The Austin Film Critics Association is the final critics' group to announce its choices for the best in film of the past 14 months, and they're closing things out in fine style. Minari leads their 2020/21 awards nominations with an impressive 11 mentions, including Best Director for which Lee Isaac Chung is the sole male nominee. Best Film and Director nods for First Cow and Never Rarely Sometimes Always are arguably somewhat contradicted by their respective absences in Screenplay and Acting categories respectively, though that's the kind of idiosyncratic voting you'd expect from a group such as the AFCA. They've always dealt out strong, smart nominations, and this year is no exception. Winners will be announced on the 19th of March.
Best Film
First Cow
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland
Minari
Promising Young Woman
Best Director
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Eliza Hittman, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Kelly Reichardt, First Cow
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Best Actress
Nicole Beharie, Miss Juneteenth
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Elisabeth Moss, The Invisible Man
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Best Actor
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods
Steven Yeun, Minari
Best Supporting Actress
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Olivia Colman, The Father
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Youn Yuh Jung, Minari
Helena Zengel, News of the World
Best Supporting Actor
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom Jr, One Night in Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
David Strathairn, Nomadland
Glynn Turman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Best Original Screenplay
Minari
Palm Springs
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Father
The Invisible Man
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Nomadland
One Night In Miami
Best Cinematography
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
Minari
Nomadland
Tenet
Best Original Score
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
Minari
Soul
Tenet
Best Foreign Language Film
Another Round
Bacurau
Beanpole
La Llorona
Minari
Best Documentary
Boys State
Collective
Crip Camp
Dick Johnson is Dead
Time
Best Animated Film
Onward
Over the Moon
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Best Ensemble
Da 5 Bloods
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Minari
One Night In Miami
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Editing
The Father
Mank
Nomadland
Sound of Metal
Tenet
Best Motion Capture / Special Effects Performance
Luke Davis, The Invisible Man
Andrew Jackson, Tenet
Oliver Jackson-Cohen, The Invisible Man
Matt Kasmir, The Midnight Sky
Elisabeth Moss, The Invisible Man
Terry Notary, Call of the Wild
Best Stunts
Birds of Prey: and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Extraction
The Invisible Man
The Old Guard
Tenet
Best First Film
The Forty-Year-Old Version
Miss Juneteenth
One Night in Miami
Palm Springs
Promising Young Woman
The Robert R. “Bobby” McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award
Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Alan S. Kim, Minari
Cathy Yan, Birds of Prey: and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Best Austin Film
Bull
Greenland
The Orange Years
Pahokee
We Can Be Heroes