2024 Houston Film Critics Society (HFCS) Winners: ‘Anora,’ ‘The Brutalist,’ ‘The Wild Robot’ Lead

Sean Baker’s Anora was the big winner from the Houston Film Critics Society (HFCS), earning Best Picture, Best Actress (Mikey Madison) and Best Screenplay honors from the org.

The Brutalist earned Best Director for Brady Corbet and Best Cinematography for Lol Crawley. The Wild Robot was also a double winner, for Best Animated Feature and. Best Original Song for “Kiss the Sky.”

The HFCS named Ralph Fiennes Best Actor for Conclave, with the film also winning the award for Best Ensemble Cast. Honored as the year’s Best Supporting Actor was Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain and, as Best Supporting Actress, Zoë Saldaña in Emilia Pérez, which also won Best Foreign Language Film. Winning the Texas Independent Film Award – for the best film made in Texas – was Runaway Radio about the magic created by Houston’s 101 KLOL (101.1 FM).

“Small, intimate, character-driven stories seemed to be the soup du jour favored by many of our members this year,” says Travis Leamons, President of the organization. “2024 may not have been a great cinema year overall, but if you string together the films enjoyed most by the Houston critics you’ll see a year defined by obstacles in one’s pursuit of happiness, virtue, and prosperity. All of which mirror this particular moment in time.”

Here is the complete list of winners.

Best Picture: Anora

Best Director: Brady Corbet, The Brutalist

Best Actor – Leading Role: Ralph Fiennes, Conclave

Best Actress – Leading Role: Mikey Madison, Anora

Best Actor – Supporting Role: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

Best Actress – Supporting Role: Zoë Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

Best Screenplay: Sean Baker, Anora

Best Animated Feature: The Wild Robot

Best Cinematography: Lol Crawley, The Brutalist 

Best Documentary Feature: Will & Harper

Best Foreign Language Feature: Emilia Pérez 

Best Original Score: Challengers, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Best Original Song: The Wild Robot, “Kiss the Sky”

Best Visual Effects: Dune: Part Two

Best Stunt Coordination Team: The Fall Guy

Best Ensemble Cast: Conclave

Texas Independent Film Award: Runaway Radio

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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.

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