Frances McDormand in the film NOMADLAND. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2020 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved
Frances McDormand in the film NOMADLAND. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2020 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) announced the nominees for their top film honors of 2020 with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland leading the field with seven total nominations. Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow and Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things each earned six nominations, while Mank and Promising Young Woman are each recognized with five. Chadwick Boseman posthumously earns dual acting nominations for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Da 5 Bloods.

Winners will be announced at the organization’s annual awards ceremony, a virtual event for Association members to be held on Monday, December 21.

The 2020 Chicago Film Critics Awards again honor a broad list of films and creators, with a total of 43 films nominated across nineteen categories. Fully one third of the nominees this year are women (19 of the 58 nominated individuals); filmmakers Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell each boast three nominations while Kelly Reichardt and Maria Bakalova each have two. In a first for the CFCA, the Best Director category is comprised entirely of women and POC: Emerald Fennell, Spike Lee, Steve McQueen, Kelly Reichardt and Chloé Zhao. And finally, composing duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross achieve a rare double nomination in the same category, earning Best Original Score nominations for their work in both Soul and Mank.

Complete list of 2020 Chicago Film Critics Awards nominations

BEST PICTURE
Da 5 Bloods | First Cow | Lovers Rock | Nomadland | Promising Young Woman

BEST DIRECTOR
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Spike Lee, Da 5 Bloods
Steve McQueen, Lovers Rock
Kelly Reichardt, First Cow
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

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
Carrie Coon, The Nest
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods
Bill Murray, On the Rocks
Leslie Odom, Jr., One Night in Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
David Strathairn, Nomadland

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Toni Collette, I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Letitia Wright, Mangrove
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Da 5 Bloods by Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee
Never Rarely Sometimes Always by Eliza Hittman
Promising Young Woman by Emerald Fennell
Soul by Pete Docter, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers
The Trial of the Chicago 7 by Aaron Sorkin

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Father by Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller
First Cow by Jonathan Raymond & Kelly Reichardt
I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Charlie Kaufman
Nomadland by Chloé Zhao
One Night in Miami by Kemp Powers

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Onward | A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon | Soul | The Wolf House | Wolfwalkers

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Collective | David Byrne’s American Utopia | Dick Johnson is Dead | The Social Dilemma | Time

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A tie in the nominations process resulted in six nominees in this category.
Another Round | Bacurau | Beanpole | Collective | La Llorona | Vitalina Varela

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
First Cow, Christopher Blauvelt
Lovers Rock, Shabier Kirchner
Mank, Erik Messerschmidt
Nomadland, Joshua James Richards
The Vast of Night, Miguel Ioann Littin Menz

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Da 5 Bloods, Terence Blanchard
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Branford Marsalis
Mank, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Soul, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste
Tenet, Ludwig Goransson

BEST ART DIRECTION
Birds of Prey | Emma. | First Cow | I’m Thinking of Ending Things | Mank

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Birds of Prey | Emma. | First Cow | Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom | Mank

BEST USE OF VISUAL EFFECTS
I’m Thinking of Ending Things | The Invisible Man | The Midnight Sky | Possessor | Tenet

BEST EDITING
I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Robert Frazen
Lovers Rock, Chris Dickens & Steve McQueen
Nomadland, Chloé Zhao
Tenet, Jennifer Lame
The Trial of the Chicago 7, Alan Baumgarten

MILOS STEHLIK AWARD FOR PROMISING FILMMAKER
Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Darius Marder, Sound of Metal
Andrew Patterson, The Vast of Night

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Kingsley Ben-Adir, One Night in Miami
Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Kelly O’Sullivan, Saint Frances
Helena Zengel, News of the World

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