Black Reel Awards Nominations: Moonlight Leads with 13

Erik Anderson December 15, 2016

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Moonlight continued its critics’ nomination domination with a field-best 13 nominations from the Black Reel Awards. That included three nominations in supporting actor (for Mahershala Ali, Andre Holland, and Ashton Sanders) plus another three in a single category – Breakthrough Performance, Male – where Alex Hibbert, Trevante Rhodes, and Sanders were nodded. Fences followed closely with 10 nominations, including three for Denzel Washington as actor, director, and co-producer of the film. Don Cheadle was also a triple-nominee for Miles Ahead as actor, director, and writer.

Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation, which weathered an unbeatable controversy ahead of its release this fall, didn’t end up in Motion Picture but nearly everywhere else below that including Directing, Writing and Acting nominations for Parker.

Replacing TBOAN in Motion Picture was Manchester by the Sea. While you might scratch your head and wonder why a film that is as white as MbtS is, it’s important to know that the film’s producer, Kimberly Steward, is African-American. The daughter of a billionaire tech mogul, Steward is using her money and her might to fund independent film (much like Annapurna’s Megan Ellison does). If Manchester by the Sea is nominated for Oscar’s Best Picture (and there’s no reason to think it won’t be) Steward will become just the second black woman (after Oprah Winfrey, no less) to be nominated in Oscar’s top category.

Here is the full list of nominations. For Independent and Television categories go here.

Outstanding Motion Picture
13TH | Howard Barish, Ava DuVernay & Spencer Averick; producers (Netflix)
Fences | Denzel Washington, Todd Black & Scott Rudin; producers (Paramount)
Loving | Colin Firth, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Nancy Buirski, Sarah Green & Ged Doherty; producers (Focus Features)
Manchester by the Sea | Matt Damon, Kimberly Stewart, Lauren Beck, Chris Moore & Kevin J. Walsh; producers (Roadside Attractions/ Amazon Studios)
Moonlight | Dede Gardner, Adele Romanski & Jeremy Kleiner; producers (A24)

Outstanding Actor, Motion Picture
Don Cheadle | Miles Ahead (Sony Picture Classics)
Nate Parker | The Birth of a Nation (Fox Searchlight)
Parker Sawyers | Southside With You (Roadside Attractions/ Miramax)
Denzel Washington | Fences (Paramount)
Denzel Washington | The Magnificent Seven (MGM/Columbia Pictures)

Outstanding Actress, Motion Picture
Taraji P. Henson | Hidden Figures (20th Century Fox)
Royalty Hightower | The Fits (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Sasha Lane | American Honey (A24)
Ruth Negga | Loving (Focus Features)
Madina Nwalanga | Queen of Katwe (Walt Disney)

Outstanding Director, Motion Picture
Don Cheadle | Miles Ahead (Sony Picture Classics)
Antoine Fuqua | The Magnificent Seven (MGM/Columbia Pictures)
Barry Jenkins | Moonlight (A24)
Nate Parker | The Birth of a Nation (Fox Searchlight)
Denzel Washington | Fences (Paramount)

Outstanding Screenplay, Motion Picture
The Birth of a Nation | Nate Parker (Fox Searchlight)
Fences | August Wilson (Paramount)
Keanu | Jordan Peele & Alex Rubens (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Miles Ahead | Don Cheadle & Steven Baigelman (Sony Picture Classics)
Moonlight | Barry Jenkins (A24)

Outstanding Documentary Feature
13th | Ava Duvernay; director (Netflix)
I Am Not Your Negro | Raoul Peck; director (Magnolia Pictures)
Life, Animated | Roger Ross Williams; director (The Orchard)
Miss Sharon Jones! | Barbara Kopple; director (Starz Digital Media)
O.J.: Made in America | Ezra Edelman; director (ESPN)

Outstanding Foreign Language Film
Aisha (Tanzania) | Chande Omar; director
Divines (France) | Uda Benyamina; director (Netflix)
Eye of the Storm (Burkina Faso) | Sekou Traore; director
Lamb (Ethiopia) | Yared Zeleke; director (Kimstim Films)
Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in It (Niger) | Christopher Kirley; director

Outstanding Ensemble
The Birth of a Nation | Andrea Craven, Craig Fincannon, Lisa Mae Fincannon, Mary Vernieu, Michelle Wade Byrd; casting directors (Fox Searchlight)
Fences | Victoria Thomas (Paramount)
Hidden Figures | (20th Century Fox)
Keanu | Nicole Abellera & Jeanne McCarthy; casting directors (Warner Bros.)
Moonlight | Yesi Ramirez; casting director (A24)

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female
Royalty Hightower | The Fits (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Leslie Jones | Ghostbusters (Columbia Pictures)
Aja Naomi King | The Birth of a Nation (Fox Searchlight)
Sasha Lane | American Honey (A24)
Janelle Monae | Hidden Figures (20th Century Fox)

Outstanding Score
The Birth of a Nation | Henry Jackman; composer (Fox Searchlight)
Fences | Marcelo Zarvos; composer (Paramount)
Hidden Figures | Benjamin Wallfisch, Pharrell Williams & Hans Zimmer; composers (20th Century Fox)
Miles Ahead | Robert Glasper; composer (Sony Picture Classics)
Moonlight | Nicholas Britell; composer (A24)

Outstanding Original Song
“A Letter to the Free” from 13th | Performed by: Common & Bilal; Written by: Common (Netflix)
“Back to Life” from Queen of Katwe | Performed by: Alicia Keys; Written by: Alicia Keys, Illangelo & Billy Walsh (Walt Disney)
“I’m Still Here” from Miss Sharon Jones! | Written & Performed by: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (Starz Digital Media)
“Start” from Southside With You | Written & Performed by: John Legend (Roadside Attractions/ Miramax)
“Surrender” from Hidden Figures | Performed by: Lalah Hathaway & Pharrell Williams; Written by: Pharrell Williams (20th Century Fox)

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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.