North Dakota Film Society (NDFS): ‘Nomadland’ picks up 5 wins including Best Picture

The 2nd North Dakota Film Society Awards celebrate the best achievements in cinema of 2020. On January 8, the nominations were announced, with David Fincher’s Mank leading the pack with 8. Of the Best Picture nominations (Mank was shut out of the top award category), both Nomadland and Promising Young Woman earned 6 mentions.

NDFS members had one week to review nominations and place their final votes. Once counted, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland was deemed the best film of 2020. The moving drama also picked up awards for Best Director, Best Actress (Frances McDormand, who is also a producer of the film), Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing.

Mank and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm were the only other films to earn multiple wins. The former earned the prizes for Best Production Design and Best Original Score. The latter earned wins for Best Supporting Actress (Maria Bakalova) and Best Original Song (“Wuhan Flu”).

Runners-up are listed for each category.

Best Picture

NOMADLAND
Directed by Chloé Zhao
Produced by Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao

Runners-up (TIE): FIRST COW and I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS

Best Director

Chloé Zhao
NOMADLAND

Runner-up: David Fincher, MANK

Best Actress

Frances McDormand
NOMADLAND

Runner-up: Carey Mulligan, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

Best Actor

Riz Ahmed
SOUND OF METAL

Runner-up: Delroy Lindo, DA 5 BLOODS

Best Supporting Actress

Maria Bakalova
BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM

Runners-up (TIE): Ellen Burstyn, PIECES OF A WOMAN, Amanda Seyfried, MANK, and Yuh-Jung Youn, MINARI

Best Supporting Actor

Sacha Baron Cohen
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

Runner-up: Orion Lee, FIRST COW

Best Screenplay

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Emerald Fennell

Runner-up: I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS

Best Production Design

MANK
Donald Graham Burt (production designer)
Jan Pascale (set decorator)

Runner-up: THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD

Best Cinematography

NOMADLAND
Joshua James Richards

Runner-up: MANK

Best Film Editing

NOMADLAND
Chloé Zhao

Runner-up: TENET

Best Original Score

MANK
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Runner-up: SOUL

Best Original Song

BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
”Wuhan Flu”
Written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Erran Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Swimer, Jena Friedman, Jim Russell, Jerry Holleman

Runner-up: “Rocket to the Moon”, OVER THE MOON

Best International Feature

AND THEN WE DANCED
Directed by Levan Akin
(Georgia)

Runners-up (TIE): BEANPOLE and COLLECTIVE

Best Documentary Feature

ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY
Directed by Liz Garbus, Lisa Cortés
Produced by Liz Garbus, Lisa Cortés, Dan Cogan, Stacey Abrams

Runner-up: DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD

Best Animated Feature

SOUL
Directed by Pete Docter, Kemp Powers
Produced by Pete Docter, Dana Murray

Runner-up: WOLFWALKERS

Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

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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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