The Florida Film Critics Circle awarded its 2020 Best Picture prize to First Cow, Kelly Reichardt’s adaptation of Jonathan Raymond’s The Half Life. Los Fuertes, the Chilean drama about young men in love, won the Best Foreign Film category; and You Don’t Nomi, about the filming of the 1995 camp classic Showgirls, won Best Documentary.
The Circle awarded Nomadland the Best Actress award to Frances McDormand and Best Director to Chloé Zhao. Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor for playing the aging father opposite Olivia Colman in The Father, Florian Zeller’s adaptation of his own play.
The Circle’s Breakout Award went to Sidney Flanigan as the young woman agonizing over an abortion in Never Rarely Sometimes Always.
The Florida Film Critics Circle also awards the Golden Orange each year to a person, film, or organization in Florida that embodies the essence of filmmaking in the Sunshine State. This year’s winner was Maitland, Florida’s non-profit Enzian Theater, a strong voice for arthouse cinema. Like all cinemas this year, it closed for a time and, once reopened, persevered with unique programming, reduced capacity and an expansion of an outdoor area. In August, against the odds, the theater held the Florida Film Festival, arguably the first major in-person festival in the Southeast United States during the pandemic. Enzian managed to hold a combination in-person/virtual festival following CDC protocols safely. Lastly, the Enzian is hoping to build a second screen, which would represent a dramatic improvement to arthouse cinema in Central Florida.
Florida Film Critics Circle 2020 Winners
BEST PICTURE
First Cow
Runner up: Nomadland/Trial of the Chicago 7/Minari
BEST ACTOR
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Runner up: John Magaro, First Cow
BEST ACTRESS
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Runners up: Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom/Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Runner up: Brian Dennehy; Driveways
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Runner up: Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
BEST ENSEMBLE
Mangrove
Runner up: The Trial of the Chicago 7
BEST DIRECTOR
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Runner up: Kelly Reichardt, First Cow, Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Runner up: Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Charlie Kaufman, I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Runners up: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland/ Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
BEST CINEMATOGRPHY
Erik Messerschmidt, Mank
Runner up: Shabier Kirchner, Lovers Rock
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Murray Barber, Possessor
Runner up: Andrew Jackson, Tenet
BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTIOIN
Donald Graham Burt, Mank
Runner up: Adam Marshall, Lovers Rock
BEST SCORE
Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross/Jon Batiste, Soul
Runner up: Ludwig Göransson, Tenet
BEST DOCUMENTARY
You Don’t Nomi
Runner up: Dick Johnson is Dead
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Los Fuertes
Runner up: Minari
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Soul
Runner up: Wolfwalkers
BEST FIRST FILM
Promising Young Woman
Runner up: The Father
BREAKOUT AWARD
Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Runner up: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
THE GOLDEN ORANGE AWARD
ENZIAN Theater