Black Film Critics Circle Awards: ‘King Richard’ wins big, plus Tessa Thompson, Questlove, ‘The Harder They Fall’

Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard, about the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, was the big winner from the Black Film Critics Circle, who announced today. Winners were first revealed in Variety.

The film was named Best Picture and also garnered wins for Will Smith as Best Actor, Aunjanue Ellis as Best Supporting Actress and for Zach Baylin’s original screenplay.

Tessa Thompson won Best Actress for Passing and Kodi Smit-McPhee won Supporting Actor for The Power of the Dog, which also won Jane Campion the adapted screenplay award.

Dennis Villeneuve won Best Director for Dune, which also took the cinematography prize for Greig Fraser. The Harder They Fall was the year’s best ensemble as well as the group’s #2 film.

The org’s special awards went to Janicza Bravo for Zola (Pioneer Award), Jeymes Samuel (Rising Star Award) for The Harder They Fall and a Special Mention for Questlove, director of documentary winner Summer of Soul.

Here is the full list of winners, signature awards and top 10 films from the Black Film Critics Circle for 2021.

Best Picture: King Richard (Warner Bros/HBO Max)

Director: Denis Villeneuve, Dune (Warner Bros/HBO Max)

Actor: Will Smith, King Richard (Warner Bros/HBO Max)

Actress: Tessa Thompson, Passing (Netflix)

Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard (Warner Bros/HBO Max)

Original Screenplay: Zach Baylin, King Richard (Warner Bros/HBO Max)

Adapted Screenplay: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

Cinematography: Greig Fraser, Dune (Warner Bros/HBO Max)

Documentary: Summer of Soul (Hulu/Searchlight Pictures)

Animated Film: The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Netflix)

Foreign Film: The Hand of God (Netflix)

Ensemble: The Harder They Fall (Netflix)

BFCC Signature Awards

Pioneer Award: Janicza Bravo, Zola (A24)

Rising Star: Jeymes Samuel, The Harder They Fall (Netflix)

Special Mention: Questlove

Top 10 Films

1. King Richard (Warner Bros/HBO Max)
2. The Harder They Fall (Netflix)
3. The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
4. West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
5. Respect (MGM/UAR)
6. Summer of Soul (Hulu/Searchlight Pictures)
7. Dune (Warner Bros/HBO Max)
8. The Tragedy of Macbeth (A24/Apple Original Films)
9. Cyrano (MGM/UAR)
10. Passing (Netflix)

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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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