Kansas City Film Critics: ‘The Power of the Dog’ triumphs in spread out winners list

The Kansas City Film Critics Circle (KCFCC), the 2nd oldest professional film critics association in the U.S. (1966), has revealed its winners for the best in film for 2021 and The Power of the Dog reigned with wins for Best Film, Best Director (Jane Campion) and Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), the only film to win more than one award.

Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story found itself a bridesmaid with runner-up mentions in Best Film, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Ariana DeBose). The film did win one, Adapted Screenplay. Elsewhere, the group spread the wealth quite a bit, with all acting, screenplay and technical winners going to different films, including Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter for Best Actress, Ciarán Hinds in Belfast for Supporting Actor and Ann Dowd in Mass for Supporting Actress.

The KCFCC, the second oldest professional film critic organization in the United States, was founded in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser (1931-2001) who served as the group’s president for over 30 years.

Last year, the group was deadlocked in their Best Film category, which resulted in a tie between Nomadland and Promising Young Woman.

Here is the full list of nominees, winners and runners-up from the 56th Kansas City Film Critics Circle.

Best Film: The Power of the Dog

Runner–up: West Side Story

Robert Altman Award for Best Director: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Runner–up: Steven Spielberg, West Side Story

Best Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog

Runner–up: Andrew Garfield, tick, tick…BOOM!

Best Actress: Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter

Runner–up: Kristen Stewart, Spencer

Best Supporting Actor: Ciarán Hinds, Belfast

Runner–up: Kodi Smit–McPhee, The Power of the Dog

Best Supporting Actress: Ann Dowd, Mass

Runner–up: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story

Best Adapted Screenplay: West Side Story

Runner–up: Drive My Car

Best Original Screenplay: Licorice Pizza

Runner–up: The French Dispatch

Best Cinematography: The Tragedy of Macbeth

Runner–up: Dune

Best Animated Feature: The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Runner–up: Flee

Best Documentary: Summer of Soul

Runner–up: Procession

Best Foreign Film: Drive My Car

Runner–up: The Worst Person in the World

The Tom Poe Award for Best LGBT Film: Flee

Runner–up: The Power of the Dog

Vince Koehler Award for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Film: The Green Knight

Runner–up: Dune

FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS:

Best Film 

• Belfast
• Cyrano
• Dune
• The Green Knight
• Licorice Pizza
• Pig
• The Power of the Dog
• Spider-Man: No Way Home
• The Tragedy Of Macbeth
• West Side Story

Best Director 

• Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
• Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
• Joel Coen – The Tragedy of Macbeth
• Steven Spielberg – West Side Story
• Denis Villeneuve – Dune

Best Actor 

• Nicolas Cage – Pig
• Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
• Peter Dinklage – Cyrano
• Andrew Garfield – Tick, Tick…Boom!
• Will Smith – King Richard

Best Actress 

• Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
• Lady Gaga – House of Gucci
• Alana Haim – Licorice Pizza
• Frances McDormand – The Tragedy of Macbeth
• Kirsten Stewart – Spencer

Best Supporting Actor 

• Bradley Cooper – Licorice Pizza
• Mike Faist – West Side Story
• Ciaran Hinds – Belfast
• Troy Kotsur – Coda
• Kodi Smit-Mcphee – The Power of the Dog

Best Supporting Actress (There Was A Tie For Fifth In This Category) 

• Ariana Debose – West Side Story
• Ann Dowd – Mass
• Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
• Gabby Hoffmann – C’mon, C’mon
• Regina King – The Harder They Fall
• Ruth Negga – Passing

Best Original Screenplay (There Was A Tie For Fifth In This Category) 

• Being The Ricardos
• Belfast
• C’mon C’mon
• The French Dispatch
• Licorice Pizza
• Mass

Best Adapted Screenplay (There Was A Tie For Fifth In This Category) 

• Drive My Car
• Dune
• The Green Knight
• The Power of the Dog
• The Tragedy of Macbeth
• West Side Story

Best Cinematography 

• Belfast
• Dune
• The Power Of The Dog
• The Tragedy Of Macbeth
• West Side Story

Best Animated Feature 

• Encanto
• Flee
• Luca
• The Mitchells Vs the Machines
• Raya and the Last Dragon

Best Foreign Film 

• Drive My Car
• Flee
• The Hand of God
• Petite Maman
• The Worst Person In The World

Best Documentary (There Was A Tie For Fifth In This Category) 

• A Cop Movie
• Flee
• Procession
• The Rescue
• The Sparks Brothers
• Summer of Soul

Vince Kohler Award 

• Dune
• The Green Knight
• Malignant
• Spider-Man: No Way Home
• Werewolves Within

Tom Poe Award 

• Benedetta
• Flee
• Passing
• Parallel Mothers
• The Power of the Dog

Photo: Kirsty Griffin/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), 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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