45th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards: ‘The Brutalist’ Named Film of the Year, ‘Nickel Boys,’ ‘A Real Pain’ Take Two Wins

The 45th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards were held today where Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist triumphed as the group’s Film of the Year, it’s only win from its field-best seven nominations.

London’s May Fair Hotel, part of Edwardian Hotels London, was the location once again for the ceremony and is the main sponsor of the event, which were once again hosted by UK critic Mark Kermode.

In a surprise pair of wins, RaMell Ross was named Director of the Year for Nickel Boys and his cinematographer Jomo Fray, who was on site to accept both awards, won the Technical Achievement award for the first person POV of the film’s lensing.

Sean Baker’s Anora, which also came in with seven nominations, also just nabbed a single win, for Mikey Madison as Breakthrough Performer. Ralph Fiennes claimed the Actor of the Year award for his work in Conclave, the film’s only win from its six nominations. Marianne Jean-Baptiste won the Actress of the Year award for Hard Truths, while Saoirse Ronan was named British/Irish Actor of the Year (body of work) for Blitz and The Outrun. Supporting wins went to Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain (which also won Jesse Eisenberg Screenwriter of the Year) and Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez, who commented in her speech, “I wasn’t expecting this, especially now” in reference to the recent controversy her co-star Karla Sofía Gascón has stirred up as past tweets of hers uncovered dozens of racist and xenophobic comments, as well as negative comments to one of her other co-stars, Selena Gomez, before the two were cast in the film together.

Saldaña was also the recipient of the 2nd Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation, which went to Colman Domingo last year. The award is named in memory of the legendary critic Derek Malcolm, who died at 91 in August 2023. 

“Critics have long been fans of Zoe Saldaña’s ground-breaking work,” says Rich Cline, chair of London Film Critics’ Circle, “from her astonishingly nuanced turns in genre pieces like Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy to her pioneering role producing complex female narratives. And in Emilia Pérez she wowed us with a beautifully nuanced, full-bodied performance from the heart.”

Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance was the only major nomination getter to go home empty-handed. The Oscar-nominated film was up for Film of the Year, Director of the Year and Actress of the Year.

Daniel Craig was awarded their top honor, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film. Jeffrey Wright was last year’s recipient.

“As critics, we were already fans of Daniel Craig for the adventurous roles he took on even before he became James Bond,” says Rich Cline, Chair of the Critics’ Circle Film Section. “We honoured him for his roles in The Mother (2003) and Enduring Love (2004), and then of course we also enjoyed his superb take on 007 as well. Over the decades, he has consistently made bold choices and pushed against the boundaries that often limit other top stars. We love the Knives Out movies, and have nominated him this year for Queer. We are looking forward to celebrating his career at our ceremony.”

Last year’s ceremony saw Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest and Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers lead the 44th annual London Critics’ Circle Awards with three wins apiece. The Zone of Interest would go on to win two Academy Awards, for Best Sound and Best International Feature Film while All of Us Strangers received no Oscar nominations.

The 45th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards are voted by the 210-member Film Section of the Critics’ Circle, the UK’s longest-standing and most prestigious critics’ organisation. Films are automatically eligible if they are released in UK cinemas or on premiere streaming services between mid-February 2024 and mid-February 2025.

Here is the complete list of winners.

FILM OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Seesaw Media

All We Imagine As Light
Anora
The Brutalist – WINNER
La Chimera
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Kneecap
Nickel Boys
Nosferatu
The Substance

The Attenborough Award for BRITISH/IRISH FILM OF THE YEAR

Bird
Conclave – WINNER
Hard Truths
Kneecap
Love Lies Bleeding

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Sean Baker – Anora
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
RaMell Ross – Nickel Boys – WINNER
Denis Villeneuve – Dune: Part Two

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR

Sean Baker – Anora
Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold – The Brutalist
Jesse Eisenberg – A Real Pain – WINNER
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
Peter Straughan – Conclave

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths – WINNER
Nicole Kidman – Babygirl
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Saoirse Ronan – The Outrun

ACTOR OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Reddit

Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Daniel Craig – Queer
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave – WINNER

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Michele Austin – Hard Truths
Danielle Deadwyler – The Piano Lesson
Margaret Qualley – The Substance
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez – WINNER

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain – WINNER
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice
Denzel Washington – Gladiator II

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER

Marisa Abela – Back to Black
Nykiya Adams – Bird
Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison – Anora – WINNER
Maisy Stella – My Old Ass

The Philip French Award for BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH/IRISH FILMMAKER

Luna Carmoon – Hoard
Naqqash Khalid – In Camera
Amy Liptrot – The Outrun
Dev Patel – Monkey Man
Rich Peppiatt – Kneecap – WINNER

BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR (for body of work)

Cynthia Erivo – Drift/Wicked: Part I
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – The Book of Clarence/Hard Truths
Nicholas Hoult – Juror #2/Nosferatu/The Order
Josh O’Connor – La Chimera/Challengers/Lee
Saoirse Ronan – Blitz/The Outrun – WINNER

YOUNG BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

Nykiya Adams – Bird – WINNER
Elliott Heffernan – Blitz
Raffey Cassidy – The Brutalist/Kensuke’s Kingdom
Dan Hough – Speak No Evil
Alisha Weir – Abigail/Buffalo Kids/Wicked Little Letters

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

All We Imagine As Light – WINNER
La Chimera
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
Kneecap

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

Dahomey
Grand Theft Hamlet
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
No Other Land – WINNER
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

ANIMATED FEATURE OF THE YEAR

Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – WINNER
The Wild Robot

BRITISH/IRISH SHORT FILM OF THE YEAR

Iranian Yellow Pages – directed by Anna Snowball
Karavidhe – directed by Eoin Doran
Push – directed by Elly Condron
Wander to Wonder – directed by Nina Gantz – WINNER
We Beg to Differ – directed by Ruairi Bradley

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Anora – stunts, Manny Siverio, Christopher Colombo & Roberto Lopez
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – visual effects, Angus Bickerton
The Brutalist – production design, Judy Becker
A Complete Unknown – costumes, Arianne Phillips
Conclave – film editing, Nick Emerson
Dune: Part Two – visual effects, Paul Lambert
Emilia Pérez – music, Clément Ducol & Camille
Nickel Boys – cinematography, Jomo Fray – WINNER
Nosferatu – cinematography, Jarin Blaschke
The Substance – makeup, Stéphanie Guillon & Pierre-Olivier Persin