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 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the feature films eligible for consideration in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature and International Feature Film categories for the 94th Academy Awards®.
TIFF unveiled its list of features and short films for 20th Canada‘s Top Ten, spotlighting work in every genre and honoring a diverse group of filmmakers, as well as emerging directorial talent.
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.
Aleem Khan’s After Love was the big winner at the 2021 British Independent Film Awards winning six awards including Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Debut Director and Best Screenplay for Aleem Khan along with Best Actress for Joanna Scanlan and Best Supporting Actor for Talid Ariss.
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.
HBO documentary series, The Murders at Starved Rock, exploring the 1960 brutal murders of three women at Starved Rock State Park in LaSalle, Illinois and the decades of questions and doubts left in their wake, debuts with the first two episodes back-to-back Tuesday, December 14 (8:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT) and concludes with the final episode Wednesday, December 15 at (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET/PT). From the producers of “McMillion$,” the three-part documentary series will air on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.
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.
HBO documentary Mr. Saturday Night, directed by John Maggio (HBO’s “A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks”) and executive produced by The Ringer’s Bill Simmons (HBO’s “Andre The Giant,” “Showbiz Kids”), chronicles the meteoric career of Australian entrepreneur Robert Stigwood, who gambled on a magazine article about the Brooklyn night club scene and turned it into the 1977 cultural touchstone “Saturday Night Fever,” making a global superstar out of John Travolta and reinvigorating disco with a platinum selling soundtrack anchored by four number-one hits from the Bee Gees.
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.
Directed by Kiwi Chow, the documentary Revolution of Our Times will have its theatrical premiere in New York at Stuart Cinema in Brooklyn (December 10-16) and at Laemmle Noho (December 10-16); the film will also screen at the Roxie in San Francisco on December 18th and 19th.