‘Minari,’ ‘Nomadland’ lead LGBTQ Critics’ Dorian Awards nominations; ‘The Prom,’ ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ vie for Campiest Flick
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, founded in 2009 and now comprised of over 280 professional journalists covering film and television, has announced nominations for its first separate Dorian Film Awards since splitting the two mediums and Minari and Nomadland lead the way.
The Dorian Awards honor both mainstream and queer titles, but the pandemic necessitated special allowances: Movies given a theatrical or digital theatrical release from January 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021 were considered. Winners will be revealed in the group’s Dorians Film Toast 2021 special set to air on the queer platform Revry on April 18.
Across 16 categories showing a pleasing range of diversity, Lee Isaac Chung’s heartfelt Korean immigrant drama Minari leads with six nominations, including Best Film and Best Foreign Language Film. Following with five nominations is Nomadland, with nods for lead Frances McDormand, two for director and screenwriter Chloé Zhao, and a shot at Most Visually Striking Film.
Zhao is also up for the group’s Wilde Artist Award alongside actress and acclaimed first-time film director Regina King (One Night in Miami), Dolly Parton, Elliot Page and the late Chadwick Boseman, also honored with a posthumous Best Actor nomination for his dynamic turn in the period drama Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The Artist accolade, named in honor of GALECA’s patron saint Oscar Wilde, goes to “a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment.”
Emerald Fennell, writer-director of fellow Best Film contender Promising Young Woman (4 nominations), is a double-nominee herself. Woman’s star Carey Mulligan joins McDormand in the best actress race, alongside Miss Juneteenth’s pageant-mom Nicole Beharie, Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ pregnant teen Sidney Flanigan (also competing for the group’s Rising Star honor), and Viola Davis for her turn as a certain famed blues singer in Ma Rainey’s. McDormand is a past two-time GALECA nominee, while Davis earned a Dorian for her work in 2016’s Fences.
Along with Boseman in the Best Actor category are Anthony Hopkins for The Father, Delroy Lindo for director Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, Riz Ahmed for the addiction drama Sound of Metal and Steven Yeun of Minari.
Rounding out the Best Film hopefuls are the indie fable First Cow (3 nominations total) and Metal (3).
In the past, GALECA has named movies such as Moonlight and Carol both best film and best LGBTQ film, but this year the lists for those two categories are completely different. Aiming for best queer film are the Kate Winslet-Saoirse Ronan period romance Ammonite, the fact-based love story I Carry You with Me, the Stanley Tucci-Colin Firth tearjerker Supernova, writer-director Alan Ball’s dry comedy Uncle Frank and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
In the group’s signature Campiest Flick race: Bad Hair, Birds of Prey, Eurovision Song Contest, The Prom and Wonder Woman 1984.
GALECA’s previous awards special, Dorians TV Toast 2020 on Revry, hosted by queer broadcasting firebrand Karel, featured tributes to such luminaries as Hugh Jackman, Regina King, Janelle Monáe, Billy Porter, John Oliver, Dan Levy and Damon Lindelof. Presenters included Alex Newell, Margaret Cho, Dave Koz, Josh Thomas and Shangela. The program, and its behind-the-scenes companion half-hour Dorians Dish, can be viewed on Revry.TV.
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards go to all of film and TV, from mainstream to queer, helping remind bullies, bigots and at-risk youth that the world looks to “the Q eye” for tips on what’s great in movies and shows. After all, how would the world fare without knowing what’s campy?
Editor’s note: The Boys in the Band was inadvertently left off of the nominees list in information previously provided.
Complete list of Dorian Film Awards nominees:
Best Film
- FIRST COW
- MINARI
- NOMADLAND
- PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
- SOUND OF METAL
Best LGBTQ Film
- AMMONITE
- THE BOYS IN THE BAND
- I CARRY YOU WITH ME
- MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
- SUPERNOVA
- UNCLE FRANK
Best Foreign Language Film
- ANOTHER ROUND
- BACURAU
- I CARRY YOU WITH ME
- LA LLORONA
- MINARI
- TWO OF US
Best Director
- Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND
- Emerald Fennell, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
- Kelly Reichardt, FIRST COW
- Lee Isaac Chung, MINARI
- Regina King, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
Best Screenplay (original or adapted)
- Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND
- Eliza Hittman, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
- Emerald Fennell, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
- Lee Isaac Chung, MINARI
- Radha Blank, THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION
Best Unsung Film
- DRIVEWAYS
- FIRST COW
- MISS JUNETEENTH
- NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
- SHIRLEY
- THE ASSISTANT
Best Documentary
- COLLECTIVE
- CRIP CAMP
- DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD
- DISCLOSURE
- TIME
- WELCOME TO CHECHNYA
Best LGBTQ Documentary
- A SECRET LOVE
- BORN TO BE
- DISCLOSURE: TRANS LIVES ON SCREEN
- MUCHO MUCHO AMOR: THE LEGEND OF WALTER MERCADO
- WELCOME TO CHECHNYA
Best Film Performance — Actress
- Carey Mulligan, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
- Frances McDormand, NOMADLAND
- Nicole Beharie, MISS JUNETEENTH
- Sidney Flanigan, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
- Viola Davis, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Best Film Performance — Actor
- Anthony Hopkins, THE FATHER
- Chadwick Boseman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
- Delroy Lindo, DA 5 BLOODS
- Riz Ahmed, SOUND OF METAL
- Steven Yeun, MINARI
Best Film Performance — SUPPORTING Actress
- Amanda Seyfried, MANK
- Candice Bergen, LET THEM ALL TALK
- Maria Bakalova, BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
- Olivia Colman, THE FATHER
- Youn Yuh-jung, MINARI
Best Film Performance — SUPPORTING Actor
- Chadwick Boseman, DA 5 BLOODS
- Daniel Kaluuya, JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
- Leslie Odom Jr., ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
- Paul Raci, SOUND OF METAL
- Sacha Baron Cohen, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Most Visually Striking Film
- BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN
- MANK
- NOMADLAND
- SOUL
- WOLFWALKERS
Campiest Flick
- BAD HAIR
- BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN
- EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA
- THE PROM
- WONDER WOMAN 1984
“We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award
- Alan S. Kim
- Kingsley Ben-Adir
- Maria Bakalova
- Radha Blank
- Sidney Flanigan
Wilde Artist Award (to a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment)
- Chadwick Boseman
- Chloé Zhao
- Dolly Parton
- Elliot Page
- Regina King
A nonprofit professional organization, GALECA consists of over 280 critics and journalists who write for legitimate media outlets in the United States, Canada, Australia and the U.K. For more info, visit GALECA.org. Support us if you will on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @DorianAwards. And tap your toes to our two theme songs: The cozy “Raise a Glass!” and the spirited “Toast,” performed by The Black Donnellys, at DoriansToast.com.
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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