Critics Awards 2020

First Critics Associations Announced their Annual Awards

Several international critics organizations (all members of FIPRESCI) announced their favorites for 2020, which – as no one needs to be reminded – proved a challenging year for the art of filmmaking as well as those writing about it.

FIPRESCI-India (India chapter of the International Federation of Film Critics, FIPRESCI) declares the Tamil Feature Film Nasir directed by Arun Karthick as the Winner of the Grand-Prix 2020 – Best Indian Feature Film of 2020 out of the Top-10 films nominated for the final round (in alphabetical order):
1. 1956 Central Travancore, Malayalam, 94M, Dir. Don Palathara.
2. A’hr, Malayalam English Hindi, 104M, Dir. Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. 
3. Ashes on a Road Trip, Marathi, 109M, Dir. Mangesh Joshi. 
4. Bridge, Assamese, 88M, Dir. Kripal Kalita. 
5. Kosa, Hindi, 85M, Dir. Mohit Priyadarshi.  
6. Laila Aur Satt Geet, Gojri-Hindi, 98M, Dir. Pushpendra Singh.
7. Mayar Jonjal, Bangla, 104M, Dir. Indranil Roychowdhury. 
8. Nasir, Tamil, 78M.  Dir. Arun Karthick. (Winner of the Grand Prix 2020)
9. Pinki Elli?, Kannada, 107M, Dir. Prithvi Konanur. 
10. Sthalpuran, Marathi, 86M, Dir. Akshay Indikar
Announced on May 30, 2021.

The ALPC – Association Luxembourgeoise de la Presse Cinématographique, which traditionally gives only one award, chose Christopher Nolan’s Tenet in a third round of voting as its winner.

The members of the ALPC particularly “appreciated this trip to the temporal turnstile proposed by the director, with the possible reversal of the thermodynamics of time and all that it might entail”.

Previous winners include Todd Phillips’ Joker, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight and Birdman by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu.

The National Society of Film Critics (US) favored Nomadland, which won Best Picture, Best Director (Chloé Zhao), Best Actress (Frances McDormand) and Best Cinematography (Joshua James Richards). Delroy Lindo garnered an award as Best Actor for Da 5 Bloods, while prices for Best Supporting Actor went to Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) and Paul Raci (Sound of Metal). Never Rarely Sometimes Always got an award for the Best Screenplay (by Eliza Hittman), while Alexander Nanau’s documentary Collective won as Best Foreign Language Film, but succumbed to Fox Rich’s Time as Best Non-Fiction Film.

The Cuban Film Critics Association, which traditionally is at a disadvantage when it comes to seeing new films in its cinemas, was hit with even more of a delay, as the country’s movie house were only open for five months during 2020. Its list of the 10 Best Fiction Films Released in 2020 are (in descending order of votes): Parasite by Bong Joon-ho, 1917 by Sam Mendes, The Two Popes by Fernando Meirelles, The Irishman by Martin Scorsese, Once upon a time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino, Joker by Todd Phillips, Birds of Passage by Ciro Guerra, For the Duration of the War by Alejandro Amenábar, Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore-eda and Marriage Story by Noah Baumbach.

The German Film Critics’ Association (Verband der Deutschen Filmkritik) announced the German Film Critics’ annual awards. The critics honored Anna Sofie Hartmann’s Giraffe as the best feature film of the year. The prize for the best documentary was awarded to Rules of the Assembly Line, at High Speed (“Regeln am Band, bei laufender Geschwindigkeit”) by Yulia Lokshina. The award for best children’s film went to Too Far Away (“Zu weit weg”) by Sarah Winkenstette. Of the six prizes awarded to films, five went to female directors. The documentary filmmaker Tamara Trampe has been honored for her life’s work.

We will continue to report on other awards by critics associations.