North Dakota Film Critics winners: ‘The Power of the Dog,’ ‘Flee’ take top prizes

The 3rd North Dakota Film Society (NDFS) winners for the best achievements in cinema of 2021 were announced today with Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog winning seven of its 11 nominations, the most of any film, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch) and both supporting awards (Kodi Smit-McPhee and Kirsten Dunst).

Flee was the first animated film ever to be nominated for the Best Picture award in North Dakota Film Society Awards history. The film also earned nominations for Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best International Feature, where it won the latter two.

For eligibility, members of NDFS considered all films released in the calendar year in at least one cinema in North Dakota or on a largely accessible streaming service, in addition to those made available for consideration to members of the society between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021.

Here is the complete list of nominations and winners.

Best Picture

FLEE, Produced by Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen
THE FRENCH DISPATCH, Produced by Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales
LICORICE PIZZA, Produced by Paul Thomas Anderson, Sara Murphy, JoAnne Sellar, Daniel Lupi
NIGHTMARE ALLEY, Produced by J. Miles Dale, Guillermo del Toro, Bradley Cooper
THE POWER OF THE DOG, Produced by Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, Roger Frappier, Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian – WINNER

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, LICORICE PIZZA
Wes Anderson, THE FRENCH DISPATCH
Jane Campion, THE POWER OF THE DOG – WINNER
Guillermo del Toro, NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Lin-Manel Miranda, TICK, TICK…BOOM

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain, THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE
Alana Haim, LICORICE PIZZA
Renate Reinsve, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
Agathe Rousselle, TITANE
Kristen Stewart, SPENCER – WINNER

Best Actor

Nicolas Cage, PIG
Bradley Cooper, NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Benedict Cumberbatch, THE POWER OF THE DOG – WINNER
Andrew Garfield, TICK, TICK…BOOM
Denzel Washington, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Best Supporting Actress

Caitriona Balfe, BELFAST
Jessie Buckley, THE LOST DAUGHTER
Ariana DeBose, WEST SIDE STORY
Kirsten Dunst, THE POWER OF THE DOG – WINNER
Ruth Negga, PASSING

Best Supporting Actor

Bradley Cooper, LICORICE PIZZA
Robin de Jesús, TICK, TICK…BOOM
Mike Faist, WEST SIDE STORY
Ciarán Hinds, BELFAST
Kodi Smit-McPhee, THE POWER OF THE DOG – WINNER

Best Screenplay

C’MON C’MON, Charlie Kaufman
DRIVE MY CAR, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
THE FRENCH DISPATCH, Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola
LICORICE PIZZA, Paul Thomas Anderson – WINNER
THE POWER OF THE DOG, Jane Campion

Best Production Design

DUNE, Patrice Vermette, Richard Roberts, Zsuzsanna Sipos
THE FRENCH DISPATCH, Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo – WINNER
NIGHTMARE ALLEY, Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau
THE POWER OF THE DOG, Grant Major, Amber Richards
WEST SIDE STORY, Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo

Best Cinematography

DUNE, Greig Fraser
THE GREEN KNIGHT, Andrew Droz Palermo
NIGHTMARE ALLEY, Dan Laustsen
THE POWER OF THE DOG, Ari Wegner – WINNER
WEST SIDE STORY, Janusz Kaminski

Best Film Editing

THE FRENCH DISPATCH, Andrew Weisblum
LICORICE PIZZA, Andy Jurgensen
THE POWER OF THE DOG, Peter Sciberras – WINNER
TICK, TICK…BOOM, Myron Kerstein, Andrew Weisblum
WEST SIDE STORY, Sarah Broshar, Michael Kahn

Best Visual Effects

DUNE, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, Gerd Nefzer – WINNER
THE GREEN KNIGHT, Kev Cahill
NO TIME TO DIE, Charlie Noble, Chris Corbould
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Walker, Dan Oliver
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein, Dan Sudick

Best Sound

DUNE, Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill, Ron Bartlett – WINNER
LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, Julian Slater, Dan Morgan, Colin Nicolson, Tim Cavagin
THE POWER OF THE DOG, Robert Mackenzie, Richard Flynn, Leah Katz, Tara Webb, Dave Whitehead
TICK, TICK…BOOM, Paul Hsu, Todd A. Maitland
WEST SIDE STORY, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson, Tod Maitland, Shawn Murphy

Best Costume Design

CRUELLA, Jenny Beavan – WINNER
DUNE, Jacqueline West
THE FRENCH DISPATCH, Milena Canonero
LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, Odile Dicks-Mireaux
WEST SIDE STORY, Paul Tazewell

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

CRUELLA, Nadia Stacey, Carolyn Cousins
DUNE, Donald Mowat, Love Larson, Eva von Bahr
THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE, Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram, Justin Raleigh – WINNER
THE GREEN KNIGHT, Eileen Buggy, Audrey Doyle, Barrie Gower
WEST SIDE STORY, Judy Chin, Kay Georgiou

Best Original Score

DUNE, Hans Zimmer
ENCANTO, Germaine Franco
THE FRENCH DISPATCH, Alexandre Desplat
THE HARDER THEY FALL, Jeymes Samuel
THE POWER OF THE DOG, Jonny Greenwood – WINNER

Best Original Song

ANNETTE, ”So May We Start” Written by Ron Mael and Russell Mael
DON’T LOOK UP, ”Just Look Up” Written by Nicholas Britell, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi and Taura Stinson
ENCANTO, ”Dos Oruguitas” Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda
KING RICHARD, ”Be Alive” Written by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Dixson
NO TIME TO DIE, ”No Time to Die” Written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell – WINNER

Best International Feature

DRIVE MY CAR, Directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
FLEE, Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Denmark) – WINNER
THE HAND OF GOD, Directed by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)
TITANE, Directed by Julia Ducournau (France)
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, Directed by Joachim Trier (Norway)

Best Documentary Feature

THE FIRST WAVE, Directed by Matthew Heineman
FLEE, Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen – WINNER
PROCESSION, Directed by Robert Greene
SUMMER OF SOUL, Directed by Questlove
VAL, Directed by Ting Poo and Leo Scott

Best Animated Feature

FLEE, Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
ENCANTO, Directed by Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Charise Castro Smith – WINNER
LUCA, Directed by Enrico Casarona
THE MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES, Directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe
THE SUMMIT OF THE GODS, Directed by Patrick Imbert

Photos: Kirsty Griffin/Netflix; NEON