The Harder They Fall directed by Jeymes Samuel and starring Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, Regina King, Zazie Beetz along with LaKeith Stanfield lead the African American Film Critics Association’s annual list of the top 10 films of the year. Other films on the list include King Richard, Respect, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Passing and Belfast.
The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) announced their top honorees for 2021 with Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” winning Best Film and Best Original Screenplay. The semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama from filmmaker centers on a nine-year-old boy and his family during the troubles in 1969 Northern Ireland.
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.
Licorice Pizza, a coming-of-age drama set in the San Fernando Valley of the Seventies from Paul Thomas Anderson, was named Best Picture of 2021 by Atlanta Film Critics Circle.
The New York Film Critics Circle named Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, the Best Film of 2021, however, the Power of the Dog was the big winner taking the honor of Best Director for Jane Campion, Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch and Best Supporting Actor for Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Sight and Sound, the BFI’s international film magazine, named Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II the Best Film of the Year. Hogg’s glorious follow up to The Souvenir (2019) stars Honor Swinton Byrne, alongside Richard Ayoade, Tilda Swinton, Jaygann Ayeh and Harris Dickinson in this semi-autobiographical portrait of the birth of a filmmaker. This is the second time Joanna Hogg has topped the Sight and Sound annual poll, following The Souvenir coming in first place in 2019 and the first time a woman has topped the Sight and Sound poll twice. This is the third year in a row where the poll has been topped by a British film.
Jane Campion will be honored with the Director of the Year Award, for The Power of the Dog at the Palm Springs International Film Awards. 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.
Netflix released the new official trailer for Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The film won Campion the award for Best Director at this year’s 2021 Venice Film Festival.
Whistler Film Festival (WFF) announced the full film lineup of 81 epic, bold and inspiring films, for its 21st edition with a hybrid offering of online and in-theatre screenings. 20 of 40 features and 25 of 41 shorts directed or co-directed by women or non-binary individuals.
The critically acclaimed drama film The Power Of The Dog, written and directed by Academy Award® winner Jane Campion, has been added to the AFI FEST 2021 lineup as a Red Carpet Premiere event.
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.
Virginia Film Festival is back in-person in its 34th year with a vibrant and diverse program of more than 85 films, including 60 features, and an outstanding lineup of special guests and discussions. The 2021 VAFF will feature theatrical presentations as well as reprise last year’s popular drive-in series at the picturesque Morven Farm in eastern Albemarle County.