The North Carolina Film Critics Association has announced its award nominations for 2020, with Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods leading the pack with seven nods. Lee Isaac Chung's Minari and Chloe Zhao's Nomadland are right behind it with six apiece. This year, the NCFCA expanded its repertoire to look backward through cinema's rich archives, as so many of us have during the pandemic. Their newest category, Best Restoration, is a welcome inclusion to their lineup. Winners will be announced a week today, on the 4th of January.
BEST NARRATIVE FILM Da 5 Bloods Minari Nomadland Promising Young Woman The Trial of the Chicago 7
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM All In: The Fight for Democracy Boys State David Byrne’s American Utopia Dick Johnson Is Dead Time
BEST ANIMATED FILM The Croods: A New Age Onward Over the Moon Soul Wolfwalkers
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Another Round Bacurau Beanpole La Llorona Night of Kings
BEST DIRECTOR Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) David Fincher (Mank) Regina King (One Night in Miami) Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods) Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Erik Messerschmidt (Mank) Joshua James Richards (Nomadland) Newton Thomas Sigel (Da 5 Bloods) Hoyte van Hoytema (Tenet)
Dariusz Wolski (News of the World)
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 ACTRESS Jessie Buckley (I’m Thinking of Ending Things) Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) Frances McDormand (Nomadland) Elisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man) Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Chadwick Boseman (Da 5 Bloods) Bill Murray (On the Rocks) Paul Raci (Sound of Metal) David Strathairn (Nomadland)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) Toni Colette (I’m Thinking of Ending Things) Olivia Colman (The Father) Amanda Seyfried (Mank) Youn Yuh-jung (Minari)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Danny Bilson, Paul de Meo, Spike Lee and Kevin Willmott (Da 5 Bloods) Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Jack Fincher (Mank) Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Charlie Kaufman (I’m Thinking of Ending Things)
Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami)
Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt (First Cow) Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS The Invisible Man The Midnight Sky Mulan Tenet Wonder Woman 1984
BEST MUSIC Da 5 Bloods Mank Minari Soul Tenet
KEN HANKE MEMORIAL TAR HEEL AWARD The Dancin’ Bulldogs – The Gardner-Webb University basketball team’s 2018-2019 season Will Patton (Minari) – Attended North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem Gary Wheeler (Blue Ridge / The Warrant) – North Carolina based film producer / Appalachian State University Alum.
BEST RESTORATION (A special award to acknowledge a previously released film that was restored and/or rereleased theatrically or on DVD) Beau Travail (The Criterion Collection) Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Warner Bros.) Mädchen in Uniform (Kino Lorber) Native Son (Kino Lorber) Roman Holiday (Paramount Home Entertainment)