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The Power of the Dog Earns Six North Carolina Film Critics Awards

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.
power of the dog movie poster
Dune movie poster
Licorice pizza Movie poster
Mass Movie Poster

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