‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,’ ‘The Woman King’ lead 2023 Black Reel Awards nominations

The nominations for the 2023 Black Reel Awards (“The Bolts”) were announced today and Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King led the way with 14 nominations each, including Outstanding Film, Outstanding Director and Outstanding Actress.

Next was Chinonye Chukwu’s Till with 11, Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection with 10 and both Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny and Jordan Peele’s Nope with 8.

Several actors found themselves with double nominations including Gabrielle Union in Supporting Actress for The Inspection and Voice Performance for Strange World, Thuso Mbedu in Supporting Actress and Breakthrough Actress for The Woman King and Jeremy Pope in Lead Actor and Breakthrough Actor for The Inspection.

The 23rd Annual Black Reel Awards will stream on our site www.blackreelawards.com on Monday, February 6th at 8pm ET / 5 pm PT.

Here is the full list of nominations.

Outstanding Film

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Devotion
• Nope
• Till
• The Woman King

Outstanding Director

• Elegance Bratton, The Inspection
• Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Woman King
• Chinonye Chukwu, Till
• Ryan Coogler, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Jordan Peele, Nope

Outstanding Actor

• John Boyega, Breaking
• Sterling K. Brown, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
• Daniel Kaluuya, Nope
• Jonathan Majors, Devotion
• Jeremy Pope, The Inspection

Outstanding Actress

• Viola Davis, The Woman King
• Danielle Deadwyler, Till
• Anna Diop, Nanny
• Regina Hall, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
• Letitia Wright, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Outstanding Supporting Actor

• Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
• Micheal Ward, Empire of Light
• Michael K. Williams, Breaking
• Bokeem Woodbine, The Inspection
• Jeffrey Wright, The Batman

Outstanding Supporting Actress

• Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Thuso Mbedu, The Woman King
• Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: a Knives Out Mystery
• Keke Palmer, Nope
• Gabrielle Union, The Inspection

Outstanding Screenplay

• Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Elegance Bratton, The Inspection
• Nikyatu Jusu, Nanny
• Jordan Peele, Nope
• Keith Beauchamp, Michael Reilly & Chinonye Chukwu, Till

Outstanding Documentary Feature

• Aftershock (Paula Eislet & Tonya Lewis Lee)
• Descendant (Margaret Brown)
• Is That Black Enough for You? (Elvis Mitchell)
• Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues (Sacha Jenkins)
• Sidney (Reginald Hudlin)

Outstanding International Film

• Neptune Frost (Saul Williams & Anisia Uzeyman, Rwanda)
• Our Father, the Devil (Ellie Foumbi, France)
• Saint Omer (Alice Diop, France)

Outstanding Ensemble

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (casting director Sarah Finn)
• Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul (casting director Shannon Reis)
• The Inspection (casting director Kim Coleman)
• Till (casting director Kim Coleman)
• The Woman King (casting director Aisha Coley)

Outstanding Voice Performance

• Zazie Beetz, The Bad Guys
• Idris Elba, Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Keke Palmer, Lightyear
• Zoe Saldana, Avatar: the Way of Water
• Gabrielle Union, Strange World

Outstanding Cinematography

• Autmun Durald Arkapwa, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Robert Richardson, Emancipation
• Hoyte Van Hoytema, Nope
• Bobby Bukowski, Till
• Polly Morgan, The Woman King

Outstanding Costume Design

• Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Lorraine Coppin, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
• Charlese Antoinette Jones, Nanny
• Marci Rodgers, Till
• Gersha Phillips, The Woman King

Outstanding Editing

• Michael P. Shawver, Kelley Dixon & Jennifer Lame, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Daysha Broadway, I Wanna Dance with Somebody
• Jason Pollard & Alma Herrera-Pazmino, Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues
• James D. Wilcox, Thirteen Lives
• Terilyn A. Shropshire, The Woman King

Outstanding Production Design

• Hannah Beachler, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Wynn Thomas, Devotion
• Ruth De Jong, Nope
• Curtis Beech, Till
• Akin Mckenzie, The Woman King

Outstanding Score

• Common, Alice
• Craig Deleon, End of the Road
• Tanerélle & Bartek Gliniak, Nanny
• Michael Abels, Nope
• Terence Blanchard, The Woman King

Outstanding Original Song

• “Born Again” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• “Keep Rising” from The Woman King
• “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• “Paper Airplanes” from A Jazzman’s Blues
• “Stand Up” from Till

Outstanding Soundtrack

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• A Jazzman’s Blues
• Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story
• Till
• The Woman King

Outstanding Independent Film

• Emergency (Carey Williams)
• Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul (Adamma Ebo)
• The Inspection (Elegance Bratton)
• Master (Mariama Diallo)
• Nanny (Nikyatu Jusu)

Outstanding Short Film

• Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices From a Plantation Prison (Cinque Northern)
• Elegy: My Two Months in Harlem (Andre Lambertson)
• Fannie (Christine Swanson)
• New Moon (Jeremie Balais, Raul Domingo & Jeffig Le Bars)
• North Star (P.J. Palmer)

Outstanding Emerging Director

• Elegance Bratton, The Inspection
• Adamma Ebo, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
• Nikyatu Jusu, Nanny
• Elvis Mitchell, Is That Black Enough for You?
• Carey Williams, Emergency

Outstanding Breakthrough Actor

• Jalyn Hall, Till
• Daryl McCormack, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
• Jeremy Pope, The Inspection
• Quintessa Swindell, Black Adam
• Micheal Ward, Empire of Light

Outstanding Breakthrough Actress

• Sheila Atim, The Woman King
• Charmaine Bingwa, Emancipation
• Anna Diop, Nanny
• Thuso Mbedu, The Woman King
• Dominique Thorne, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Outstanding First Screenplay

• Adamma Ebo, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
• Elegance Bratton, The Inspection
• Mariama Diallo, Master
• Nikyatu Jusu, Nanny
• Kay Oyegun, On the Come Up

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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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