2023 New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) Predictions: Lily Gladstone and Sandra Hüller Could Face Off in Best Actress with Multiple Films

The Gotham Awards revealed their winners just a few days ago and now it’s time for the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), the first major critics’ group of the season to reveal their best of 2023.

I expect The Zone of Interest, Poor Things, Killers of the Flower Moon, and All of Us Strangers to likely show up here, potentially setting the pace for the season or following in the Gothams’ footsteps with wins for Past Lives, Anatomy of a Fall, Charles Melton (May December), and more. I can also see Sandra Hüller taking Best Actress in a double win with Anatomy and The Zone of Interest or Lily Gladstone with her trio of films – Fancy Dance, Killers of the Flower Moon and The Unknown Country – like Colin Farrell’s dual film win last year.

2022 winners included Todd Field’s TÁR as the Best Film and its star, Cate Blanchett, as Best Actress. The film, Field and Blanchett all went on to earn Oscar nominations in their respective categories. Same goes for Best Actor winner Colin Farrell and Supporting Actor winner Ke Huy Quan, who won his bid for the Academy Award as part of his sweeping season.

The NYFCC is led by chair Matt Singer of Screen Crush and Vice Chair David Sims of The Atlantic and features critics like Richard Brody from The New Yorker, Tomris Laffly, David Rooney from The Hollywood Reporter, Esther Zuckerman, Siddhant Adlakha, and Jason Bailey among its 40+ membership.

The New York Film Critics Circle announces their winners on November 30. Here are my predictions.

Best Film
Predicted Winner: The Zone of Interest
Could Win: Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Director
Predicted Winner: Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)
Could Win: Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Screenplay
Predicted Winner: May December (Samy Burch)
Could Win: Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet and Arthur Harari)

Best Actor
Predicted Winner: Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers)
Could Win: Kōji Yakusho (Perfect Days)

Best Actress
Predicted Winner: Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Unknown Country, Fancy Dance)
Could Win: Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest)

Best Supporting Actor
Predicted Winner: Charles Melton (May December)
Could Win: Ryan Gosling (Barbie)

Best Supporting Actress
Predicted Winner: Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)
Could Win: Claire Foy (All of Us Strangers)

Best Animated Film
Predicted Winner: The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki)
Could Win: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, Kemp Powers)

Best International Film
Predicted Winner: Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)
Could Win: The Taste of Things (Trân Ahn Hùng)

Best Non-Fiction Film
Predicted Winner: Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros (Frederick Wiseman)
Could Win: Orlando, My Political Biography (Paul B. Preciado)

Best Cinematographer
Predicted Winner: Rodrigo Prieto (Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon)
Could Win: Matthew Libatique (Maestro)

Best First Film
Predicted Winner: Past Lives (Celine Song)
Could Win: A Thousand and One (A.V. Rockwell)