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.
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
Chloé Zhao
NOMADLAND
Runner-up: David Fincher, MANK
Frances McDormand
NOMADLAND
Runner-up: Carey Mulligan, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Riz Ahmed
SOUND OF METAL
Runner-up: Delroy Lindo, DA 5 BLOODS
Maria Bakalova
BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
Runners-up (TIE): Ellen Burstyn, PIECES OF A WOMAN, Amanda Seyfried, MANK, and Yuh-Jung Youn, MINARI
Sacha Baron Cohen
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Runner-up: Orion Lee, FIRST COW
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Emerald Fennell
Runner-up: I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS
MANK
Donald Graham Burt (production designer)
Jan Pascale (set decorator)
Runner-up: THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD
NOMADLAND
Joshua James Richards
Runner-up: MANK
NOMADLAND
Chloé Zhao
Runner-up: TENET
MANK
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Runner-up: SOUL
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
AND THEN WE DANCED
Directed by Levan Akin
(Georgia)
Runners-up (TIE): BEANPOLE and COLLECTIVE
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
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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