PRESS RELEASE: JANUARY 5, 2022
North Carolina Film Critics Association Announces Winners for Best of 2021
The Power of the Dog Earns Six Honors Including Best Narrative Film and Director
The North Carolina Film Critics Association is pleased to announce the winners for the tenth annual awards for achievements in film. The following films were recognized in multiple categories: The Power of the Dog earning six awards, with Dune awarded five, and MASS and Licorice Pizza earning two each.
The Power of the Dog led the pack with awards for narrative film, director, actor, supporting actor, adapted screenplay, and cinematography.
The NCFCA consists of fifty-five film critics living and/or working in North Carolina.
The full list of winners is below in the following categories:
BEST NARRATIVE FILM
**The Power of the Dog** – Winner
Drive My Car
Dune
The French Dispatch
The Green Knight
Licorice Pizza
Mass
Pig
West Side Story
The Worst Person in the World
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
**Summer of Soul (… Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)** – Winner
Flee
The Sparks Brothers
Val
The Velvet Underground
BEST ANIMATED FILM
**The Mitchells vs. The Machines** – Winner
Encanto
Flee
Luca
Raya and the Last Dragon
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
**Drive My Car** – Winner
A Hero
Riders of Justice
Titane
The Worst Person in the World
BEST DIRECTOR
**Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)** – Winner
David Lowery (The Green Knight)
Denis Villeneuve (Dune)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
**Ari Wegner (The Power of the Dog)** – Winner
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
BEST ACTOR
**Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)** – Winner
Andrew Garfield (tick, tick… BOOM!)
Dev Patel (The Green Knight)
Nicolas Cage (Pig)
Will Smith (King Richard)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
**Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)** – Winner
Alex Wolff (Pig)
Jason Isaacs (Mass)
Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch)
Woody Norman (C’mon C’mon)
BEST ACTRESS
**Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)** – Winner
Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza)
Kristen Stewart (Spencer)
Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)
Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
**Ann Dowd (Mass)** – Winner
Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)
Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)
Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)
Ruth Negga (Passing)
BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCE IN ANIMATION OR MIXED MEDIA
**Stephanie Beatriz (Encanto)** – Winner
Abbi Jacobson (The Mitchells vs. The Machines)
Danny McBride (The Mitchells vs. The Machines)
Jacob Tremblay (Luca)
Kelly Marie Tran (Raya and the Last Dragon)
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
**Mass** – Winner
Dune
The French Dispatch
Licorice Pizza
The Power of the Dog
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
**Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)** – Winner
C’mon C’mon
The French Dispatch
Mass
Pig
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
**Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)** – Winner
Drive My Car
Dune
The Green Knight
Passing
BEST EDITING
**Andrew Weisblum (The French Dispatch)** – Winner
Dune
The Last Duel
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
**Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, and Gerd Nefzer (Dune)** – Winner
The Green Knight
The Matrix Resurrections
Spider-Man: No Way Home
The Suicide Squad
BEST STUNT COORDINATION
**Andy Cheng, Peng Zhang, Bradley James Allan, Christopher Clark Cowan, Mark Ginther, Guillermo Grispo, Isaac Hamon, Lu Junchang, Yasca Sinigaglia, Kyle Woods (Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)** – Winner
Black Widow
The Matrix Resurrections
No Time To Die
Spider-Man: No Way Home
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
**Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan (Dune)** – Winner
Cruella
Last Night in Soho
Nightmare Alley
Spencer
BEST HAIR & MAKE-UP
**Nadia Stacey and Carolyn Cousins (Cruella)** – Winner
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci
Nightmare Alley
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
**Patrice Vermette, Richard Roberts, and Zuzsanna Sipos (Dune)** – Winner
The French Dispatch
The Green Knight
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story
BEST SCORE
**Hans Zimmer (Dune)** – Winner
Don’t Look Up
No Time To Die
The Power of the Dog
Spencer
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
**No Time To Die by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell (No Time To Die)** – Winner
Every Letter (Cyrano)
Guns Go Bang (The Harder They Fall)
Just Look Up (Don’t Look Up)
So May We Start (Annette)
BEST SOUND DESIGN
**Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill, and Ron Bartlett (Dune)** – Winner
Nightmare Alley
No Time To Die
tick, tick… BOOM!
West Side Story
BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
**Michael Sarnoski (Pig)** – Winner
Fran Kranz (Mass)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (tick, tick… BOOM!)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter)
Rebecca Hall (Passing)
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
**Alana Haim(Licorice Pizza)** – Winner
Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza)
Emilia Jones(CODA)
Woody Norman (C’Mon C’Mon)
Rachel Zegler(West Side Story)
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR SCREENWRITING
The Coen Brothers: Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Are Thou?, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
KEN HANKE MEMORIAL TAR HEEL AWARD
**Jonathan Majors (The Harder They Fall, Loki) – Studied at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts** – Winner
Anthony Mackie (Falcon and the Winter Soldier; Synchronic; Outside the Wire; The Woman in the Window) – Studied at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Ariana DeBose (West Side Story; Schmigadoon) – From Raleigh, North Carolina
Brian Tyree Henry (Eternals; The Woman in the Window; Godzilla vs. Kong) – From Fayetteville, North Carolina
Stephen McKinley Henderson (Dune; Bruised) – Studied at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Films with Multiple Wins:
Dune (5)
Licorice Pizza (2)
Mass (2)
The Power of the Dog (6)
Films with Multiple Nominations:
Dune (13)
The Power of the Dog (10)
West Side Story (9)
Licorice Pizza (7)
The French Dispatch (6)
The Green Knight (6)
Mass (6)
Nightmare Alley (5)
Pig (5)
C’mon C’mon (3)
Drive My Car (3)
Spencer (3)
The Mitchells vs. The Machines (3)
Passing (3)
The Worst Person in the World (3)
tick, tick… BOOM! (3)
Cruella (2)
Encanto (2)
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2)
Flee (2)
The Harder They Fall (2)
King Richard (2)
The Lost Daughter (2)
Luca (2)
The Matrix Resurrections (2)
Raya and the Last Dragon (2)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2)
Additional Notes:
- Wes Anderson is a five-time NC Film Critic nominee (screenwriter and director) earning a win for The Grand Budapest Hotel for screenplay.
- Olivia Coleman is a three-time nominee and earned an award for The Favourite.
