23rd Black Reel award winners: ‘The Woman King,’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,’ ‘The Inspection’

The 23rd Black Reel Awards (“The Bolts”) have been announced and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King led the way with six wins overall, including Outstanding Film, Director and Breakthrough Actress for Thuso Mbedu. Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was next with five wins, including Outstanding Supporting Actress for Angela Bassett.

Jeremy Pope was named Outstanding Actor for The Inspection, one of its four wins, and Danielle Deadwyler’s Outstanding Actress win was one of its two awards.

Honorary awards went to Angela Bassett, Effie T. Brown, Debra Martin Chase and Kerry Washington.

Here is the complete list of winners.

Outstanding Film: The Woman King

Outstanding Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Woman King

Outstanding Actor: Jeremy Pope, The Inspection
Outstanding Actress: Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Outstanding Supporting Actor: Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
Outstanding Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Outstanding Screenplay: Keith Beauchamp, Michael Reilly & Chinonye Chukwu, Till

Outstanding Documentary Feature: Sidney (Reginald Hudlin)
Outstanding International Film: Saint Omer (Alice Diop, France)

Outstanding Ensemble: The Woman King (Aisha Coley)

Outstanding Voice Performance: Zoe Saldana, Avatar: the Way of Water

Outstanding Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema, Nope
Outstanding Costume Design: Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Outstanding Editing: Terilyn A. Shropshire, The Woman King
Outstanding Production Design: Hannah Beachler, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Outstanding Score: Terence Blanchard, The Woman King
Outstanding Original Song: “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Outstanding Soundtrack: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Outstanding Independent Film: The Inspection (Elegance Bratton)
Outstanding Short Film: North Star (P.J. Palmer)

Outstanding Emerging Director: Nikyatu Jusu, Nanny
Outstanding Breakthrough Actor: Jeremy Pope, The Inspection
Outstanding Breakthrough Actress: Thuso Mbedu, The Woman King
Outstanding First Screenplay: Elegance Bratton, The Inspection

Honorary awards

Sidney Poitier Trailblazer Award: Angela Bassett
Vanguard Award: Effie T. Brown
Oscar Micheaux Impact Award: Debra Martin Chase
Ruby Dee Humanitarian Award: Kerry Washington

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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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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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