‘The Power of the Dog’ leads 2022 LGBTQ Critics Dorian Awards nominations

The Power of the Dog, Flee, West Side Story, Passing and more led the LGBTQ Critics Dorian Award nominations, announced on Tuesday.

Jane Campion’s volatile period drama The Power of the Dog leads the pack with nine nods, including for best film, LGBTQ film, director and three for acting. Coming in a few rungs lower with five nominations each: The 1920s-set racial drama Passing, the unusual animated refugee documentary Flee, and Steven Spielberg’s vibrant reimagining of West Side Story.

Dog and Story contend for Best Film along with three films that received four Dorian nominations each in all: The bittersweet Japanese relationship drama Drive My Car, Sweden’s acerbic romantic comedy The Worst Person in the World and Tick, Tick. . .Boom!, the poignant musical about the too-short life of Rent creator Jonathan Larson.

In the studio numbers race, Netflix itself was top dog with 23 nominations for its titles. Neon earned 18 on the strength of Flee and Spencer, and Disney / 20th Century Studios scored nine.

Adopting gender-neutral categories this year, performances nominated lead include Nicolas Cage in Pig, Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog, Penélope Cruz in Parallel Mothers and Kristen Stewart in Spencer. Supporting performances from Colman Domingo in Zola, Ariana DeBose and Mike Faist in West Side Story, Robin de Jesús, tick, tick. . . Boom! and Ruth Negga in Passing earned nominations. Overall, female-identifying actors outnumbered male-identifying actors in both categories with several nominees also identifying as LGBTQ+.

It’s all women vying for GALECA’s Rising Star award: Story breakouts Ariana DeBose and Rachel Zegler, Licorice Pizza find Alana Haim, actress-comedian Patti Harrison (Together Together) and Jasmin Savoy Brown (Scream, TV’s Yellowjackets).

“You could say the movies and performances chosen by our Society’s members are a reflection of what appeals to the entire trendsetting Queer and Trans community,” said GALECA President Monika Estrella Negra. “As our representation grows in the industry and beyond, expect the Dorian Awards to continue to shine light on the importance, and excitement, of having diverse critical eyes on cinema. There is much work to be done in advancing a variety of voices and images that often go unheard and unseen.”

In the inaugural Best Animated Film category, Flee is up against the sci-fi fantasy Belle, Disney charmers Encanto and Luca, and Netflix’s invading-robots tale The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Also new: The Dorian award for Best Film Music. Encanto, with original songs by the aforementioned Miranda and an ambitious score by Disney glass ceiling breaker Germaine Franco and Spencer, featuring a haunting score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, are among the nominees there.

The group’s trademark Campiest Flick honor, the nominees are the fashion biz drama House of Gucci (starring past Dorian Award winner Lady Gaga), the stylized Adam Driver musical Annette, horror lark Malignant and M. Night Shyamalan’s beach-that-makes-you-old tale, Old. Disney’s cheeky, over-the-top 101 Dalmatians prequel Cruella rounds things out.

The Wilde Artist nominees, celebrating “a truly groundbreaking force in film, theatre and/or television” are: Pedro Almodóvar, Jane Campion, Jennifer Coolidge, Lil Nas X and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Formed in 2009, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards go to the best in film and TV, mainstream to queer+, at separate times of the year. GALECA consists of over 350 critics, journalists and broadcasters who work for some of the most prominent and influential media outlets in the United States, Canada, Australia and the U.K. and is a nonprofit professional organization.

Winners will be announced on March 17. Here is the complete list of nominations.

BEST FILM

• Drive My Car (Janus)
• The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
• The Worst Person in the World (Neon)
• tick, tick…BOOM! (Netflix)
• West Side Story (20th Century Studios)

BEST LGBTQ FILM

• Benedetta (IFC Films)
• Flee (Neon, Participant)
• Parallel Mothers (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Shiva Baby (Utopia)
• The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM

• Drive My Car (Janus)
• Flee (Neon, Participant)
• Parallel Mothers (Sony Pictures Classics)
• The Worst Person in the World (Neon)
• Titane (Neon)

BEST UNSUNG FILM

• Mass (Bleecker Street)
• Passing (Netflix)
• Shiva Baby (Utopia)
• The Green Knight (A24)
• Zola (A24)

BEST DIRECTOR

• Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
• Julia Ducournau, Titane (Neon)
• Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car (Janus Films) (Janus)
• Steven Spielberg, West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
• Denis Villeneuve, Dune (Warner Bros.)

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Drive My Car (Janus) – Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe (adapted)
• Passing (Netflix) – Rebecca Hall (adapted)
• The Lost Daughter (Netflix) – Maggie Gyllenhaal (adapted)
• The Power of the Dog (Netflix) – Jane Campion (adapted)
• The Worst Person in the World (Neon) – Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier (original)

BEST LEAD FILM PERFORMANCE

• Nicolas Cage, Pig (Neon)
• Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Searchlight)
• Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter (Netflix)
• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
• Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Andrew Garfield, tick, tick…BOOM! (Netflix)
• Renate Reinsve, The Worst Person in the World (Neon)
• Simon Rex, Red Rocket (A24)
• Kristen Stewart, Spencer (Neon)  
• Tessa Thompson, Passing (Netflix)

BEST SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE

• Ariana DeBose, West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
• Robin de Jesús, tick, tick…BOOM! (Netflix)
• Colman Domingo, Zola (A24)
• Ann Dowd, Mass (Bleecker Street)
• Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
• Mike Faist, West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
• Troy Kotsur, CODA (Apple)
• Ruth Negga, Passing (Netflix)
• Martha Plimpton, Mass (Bleecker Street)
• Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• Flee (Neon, Participant)
• Procession (Netflix)
• Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (Roadside Attractions)
• Summer of Soul (Searchlight, Hulu)
• The Rescue (Greenwich Entertainment, National Geographic)
• The Velvet Underground (Apple)

BEST LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY

• Ailey (Neon)
• Flee (Neon, Participant)
• My Name is Pauli Murray (Amazon Studios)
• Pray Away (Netflix)
• Wojnarowicz: F**k You F*ggot F***er (Kino Lorber, World of Wonder)

MOST VISUALLY STRIKING FILM

• Dune (Warner Bros.)
• Nightmare Alley (Searchlight)
• Passing (Netflix)
• The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
• West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
• Titane (Neon)

BEST ANIMATED FILM

• Belle (GKids)                                                                                               
• Encanto (Disney)
• Flee (Neon, Participant)
• Luca (Disney)
• The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Netflix, Sony)

BEST FILM MUSIC

• Dune (Warner Bros.)
• Encanto (Disney)
• Spencer (Neon)  
• The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
• tick, tick…BOOM! (Netflix)

“WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!” RISING STAR

• Ariana DeBose
• Alana Haim                                                                                     
• Patti Harrison
• Jasmin Savoy Brown
• Rachel Zegler

WILDE ARTIST

(to a truly groundbreaking force in film, theatre and/or television)

• Pedro Almodóvar
• Jane Campion
• Jennifer Coolidge
• Lil Nas X
• Lin-Manuel Miranda  

CAMPIEST FLICK

• Annette (Amazon Studios)
• Cruella (Disney)
• House of Gucci (United Artists)
• Malignant (Warner Bros.)
• Old (Universal)

FILMS RECEIVING MORE THAN ONE DORIAN FILM AWARD NOMINATION

The Power of the Dog (Netflix) – 9

Flee (Neon, Participant) – 5

Passing (Netflix) – 5

West Side Story (20th Century Studios) – 5

Drive My Car (Janus) – 4

The Worst Person in the World (Neon) – 4

Tick, Tick. . . Boom! (Netflix) – 4

Dune (Warner Bros.) – 3

Mass (Bleecker Street) – 3

Parallel Mothers (Sony Pictures Classics) – 3

Titane (Neon) – 3

Encanto (Disney) – 2

Shiva Baby (Utopia) – 2

Spencer (Neon) – 2

The Lost Daughter (Netflix) – 2

Zola (A24) – 2

NUMBER OF DORIAN FILM AWARD NOMINATIONS PER STUDIO

Netflix: 23

Neon: 18

Disney / 20th Century Studios: 9

A24: 4

Janus: 4

Warner Bros: 4

Bleecker Street: 3 

Searchlight: 3

Sony Pictures Classics: 3

Amazon Studios: 2

Apple: 2

Utopia: 2

GKids: 1

Greenwich Entertainment: 1

Hulu: 1

IFC Films: 1

Kino Lorber: 1

National Geographic: 1

Participant: 1 

Roadside Attractions: 1

Sony: 1

United Artists: 1

World of Wonder: 1

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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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