Chicago Indie Critics winners: ‘CODA,’ ‘The Power of the Dog’ named Best Film

Sian Heder’s CODA and Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog both triumphed at the Chicago Indie Critics awards last night with Best Film wins in two categories: Independent Film (CODA) and Studio Film (The Power of the Dog).

For CODA, it was the sole win from its six nominations. The Power of the Dog, which led the nominations with nine, earned two more wins: Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, both for Campion.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune came in with eight nominations and managed one win, for Hans Zimmer’s score. Andrew Garfield, Tessa Thompson, Jeffrey Wright and Ruth Negga were the group’s acting winners with The French Dispatch nabbing the Ensemble Cast prize.

Below the line wins were spread out among Cruella, The Green Knight, Nightmare Alley and more. The Trailblazer Award went to Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Impact Award was given to Ryan Oestreich, General Manager of the Music Box Theater in Chicago.

Here is the complete list of winners from the Chicago Indie Critics.

Best Independent Film (Budgets Under $20 Million): CODA
Best Studio Film (Budgets Over $20 Million): The Power of the Dog

Best Director: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Best Actor: Andrew Garfield, tick, tick…BOOM!
Best Actress: Tessa Thompson, Passing
Best Supporting Actor: Jeffrey Wright, The French Dispatch
Best Supporting Actress: Ruth Negga, Passing

Best Original Screenplay: Michael Sarnoski, Pig
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Best Animated Film: The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Best Documentary: Summer of Soul
Best Foreign Language Film: Parallel Mothers

Best Ensemble Cast: The French Dispatch (Casting Directors: Douglas Aibel and Antoinette Boulat)
Best Cinematography: Andrew Droz Palermo, The Green Knight
Best Editing: Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar, West Side Story
Best Production Design: Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau, Nightmare Alley
Best Costume Design: Jenny Beavan, Cruella
Best Makeup: The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram, and Justin Raleigh)
Best Musical Score: Hans Zimmer, Dune
Best Original Song: “No Time to Die” from No Time to Die (Songwriters: Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell)
Best Visual Effects: Spider-Man: No Way Home (Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein, and Dan Sudick)
Best Stunts: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Andy Cheng)

Special Awards:

Trailblazer Award: Lin-Manuel Miranda, filmmaker
Impact Award: Ryan Oestreich, General Manager – Music Box Theater

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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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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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