Washington, D.C. | February 9th, 2021 — A slice-of-life from filmmaker Chloé Zhao about a widow who loses her job and sells her belongings to travel the American West, “Nomadland” won Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress for Frances McDormand, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.
WAFCA posthumously awarded Best Actor to the late Chadwick Boseman for his searing turn as a talented trumpeter and songwriter struggling to make a name for himself in 1927 Chicago in George C. Wolfe’s film adaptation of August Wilson’s play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Best Supporting Actor was awarded to Leslie Odom, Jr. for his powerful performance as soul musician Sam Cooke in Regina King’s 1964-set “One Night in Miami…” and Best Supporting Actress went to Yuh-Jung Youn, a standout in Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari.” Best Youth Performance also went to “Minari,” for Alan Kim’s memorable work as the young son of South Korean immigrants relocating from California to rural Arkansas in the 1980s.
Best Original Screenplay honors went to writer-director Emerald Fennell for her complex, genre-busting tale of revenge and the trauma of sexual assault “Promising Young Woman.”
Pete Docter’s emotionally resounding fable “Soul” earned three WAFCA awards, for Best Animated Feature, Best Voice Performance for Jamie Foxx, and Best Score. Best Documentary kudos went to “Boys State,” Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s fascinating look at the teenage attendees of summer leadership and citizenship program American Legion Boys State, while Best International/Foreign Language Film was awarded to Thomas Vinterberg’s Danish midlife-crisis comedy-drama “Another Round.”
In other technical categories, Best Production Design was given to David Fincher’s transporting Hollywood period piece “Mank,” and Best Editing was awarded to Christopher Nolan’s time-reversal sci-fi thriller “Tenet.”
The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC, given each year in honor of one of WAFCA’s cherished late members, went to Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman 1984.”
The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association comprises over 60 DC-VA-MD-based film critics from television, radio, print and the Internet. Voting was conducted from February 5-7, 2021.
THE 2020 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:
Best Film:
Nomadland
Best Director:
Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
Best Actor:
Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Best Actress:
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Best Supporting Actor:
Leslie Odom, Jr. (One Night in Miami…)
Best Supporting Actress:
Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari)
Best Acting Ensemble:
One Night in Miami…
Best Youth Performance:
Alan Kim (Minari)
Best Voice Performance:
Jamie Foxx (Soul)
Best Original Screenplay:
Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Chloé Zhao [Based on the Book by Jessica Bruder] (Nomadland)
Best Animated Feature:
Soul
Best Documentary:
Boys State
Best International/Foreign Language Film:
Another Round
Best Production Design:
Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decorator: Jan Pascale (Mank)
Best Cinematography:
Joshua James Richards, Director of Photography (Nomadland)
Best Editing:
Jennifer Lame, ACE (Tenet)
Best Original Score:
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste (Soul)
The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:
Wonder Woman 1984
The 2020 WAFCA AWARD NOMINEES WERE:
Best Film:
First Cow
Minari
Nomadland
One Night in Miami…
Promising Young Woman
Best Director:
Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)
Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Regina King (One Night in Miami…)
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:
Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Elisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man)
Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)
Best Supporting Actor:
Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Bill Murray (On the Rocks)
Leslie Odom, Jr. (One Night in Miami…)
Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)
Best Supporting Actress:
Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)
Olivia Colman (The Father)
Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Amanda Seyfried (Mank)
Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari)
Best Acting Ensemble:
Da 5 Bloods
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Minari
One Night in Miami…
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Youth Performance:
Millie Bobby Brown (Enola Holmes)
Sidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)
Alan Kim (Minari)
Talia Ryder (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)
Helena Zengel (News of the World)
Best Voice Performance:
Tina Fey (Soul)
Jamie Foxx (Soul)
Tom Holland (Onward)
Honor Kneafsey (Wolfwalkers)
Octavia Spencer (Onward) Best Original Screenplay:
Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)
Andy Siara (Palm Springs)
Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Darius Marder & Abraham Marder [Story by Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance] (Sound of Metal)
Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Jon Raymond & Kelly Reichardt (First Cow)
Charlie Kaufman (i’m thinking of ending things)
Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Chloé Zhao [Based on the Book by Jessica Bruder] (Nomadland)
Kemp Powers [Based on the Stage Play by Kemp Power] (One Night in Miami…)
Best Animated Feature:
The Croods: A New Age
Onward
Over the Moon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Best Documentary:
Boys State
Collective
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Time
Best International/
Foreign Language Film:
Another Round
Bacurau
La Llorona
Night of the Kings
The Mole Agent
Best Production Design:
Production Designer: Kave Quinn; Set Decorator: Stella Fox (Emma.)
Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decorator: Jan Pascale (Mank)
Production Designer: Mark Ricker; Set Decorator: Karen O’Hara (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Production Designer: David Crank; Set Decorator: Elizabeth Keenan (News of the World)
Production Designer: Nathan Crowley; Set Decorator: Kathy Lucas (Tenet)
Best Cinematography:
Newton Thomas Sigel, ASC (Da 5 Bloods)
Erik Messerschmidt, ASC (Mank)
Dariusz Wolski, ASC (News of the World)
Joshua James Richards, Director of Photography (Nomadland)
Hoyte van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC (Tenet)
Best Editing:
Kirk Baxter, ACE (Mank)
Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
Mikkel E. G. Nielsen (Sound of Metal)
Jennifer Lame, ACE (Tenet)
Alan Baumgarten, ACE (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Best Original Score:
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (Mank)
Emile Mosseri (Minari)
James Newton Howard (News of the World)
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste (Soul)
Ludwig Göransson (Tenet)
The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
The Fight
Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President
John Lewis: Good Trouble
Wonder Woman 1984