Joe Wright’s Cyrano was named Best Picture of 2021 by the Detroit Film Critics Society along with Best Actor for Peter Dinklage. Best Actress honors went to Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye. In other categories, Flee and Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) tied for Best Documentary.
The cast of King Richard will be presented with the Ensemble Performance Award at the Palm Springs International Film Awards. The award will be presented to Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Jon Bernthal and Tony Goldwyn, who are all expected to attend. The Film Awards will take place in-person on January 6, 2022 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the festival running through January 17, 2022.
The National Board of Review announced their 2021 honorees, with top awards including Licorice Pizza for Best Film; Paul Thomas Anderson for Best Director for Licorice Pizza; Will Smith for Best Actor for King Richard; and Rachel Zegler for Best Actress for West Side Story.
Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis will receive the Outstanding Performers of the Year Award at the 37th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Smith and Ellis will be honored at an in-person conversation about their cinematic careers leading up to their outstanding performances in this year’s King Richard from Warner Bros Pictures. .
King Richard starring and produced by Will Smith and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, is the winner of the MIAMI GEMS 2021 Audience Award. The film served as the Centerpiece screening for the Miami Film Festival’s annual fall event which took place from November 4-10 at MDC’s Tower Theater Miami.
King Richard starred and produced by Will Smith, won the Overall Audience Choice Award, earning the top score across this year’s entire film lineup at the 30th Heartland International Film Festival. HIFF also honored Will Smith with the Pioneering Spirit Award in celebration of Smith’s portrayal of Richard Williams, which he accepted via surprise video message before the Anniversary Gala Event screening of “King Richard” on October 16 at Newfields.
AFI FEST unveiled the full lineup for this year’s festival including Parallel Mothers, written and directed by Academy Award® winner Pedro Almodóvar, which will screen as a Red Carpet Premiere at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre on Saturday, November 13.
The 24th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival returns in-person and virtually from October 23–30, 2021 with 157 films, including 45 narrative feature films, 15 documentary feature films and 97 shorts – with 63 of these films directed by women.
The Middleburg Film Festival is returning for its ninth year, with a fully in-person selection of film screenings, conversations and events taking place October 14-17 in Northern Virginia’s historic wine and horse country.
AFI FEST 2021 will close with Warner Bros. Pictures’ King Richard, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green with cinematography by Robert Elswit (AFI Class of 1977) and starring two-time Academy Award®nominee Will Smith. The film follows Richard Williams, an undeterred father who, with the support of his family, is instrumental in raising two of the most extraordinarily gifted athletes of all time, Venus and Serena Williams. The Closing Night screening will take place on Sunday, November 14 at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre.
