The LAFCA has named Steve McQueen’s Small Axe best picture of the year. The win is significant because the film hasn’t been campaigning for the big prize but the Los Angeles Film Critics bestowed it with the honor anyway. This could make the film a possible player in the Best Picture race at the Academy Awards.
Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland took the runner-up spot while two films switched places with the Best Director category going to Zhao while McQueen came in second. Other big winners included Promising Young Woman’s Carey Mulligan claiming the Best Actress award while the late Chadwick Boseman earned Best Actor for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The organization gave the New Generation Award to Radha Blank, the director, writer, and star of The 40-Year-Old Version. Meanwhile, LAFCA rewarded Career Achievement Awards to Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Harry Belafonte. LAFCA President Claudia Puig had this to say about this year’s winners:
“We are so thrilled to honor the unprecedented, resonant and masterful ‘Small Axe,’ Steve McQueen’s quintet of thematically linked films And we are also honored to award the artistry of a wonderfully diverse and massively talented group of winning filmmakers. Particularly notable in a year when the film industry took a huge blow, our winners reflect extraordinary achievement.”
Last year, the Los Angeles critics tapped eventual Best Picture winner Parasite as its choice for Best Picture. That film’s director Bong Joon Ho won Best Director. It will be interesting to see if their choices this year match up with The Academy. You can check out the full list of winners below:
Read the complete list of LAFCA winners below.
Best Picture
Winner: SMALL AXE
Runner-up: NOMADLAND
Best Director
Winner: Chloe Zhao, NOMADLAND
Runner-up: Steve McQueen, SMALL AXE
Best Actress
Winner: Carey Mulligan, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Runner-up: Viola Davis, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Best Actor
Winner: Chadwick Boseman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Runner-up: Riz Ahmed, SOUND OF METAL
Best Documentary
Winner: TIME
Runner-up: COLLECTIVE
Best Screenplay
Winner: Emerald Fennell, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Runner-up: Eliza Hittman, NEVER REALLY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
Best Animation
Winner: WOLFWALKERS
Runner-up: SOUL
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Winner: Youn Yuh-jung, MINARI
Runner-up: Amanda Seyfried, MANK
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Glynn Turman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Runner-up: Paul Raci, SOUND OF METAL
Editing
Winner: Yorgos Lamprinos, THE FATHER
Runner-up: Gabriel Rhodes, TIME
Best Production Design
Winner: Donald Graham Burt, MANK
Runner-up: Sergey Ivanov, BEANPOLE
Best Music/Score
Winner: SOUL
Runner-up: LOVERS ROCK
Best Cinematography
Winner: SMALL AXE, Shabier Kirchner
Runner-up: NOMADLAND, Joshua James Richards
Best Foreign-Language Film
Winner: BEANPOLE
Runner-up: MARTIN EDEN
The Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award
Winner: John Gianvito’s HER SOCIALIST SMILE
New Generation Award
Winner: Radha Blank, THE 40-YEAR-OLD-VERSION
Career Achievement Award
Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Harry Belafonte
Legacy Award
Norman Lloyd
