‘No Other Land’ Lead Documentary/Nonfiction Awards - November 14, 2024
• 2025 Oscar Predictions: ADAPTED SCREENPLAY and ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (November) - November 14, 2024
• Adrien Brody to Receive Desert Palm Achievement Acting Award from Palm Springs International Film Awards - November 14, 2024