The 86th Annual New York Film Critics Circle trophies were handed out to their winners on Twitter this morning. Getting Best Film (and nothing else) was “First Cow.” Getting her second Best Director award in a row, Chloé Zhao took it for “Nomadland” (and again, nothing else). Winning multiple awards were Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” with both Delroy Lindo and Chadwick Boseman (posthumously) receiving wins for their performances. Spike Lee also nabbed one of the Special Awards for his short “New York, New York.” Sidney Flanigan got another win for her performance in “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” which also grabbed the Best Screenplay award.
BEST FILM
“First Cow”
BEST DIRECTOR
Chloé Zhao
“Nomadland”
BEST ACTOR
Delroy Lindo
“Da 5 Bloods”
BEST ACTRESS
Sidney Flanigan
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Chadwick Boseman
“Da 5 Bloods”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Maria Bakalova
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
BEST SCREENPLAY
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Eliza Hittman
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Small Axe”
Shabier Kirchner
BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Wolfwalkers”
BEST NONFICTION FILM
“Time”
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
“Bacurau”
BEST FIRST FILM
Radha Blank
“The Forty-Year-Old Version”
SPECIAL AWARD
Kino Lorber
“for their creation of Kino Marquee, a virtual cinema distribution service that was designed to help support movie theaters, not destroy them”
SPECIAL AWARD
Spike Lee
“for inspiring the New York community with his short film “New York New York” and for advocating for a better society through cinema”
QUICK LIST
Best Film: “First Cow”
Best Director: Chloé Zhao — “Nomadland”
Best Actor: Delroy Lindo — “Da 5 Bloods”
Best Actress: Sidney Flanigan — “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Best Supporting Actor: Chadwick Boseman — “Da 5 Bloods”
Best Supporting Actress: Maria Bakalova — “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
Best Screenplay: “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” — Eliza Hittman
Best Cinematography: “Small Axe” — Shabier Kirchner
Best Animated Film: “Wolfwalkers”
Best Nonfiction Film: “Time”
Best Foreign-Language Film: “Bacurau”
Best First Film: Radha Blank — “The 40-Year-Old Version”
Special Award: Kino Lorber
Special Award: Spike Lee
NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE
The New York Film Critics Circle is an organization of film reviewers from New York-based publications that exists to honor excellence in U.S. and world cinema.
Founded in 1935, the Circle’s membership includes critics from daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, magazines, and qualifying online general-interest publications. Every year in December the organization meets in New York to vote on awards for the previous calendar year’s films.
Among the categories: best picture, director, screenplay, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, cinematography, animated film, and best first feature. Special standalone awards are also given to individuals and organizations that have made substantial contributions to the art of cinema, including producers, directors, actors, writers, critics, historians, film restorers, and service organizations.
The Circle’s awards are often viewed as harbingers of the Oscar nominations, which are announced each February. The Circle’s awards are also viewed, perhaps more accurately, as a principled alternative to the Oscars, honoring aesthetic merit in a forum that is immune to commercial and political pressures.
