The complete list of 2020 Chicago Film Critics Awards nominations is as follows:
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
NOMINATION TOTALS
7 – Nomadland
Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actress | Best Supporting Actor | Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Editing | Best Cinematography
6 – Da 5 Bloods
Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actor | Best Supporting Actor | Best Original Screenplay
Best Original Score
First Cow
Best Picture | Best Director | Best Adapted Screenplay | Best Costume Design | Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Best Actress | Best Supporting Actress | Best Adapted Screenplay | Best Use of Visual Effects
Best Editing | Best Art Direction
5 – Mank
Best Supporting Actress | Best Costume Design | Best Art Direction | Best Original Score
Best Cinematography
Promising Young Woman
Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actress | Best Original Screenplay | Breakthrough FIlmmaker
4 – Lovers Rock
Best Pictures | Best Director | Best Editing | Best Cinematography
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Best Actress | Best Actor | Best Costume Design | Best Original Score
3 – Minari
Best Actor | Best Supporting Actress | Breakthrough Filmmaker
One Night in Miami
Best Supporting Actor | Best Adapted Screenplay | Most Promising Performer
Soul
Best Animated Film | Best Original Score | Best Original Screenplay
Sound of Metal
Best Actor | Best Supporting Actor | Breakthrough Filmmaker
Tenet
Best Editing | Best Use of Visual Effects | Best Original Score
2 – Birds of Prey – Best Costumes | Best Art Direction
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – Best Supporting Actress | Most Promising Performer
Collective – Best Documentary | Best Foreign Film
Emma. – Best Costumes | Best Art Direction
The Father – Best Actor | Best Adapted Screenplay
Never Rarely Sometimes Always – Best Original Screenplay | Most Promising Performer
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Best Original Screenplay | Best Editing
The Vast of Night – Breakthrough Filmmaker | Best Cinematography
1 – A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon – Best Animated Film
Another Round – Best Foreign Language Film
Bacurau – Best Foreign Language Film
Beanpole – Best Foreign Language Film
David Byrne’s American Utopia – Best Documentary
Dick Johnson is Dead – Best Documentary
The Forty-Year-Old Version – Breakthrough Filmmaker
The Invisible Man – Best Use of Visual Effects
La Llorona – Best Foreign Language Film
Mangrove – Best Supporting Actress
The Midnight Sky – Best Use of Visual Effects
The Nest – Best Supporting Actress
News of the World – Most Promising Performer
On the Rocks – Best Supporting Actor
Onward – Best Animated Film
Possessor – Best Use of Visual Effects
Saint Frances – Most Promising Performer
The Social Dilemma – Best Documentary
Time – Best Documentary
Vitalina Varela – Best Foreign Language Film
The Wolf House – Best Animated Film
Wolfwalkers – Best Animated Film
Chicago, IL (December 18, 2020) — The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) today announces nominees for their top film honors of 2020; winners will be announced at the organization’s annual awards ceremony, a virtual event for Association members to be held on Monday, December 21. Leading with seven total nominations is Chloé Zhao’s NOMADLAND; 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. A complete list of nominees is below.
Comprised of voting members who represent outlets including the Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, RogerEbert.com, The A.V Club, Vulture, NPR, and many more, the Chicago Film Critics Association annually presents traditional awards including Best Picture, Director, Actor and Actress, among others. With a particular focus on emerging talents, the CFCA also presents breakthrough awards to both an actor and filmmaker with the most promise for future career achievements. As each awards-giving body individually responded to 2020’s shifting theatrical release calendar due to the pandemic, the CFCA opted to maintain their calendar-based awards eligibility timeline. The nominees were selected from films with planned theatrical releases (virtual or otherwise) through December, so long as they were made available to voting members for consideration.
A reliably diverse voting body, 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. With 28 nominations, Netflix is the most recognized studio; Amazon and A24 share the second and third most nominations with 16 and 15, respectively. 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.
About the Chicago Film Critics Association
A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) was founded in 1990 to support and celebrate quality filmmaking that has something to say about our world, our lives, and our society. Membership includes Chicago-based journalists, broadcasters, critics and media personalities who actively work in the area of film across a wide variety of local, regional and national outlets. The annual Chicago Critics Film Festival presents a selection of recent festival favorites and as-yet-undistributed works from established voices and talented newcomers alike, curated by the CFCA membership. Every December, the CFCA votes on and announces their selections for best films of the year, contributing to the annual national discourse on cinema. Learn more at
