‘Minari’ leads Seattle Film Critics Society (SFCS) nominations

The Seattle Film Critics Society has announced nominations for the 2020 Seattle Film Critics Society Awards, honoring the year’s best in film. Leading the field with 8 nominations is Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Steven Yeun), Best Supporting Actress (Yuh-jung Youn), Best Ensemble Cast, Best Original Score, and Best Youth Performance (Alan Kim). The Korean-American film also scored a Best Film Not in the English Language nomination.

Nomadland, Chloé Zhao’s thoughtful examination of American life lived one mile at a time, earned 6 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Frances McDormand), Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing.

Also receiving 6 nominations is First Cow, for Best Picture, Best Director (Kelly Reichardt), Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design.

David Fincher’s Mank, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and Leigh Whannell’s horror movie The Invisible Man each follow with 5 nods apiece. Mank received nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Amanda Seyfried), Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design, while time-bending Tenet was nominated for Best Action Choreography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, and Best Visual Effects. The Invisible Man was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress (Elisabeth Moss), Best Action Choreography, Best Visual Effects, and Villain of the Year.

Another 40 films released during the extended 2020 award year received nominations, representing the greatest number of titles honored since the formation of the Seattle Film Critics Society. Da 5 Bloods, Judas and the Black Messiah, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, and Promising Young Woman each received 4 nominations, while News of the World, Sound of Metal, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn each garnered 3 nominations.

Best Picture nominee Palm Springs was among several titles to receive 2 nominations. Hamilton, beloved by critics and audiences alike, earned its one nomination in the Best Picture category.

Winners of the 2020 Seattle Film Critics Society Awards will be announced on Monday, February 15, 2021 starting at 9:00 a.m. PST via the Seattle Film Critics Society’s Twitter handle – @seattlecritics.

Here is the complete list of nominations for the 2020 Seattle Film Critics Society Awards.

Best Picture of the Year

• First Cow (A24)
• Hamilton (Walt Disney Pictures)
• The Invisible Man (Universal)
• Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.)
• Minari (A24)
• Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)
• Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
• Palm Springs (NEON/Hulu)
• Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
• Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)

Best Director

• Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
• Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
• Steve McQueen – Small Axe: Lovers Rock
• Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
• Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

Best Actor in a Leading Role

• Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
• Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Anthony Hopkins – The Father
• Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods
• Steven Yeun – Minari

Best Actress in a Leading Role

• Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
•  Sidney Flanigan – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
• Frances McDormand – Nomadland
• Elisabeth Moss – The Invisible Man
• Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

• Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
• Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah
• Bill Murray – On the Rocks
• Leslie Odom, Jr. – One Night in Miami…
• Paul Raci – Sound of Metal

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

• Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• Olivia Colman – The Father
• Talia Ryder – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
• Amanda Seyfried – Mank
• Yuh-jung Youn – Minari

Best Ensemble Cast

• Da 5 Bloods – Kim Coleman, casting director
• Judas and the Black Messiah – Alexa L. Fogel, casting director
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Avy Kaufman, casting director
• Minari – Julia Kim, casting director
• One Night in Miami… – Kimberly Hardin, casting director

Best Action Choreography

• Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
• Extraction
• The Invisible Man
• Monster Hunter
• Tenet

Best Screenplay

• First Cow – Jon Raymond & Kelly Reichardt
• I’m Thinking of Ending Things – Charlie Kaufman
• Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
• Palm Springs – Andy Siara
• Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell

Best Animated Feature

• Onward – Dan Scanlon, director
• Over the Moon – Glen Keane, John Kahrs, director
• Ride Your Wave – Masaaki Yuasa, director
• Soul – Pete Docter, director; Kemp Powers, co-director
• Wolfwalkers – Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, director

Best Documentary Feature

• Boys State – Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss, directors
• Collective – Alexander Nanau, director
• Dick Johnson is Dead – Kirsten Johnson, director
• The History of the Seattle Mariners: Supercut Edition – Jon Bois, director
• Time – Garrett Bradley, director

Best Film Not in the English Language

• Another Round – Thomas Vinterberg, director
• Bacurau – Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho, directors
• La Llorona – Jayro Bustamante, director
• Minari – Lee Isaac Chung, director
• To the Ends of the Earth – Kiyoshi Kurosawa, director

Best Cinematography

• First Cow – Christopher Blauvert
• Mank – Erik Messerschmidt
• News of the World – Dariusz Wolski
• Nomadland – Joshua James Richards
• Small Axe: Lovers Rock – Shabier Kirchner

Best Costume Design

• Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn – Erin Benach
• Emma. – Alexandra Byrne
• First Cow – April Napier
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Ann Roth
• Mank – Trish Summerville

Best Film Editing

• Da 5 Bloods – Adam Gough
• Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
• Tenet – Jennifer Lame
• Time – Gabriel Rhodes 
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Alan Baumgarten

Best Original Score

• Da 5 Bloods – Terence Blanchard
• Mank – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
• Minari – Emile Mosseri
• Soul – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
• Tenet – Ludwig Göransson

Best Production Design

• First Cow – Anthony Gasparro (Production Design); Vanessa Knoll (Set Decorator)
• Judas and the Black Messiah – Sam Lisenco (Production Design); Rebecca Brown (Set Decorator)
• Mank – Donald Graham Burt (Production Design); Jan Pascale (Set Decorator)
• News of the World – David Crank (Production Design); Elizabeth Keenan (Set Decorator)
• Tenet – Nathan Crowley (Production Design); Kathy Lucas (Set Decorator)

Best Visual Effects

• Greyhound – Pete Bebb, Nathan McGuinness, Whitney Richman, Sebastian Theo von Overheidt
• The Invisible Man – Jonathan Dearing, Marcus Bolton, Matt Ebb, Aevar Bjarnason
• The Midnight Sky – Matt Kasmir, Chris Lawrence, Dave Watkins, Max Soloman
• Possessor – Derek Liscoumb, Murray Barber, Bryan Jones
• Tenet – Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley, Scott Fisher, Mike Chambers

Best Youth Performance (18 years of age or younger upon start of filming)

• Millie Bobby Brown – Enola Holmes
• Alan Kim – Minari
• Ji-hu Park – House of Hummingbird
• Talia Ryder – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
• Helena Zengel – News of the World

Villain of the Year

• Diane Sherman – Run – portrayed by Sarah Paulson
• The Invisible Man/Adrian Griffin – The Invisible Man – portrayed by Oliver Jackson-Cohen
• Judge Julius Hoffman – The Trial of the Chicago 7 – portrayed by Frank Langella
• Michael – Bacurau – portrayed by Udo Kier
• Roman Sionis – Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn – portrayed by Ewan McGregor

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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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