Dorian Awards: ‘The Power of the Dog,’ ‘Flee,’ Rita Moreno top LGBTQ critics picks; Kristen Stewart and Ariana DeBose win non-gendered acting prizes

Jane Campion continued her record-setting awards run for a female director as she was recognized as Best Director for her adaptation of the 1920’s Western drama The Power of the Dog from GALECA, the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and their annual Dorian Film Awards.

The film was also named Best Film of 2021 and Best Screenplay, making it three wins for Campion, who recently picked up directing wins from BAFTA, Critics’ Choice and the Directors Guild of America.

The animated LGBTQ doc Flee made Oscar history last month when it was nominated in three separate feature categories at the Academy Awards and it was triumphant here with wins for Animated Film, Documentary and LGBTQ Documentary.

This year, GALECA reverted to non-gendered acting awards, featuring 10 nominees for lead performances and 10 for supporting in order to further embrace the wide spectrum of gender that exists not just within the group itself but the world at large.

The winner this year for leading was Kristen Stewart for Spencer and for supporting, Ariana DeBose for West Side Story. DeBose also won the ‘We’re Wilde About You’ Rising Star Award. Both identify as queer women and are also Oscar-nominated for their roles and are among the first in their respective categories to be out at the time of their nominations.

House of Gucci won the group’s Campiest Flick award while Rebecca Hall’s Passing was named Best Unsung Film.

EGOT legend Rita Moreno, 90, became the group’s first Latino winner of the Timeless Star category, which recognizes an actor “whose exemplary career is marked by character, wisdom and wit.” Parallel Mothers writer/director Pedro Almodóvar won both the Wilde Artist award — recognizing a “truly groundbreaking force in film, theatre and/or television” — and the LGBTQIA Film Trailblazer title “for creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity.”

The Dorian Film Awards were first awarded in 2010 and have continued to honor work from mainstream cinema to LGBTQIA+ content. The nonprofit society consists of over 350 critics, journalists and broadcasters involved with media outlets across the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K.

Here is the complete list of winners.

BEST FILM

Drive My Car (Janus)
The Power of the Dog (Netflix) (WINNER)
The Worst Person in the World (Neon) Tick, Tick… Boom! (Netflix)
West Side Story (20th Century Studios)

BEST LGBTQ FILM

Benedetta (IFC Films)
Flee (Neon, Participant) (WINNER)
Parallel Mothers (Sony Pictures Classics) Shiva Baby (Utopia)
The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM

Drive My Car (Janus) (WINNER)
Flee (Neon, Participant)
Parallel Mothers (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Worst Person in the World (Neon)

BEST UNSUNG FILM

Mass (Bleecker Street)
Passing (Netflix) (WINNER)
Shiva Baby (Utopia)
The Green Knight (A24)
Zola (A24)

BEST DIRECTOR

Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog (Netflix) (WINNER)
Julia Ducournau, Titane (Neon)
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car (Janus Films) (Janus)
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
Denis Villeneuve, Dune (Warner Bros.)

BEST SCREENPLAY

Drive My Car (Janus) – Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe (adapted)
Passing (Netflix) – Rebecca Hall (adapted)
The Lost Daughter (Netflix) – Maggie Gyllenhaal (adapted)
The Power of the Dog (Netflix) – Jane Campion (adapted) (WINNER)
The Worst Person in the World (Neon) – Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier (original)

BEST LEADING FILM PERFORMANCE

Nicolas Cage, Pig (Neon)
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Searchlight)
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter (Netflix)
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers (Sony Pictures Classics)
Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick… Boom! (Netflix)
Renate Reinsve, The Worst Person in the World (Neon)
Simon Rex, Red Rocket (A24)
Kristen Stewart, Spencer (Neon) (WINNER)
Tessa Thompson, Passing (Netflix)

BEST SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE

Ariana DeBose, West Side Story (20th Century Studios) (WINNER)
Robin de Jesús, Tick, Tick… Boom! (Netflix)
Colman Domingo, Zola (A24)
Ann Dowd, Mass (Bleecker Street)
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
Mike Faist, West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
Troy Kotsur, CODA (Apple)
Ruth Negga, Passing (Netflix)
Martha Plimpton, Mass (Bleecker Street)
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Flee (Neon, Participant) (WINNER)
Procession (Netflix)
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (Roadside Attractions) Summer of Soul (Searchlight, Hulu)
The Rescue (Greenwich Entertainment, National Geographic)
The Velvet Underground (Apple)

BEST LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY

Ailey (Neon)
Flee (Neon, Participant) (WINNER)
My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios)
Pray Away (Netflix)
Wojnarowicz: F**k You F*ggot F***er (Kino Lorber, World of Wonder)

MOST VISUALLY STRIKING FILM

Dune (Warner Bros.) (WINNER)
Nightmare Alley (Searchlight)
Passing (Netflix)
The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
Titane (Neon)

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Belle (GKids)
Encanto (Disney)
Flee (Neon, Participant) (WINNER)
Luca (Disney)
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Netflix, Sony)

BEST FILM MUSIC

Dune (Warner Bros.)
Encanto (Disney)
Spencer (Neon)
The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
Tick, Tick… Boom! (Netflix) (WINNER)

“WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!” RISING STAR

Ariana DeBose (WINNER)
Alana Haim
Patti Harrison
Jasmin Savoy Brown
Rachel Zegler

WILDE ARTIST

Pedro Almodóvar (WINNER)
Jennifer Coolidge
Lil Nas X
Lin-Manuel Miranda

CAMPIEST FLICK

Annette (Amazon Studios)
Cruella (Disney)
House of Gucci (United Artists) (WINNER)
Malignant (Warner Bros.)
Old (Universal)

TIMELESS STAR

Rita Moreno

GALECA LGBTQIA+ FILM TRAILBLAZER

Pedro Almodóvar

Photos: Kirsty Griffin/Netflix; Nico Tavernise/20th Century Studios; NEON

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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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