2022 International Cinephile Society (ICS) nominations: ‘Aftersun’ leads with 10
The nominees for the 20th annual International Cinephile Society (ICS) have been announced the leader with ten nominations is Aftersun, Charlotte Wells’ brilliantly creative debut about a girl on vacation with her troubled father, and their bonding attempts and rites of passage as they struggle to connect – or even survive – in a quietly turbulent relationship. Sailing close behind with nine nods is Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, the cheerfully sinister satire of an island paradise beset by mysterious naval forces and elusive diplomats, who may or may not intend to resume nuclear testing in the area.
In a lineup brimming with unusual projects, two other films earned seven nods each. Documentarian Alice Diop’s mesmerizing courtroom drama Saint Omer, exploring identity and cultural disparity, signals not only Diop’s own narrative feature debut, but two outstanding breakthrough performances by actresses Guslagie Malanda and Kayije Kagame. Also garnering seven nods, Park Chan-wook’s neo-noir Decision to Leave features an exquisite Tang Wei as the femme fatale who ties an earnest police detective in knots.
With six nods for The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh brings us an Irish fable and morality tale whose overriding tone of dark humor cannot hide its melancholic heart. Meanwhile, the great Cate Blanchett conducts us through a cancel culture storm in Todd Field’s smartly written and orchestrated TÁR, also with six mentions. Finally, six nominations went to EO, inspired by the Bresson classic Au Hasard Balthazar, demonstrating that Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski can still create a masterpiece in his seventh decade of filmmaking; his story of a donkey’s Odyssean travels and travails is as beautifully crafted as it is emotionally resonant.
Along with Charlotte Wells and Alice Diop, two other women made our Best Director lineup: Patricia Mazuy for her dark and dangerous investigation of toxic masculinity Saturn Bowling, and Laura Citarella for her existential mystery Trenque Lauquen, in which a woman who keeps disappearing from her own life becomes a greater enigma than the creature (alien? crocodile?) living in the town’s lake.
Winners of the 20th ICS Awards will be announced on February 12, 2023. Here is the complete list of nominations.
PICTURE
• Aftersun
• Alcarràs
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• Coma
• Crimes of the Future
• Decision to Leave
• EO
• The Fabelmans
• Godland
• The Maiden
• The Novelist’s Film
• Pacifiction
• Saint Omer
• Saturn Bowling
• Showing Up
• TÁR
• Tommy Guns
• Trenque Lauquen
• Unrest
• You Have to Come and See It
DIRECTOR
• Laura Citarella – Trenque Lauquen
• Alice Diop – Saint Omer
• Todd Field – TÁR
• Patricia Mazuy – Saturn Bowling
• Albert Serra – Pacifiction
• Jerzy Skolimowski – EO
• Charlotte Wells – Aftersun
ACTOR
• Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin
• Cosmo Jarvis – It Is In Us All
• Benoît Magimel – Pacifiction
• Luca Marinelli – Le Otto Montagne
• Paul Mescal – Aftersun
• Park Hae-il – Decision to Leave
ACTRESS
• Cate Blanchett – TÁR
• Vicky Krieps – Corsage
• Guslagie Malanda – Saint Omer
• Rosy McEwen – Blue Jean
• Park Ji-Min – Return to Seoul
• Tang Wei – Decision to Leave
SUPPORTING ACTOR
• Alessandro Borghi – Le Otto Montagne
• Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin
• Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Achille Reggiani – Saturn Bowling
• Ingvar Sigurðsson – Godland
• Luis Zahera – As Bestas
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• Hong Chau – Showing Up
• Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin
• Dolly de Leon – Triangle of Sadness
• Pahoa Mahagafanau – Pacifiction
• Kristen Stewart – Crimes of the Future
• Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans
ENSEMBLE
• Alcarràs
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• The Fabelmans
• Les Amandiers
• Trenque Lauquen
• Triangle of Sadness
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
• Aftersun – Charlotte Wells
• The Banshees of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh
• Pacifiction – Baptiste Pinteaux, Albert Serra
• Saint Omer – Amrita David, Alice Diop, Marie NDiaye
• TÁR – Todd Field
• Trenque Lauquen – Laura Citarella, Laura Paredes
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
• Bones and All – David Kajganich
• Both Sides of the Blade – Claire Denis
• EO – Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski
• A Flower in the Mouth – Eric Beaudelaire, Anne-Louise Trividic
• Le Otto Montagne – Charlotte Vandermeersch, Felix van Groeningen
• Women Talking – Sarah Polley, Miriam Toews
CINEMATOGRAPHY
• Aftersun – Gregory Oke
• Decision to Leave – Kim Ji-yong
• EO – Michal Dymek
• Godland – Maria von Hausswolff
• The Kings of the World – David Gallego
• Pacifiction – Artur Tort
EDITING
• Aftersun – Blair McClendon
• Decision to Leave – Kim Sang-beom
• Everything Everywhere All at Once – Paul Rogers
• Moonage Daydream – Brett Morgen
• Pacifiction – Albert Serra, Artur Tort, Ariadna Ribas
• TÁR – Monika Willi
PRODUCTION DESIGN
• Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths – Eugenio Caballero
• Coma – Anna Bonello, Gaston Portejoie, Daphné Yvon
• Crimes of the Future – Carol Spier, Dimitris Katsikis, Kimberley Zaharko
• Decision to Leave – Ryu Seong-hie
• Pacifiction – Sebastian Vogler
• Saturn Bowling – Thierry François, Dorian Maloine
SCORE
• Aftersun – Oliver Coates
• Crimes of the Future – Howard Shore
• Decision to Leave – Jo Yeong-wook
• EO – Pawel Mykietyn
• Nope – Michael Abels
• Stars at Noon – Tindersticks
SOUND DESIGN
• Aftersun – Jovan Ajder
• EO – Radoslaw Ochnio, Marta Weronska, Suraj Bardia
• Nope – Johnnie Burn, José Antonio Garcia
• Pacifiction – Jordi Ribas
• TÁR – Deb Adair, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley, Steve Single, Roland Winke
• Unrest – Roland Widmer, Miguel Moraes Cabral, Guido Keller
ANIMATED FILM
• Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood – Richard Linklater
• Fairytale – Aleksandr Sokurov
• Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Guillermo del Toro
• Inu-Oh – Masaaki Yuasa
• Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – Dean Fleischer Camp
• No Dogs or Italians Allowed – Alain Ughetto
DOCUMENTARY
• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed – Laura Poitras
• Anhell69 – Theo Montoya
• De Humani Corporis Fabrica – Verena Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
• Malintzin 17 – Mara Polgovsky Ezcurra, Eugenio Polgovsky
• Moonage Daydream – Brett Morgen
• Tales of the Purple House – Abbas Fahdel
DEBUT FEATURE
• Aftersun – Charlotte Wells
• Blue Jean – Georgia Oakley
• Eismayer – David Wagner
• It Is In Us All – Antonia Campbell-Hughes
• The Maiden – Graham Foy
• Safe Place – Juraj Lerotić
• Saint Omer – Alice Diop
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
• Frankie Corio – Aftersun
• Eden Dambrine – Close
• Kayije Kagame – Saint Omer
• Gabriel LaBelle – The Fabelmans
• Guslagie Malanda – Saint Omer
• Nadia Tereszkiewicz – Les Amandiers
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.
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