Minnesota Film Critics nominations: ‘Dune’ and ‘The Power of the Dog’ lead

Dune and The Power of the Dog led the 2nd Minnesota Film Critics Alliance (MNFCA) nominations today and tied for the most nominations, with each film earning 11 mentions, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Other Best Picture nominees receiving multiple nominations were West Side Story with eight, Licorice Pizza with five and Nightmare Alley with four.

Eligible films for this year’s awards included those released from March-December 2021. Movies released from January-February 2021 were made eligible in last year’s awards process because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The MNFCA is a 21 person group with members working in print, digital, broadcast and podcast media. Members are from across the state, with some in the Twin Cities metro region and others located in Greater Minnesota communities such as Brainerd, Duluth, Fargo-Moorhead, Rochester, and Wahpeton-Breckenridge.

Winners will be announced March 6. See the full list of nominees below.

BEST PICTURE

• “Dune”
• “Licorice Pizza”
• “Nightmare Alley”
• “The Power of the Dog”
• “West Side Story”

BEST DIRECTOR

• Paul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”
• Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”
• Ryusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car”
• Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story”
• Denis Villeneuve, “Dune”

BEST ACTOR

• Nicholas Cage, “Pig”
• Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Power of the Dog”
• Andrew Garfield, “Tick, Tick… Boom”
• Will Smith, “King Richard”
• Denzel Washington, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”

BEST ACTRESS

• Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
• Penelope Cruz, “Parallel Mothers”
• Alana Haim, “Licorice Pizza”
• Emilia Jones, “CODA”
• Kristen Stewart, “Spencer”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Bradley Cooper, “Licorice Pizza”
• Ciaran Hinds, “Belfast”
• Troy Kotsur, “CODA”
• Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog”
• Jesse Plemons, “The Power of the Dog”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”
• Kirsten Dunst, “The Power of the Dog”
• Aunjanue Ellis, “King Richard”
• Kathryn Hunter, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
• Ruth Negga, “Passing”

BEST ENSEMBLE

• “Belfast”
• “Dune”
• “The Harder They Fall”
• “The Power of the Dog”
• “West Side Story”

BEST SCREENPLAY

• “Dune,” by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth
• “Licorice Pizza,” by Paul Thomas Anderson
• “Parallel Mothers,” by Pedro Almodóvar
• “Pig,” by Michael Sarnoski
• “The Power of the Dog,” by Jane Campion

BEST EDITING

• “Dune”
• “The Last Duel”
• “The Power of the Dog”
• “Tick, Tick… Boom”
• “West Side Story”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• “Dune”
• “Nightmare Alley”
• “The Power of the Dog”
• “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
• “West Side Story”

BEST MUSIC

• “Dune”
• “Encanto”
• “The Green Knight”
• “The Power of the Dog”
• “Spencer”

BEST COSTUME/MAKE-UP

• “Cruella”
• “Dune”
• “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
• “Nightmare Alley”
• “Spencer”

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

• “Dune”
• “Last Night in Soho”
• “Nightmare Alley”
• “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
• “West Side Story”

BEST SOUND WORK

• “Dune”
• “Last Night in Soho”
• “No Time to Die”
• “A Quiet Place Part II”
• “West Side Story”

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

• “Dune”
• “Godzilla Vs. Kong”
• “No Time to Die”
• “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
• “Spider-Man: No Way Home”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

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

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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.

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