Carol leads 2015 Florida Film Critics Circle (F.F.C.C.) Awards Nominations. The Florida Film Critics Circle has announced its nominees for the best films and cinematic performances of 2015, and it looks to be a strong race between major studios indie subsidiaries. Carol leads the field with eight nominations. Focusing on the romantic relationship between a married mother (Cate Blanchett) and a shop clerk (Rooney Mara) in 1950’s Manhattan, the acclaimed film distributed by The Weinstein Company is based on the 1952 novel by Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt. Blanchett received a nod for Best Actress and Mara for Supporting Actress. The screenplay by Phyllis Nagy is also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Director Todd Haynes received a nod for Best Director, and the film is also in contention for Best Picture. It’s other nominations include Best Score, Best Art Direction/Production Design and Best Cinematography.

Mad Max: Fury Road, from Warner Bros., may have been an early summer release but it left a lasting impression on many FFCC members, nabbing seven nominations. George Miller’s return to the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max got him a nod for directing and an entry in the Best Picture category. It also runs head-to-head with Carol in Best Actress (Charlize Theron), Best Score, Best Art Direction/Production Design and Best Cinematography. Spotlight, a release from the indie studio Open Road Films, came in third with five nominations. Tom McCarthy’s gripping newsroom procedural about the Boston Globe’s investigation of the cover-up of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church contends for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay along with nods for Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo) and Best Ensemble.

Love & Mercy, the unorthodox biopic of The Beach Boys’ star songwriter Brian Wilson received four nominations including Best Actor for Paul Dano and Best Supporting Actress for Elizabeth Banks. It’s also in contention for Best Score and Best Art Direction/Production Design.

The rest of the nominations were spread across notable indie and studio films. Fox Searchlight’s Brooklyn is represented in the Best Actress category by Saoirse Ronan as well as in Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Art Direction/Production Design while Disney is represented by Star Wars: The Force Awakens and two Pixar films. The Force Awakens vies for Best Visual Effects, Best Score and even the Breakout category with newcomer Daisy Ridley. Meanwhile Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur were shortlisted in the animation category with family films The Peanuts Movie and Shaun the Sheep Movie but also the very adult-skewing Anomalisa.

Other notable nominees this year include Kristen Stewart, Best Supporting Actress nominee for IFC’s Clouds of Sils Maria and Sylvester Stallone, a Best Supporting Actor nominee for reprising his role as Rocky Balboa in the rousing Warner Bros. release Creed.

Indies dominated the Best Documentary and Foreign Language Film categories. The most recognizable distributor is A24 with the tragic story of singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse via Amy. Another musician, however, took to directing a film essay on death and national surveillance with the moving Heart of a Dog. Other documentaries nominated include Best of Enemies, Cartel Land and The Look of Silence.

The foreign language category includes two films on the Academy’s short list. The biggest studio in contention for the foreign language trophy is Sony Pictures Classics with the first person perspective Holocaust film Son of Saul. The other FFCC nominee to share a spot on Oscar’s short list is Turkey’s Mustang. The category was rounded out by Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s intimate martial arts masterpiece The Assassin, Canada’s Mommy and Germany’s Phoenix.

The Florida Film Critics Circle is an organization of 30 writers from Florida-based print and online publications. Founded in 1996, the FFCC strives to recognize outstanding work in film, further the cause of good movies, and maintain the highest level of professionalism among film critics in Florida. Bill Gibron of PopMatters.com and FilmRacket.com has served as chairman since March 2013.

A complete list of all the nominees can be found below. The winners will be announced on Wednesday, December 23rd.

2015 Florida Film Critics Circle Nominations

BEST PICTURE

Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
Spotlight
The Big Short
The Martian

BEST ACTOR

Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
Paul Dano – Love and Mercy
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett – Carol
Brie Larson – Room
Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Oscar Isaac – Ex Machina
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon – 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone – Creed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Elizabeth Banks – Love and Mercy
Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara – Carol
Kristen Stewart – Clouds of Sils Maria
Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina

BEST DIRECTOR

Todd Haynes – Carol
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – The Revenant
George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
Ridley Scott – The Martian

BEST ENSEMBLE

The Big Short
Mistress America
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
Tangerine

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Ex Machina
The Hateful Eight
Inside Out
Mistress America
Spotlight

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
Room
Steve Jobs

BEST CINEMATOGTAPHY

Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Sicario
Youth

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Walk

BEST ART DIRECTION/ PRODUCTION DESIGN

Brooklyn
Carol
Crimson Peak
Love & Mercy
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST SCORE

Carol
The Hateful Eight
Love & Mercy
Mad Max: Fury Road
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Amy
Best of Enemies
Cartel Land
Heart of a Dog
The Look of Silence

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The Assassin
Mommy
Mustang
Phoenix
Son of Saul

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Anomalisa
Inside Out
The Good Dinosaur
The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie

FFCC BREAKOUT AWARD

Bel Powley – Diary of a Teenage Girl
Daisy Ridley – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez – Tangerine
Jacob Tremblay – Room
Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina and The Danish Girl