Florida Film Critics Circle Announces 2021 Winners

‘The Power of the Dog’ is This Year’s Big Winner Snagging Five Wins

‘The Power of the Dog’ is This Year’s Big Winner Snagging Five Wins

Miami, FL (Wednesday, December 22, 2021) – The year 2021 was indeed an interesting one at the cinema and for the Florida Film Critics Circle (FFCC) as they celebrate their Silver Anniversary. As the world was trying to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic so, too were the movies. For the first time ever, major blockbuster movies were released simultaneously in theaters and on streaming services with mixed results. Still, several films did crack the $100 million-dollar mark and SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME racked up almost $600 million on its worldwide weekend opening, so maybe 2022 will see a steadier box office numbers.

The Florida Film Critics Circle had an exciting time voting on their nominees this year. While some winners won by a large margin, others were so close that only one vote separated the top two. However, after snagging nine nominations THE POWER OF THE DOG was this year’s big winner including the trifecta of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Jane Campion marks the third year in a row a woman has taken Best Director and the first time one has won for Director, Picture and Screenplay in the FFCC’s 25-year history. In addition, the film also took home the honors for Kodi Smit-McPhee for his supporting acting role, and Cinematography for Ari Wegner.

ANNETTE initially had six nominations this year, but only takes home one award for Adam Driver for Best Actor. Annette was a film that had a short 2-week run in theaters before it started streaming on Amazon Prime. It was one of the rare films that still caught a lot of attention despite the short stint between the two platforms. It is also the second win in three years the critics has given the award to Driver. His previous win was for Marriage Story.

Bursting onto the scene this year in a very strong debut is Alana Haim who wins Best Actress for LICORICE PIZZA. She had big competition this year from the likes of Jessica Chastain, Lady Gaga and Kristin Stewart, but Haim was the runaway winner in the category. She is not the only one who raised eyebrows from the Paul Thomas Anderson story, proving that the apple does not fall far from the tree, Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late Oscar winner Phillip Seymore Hoffman is the FFCC’s pick for the Breakout Award. These two young stars both appear headed towards big things in the future. Rounding out the acting category is Ariana Debose for West Side Story. This win came as little surprise to anyone as she also ran away with a large number of votes. MASS wins for Best Ensemble. Cast members Ann Dowd, Reed Birney, Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton all gave real gritty performances.

DUNE is the only other nominee this year to take home multiple wins in the form of Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction/Production and Best Score. Other notable wins go to Wes Anderson for THE FRENCH DISPATCH, Summer of Soul for Best Documentary. THE HAND OF GOD wins for Best Foreign Language and PIG filmmaker Michael Sarnoski wins Best First Film. The full list of winners can be seen below.

Best Picture: The Power of the Dog
Runner up: Annette

Best Actor: Adam Driver – Annette
Runner up: Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog

Best Actress: Alana Haim – Licorice Pizza
Runner Up: Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee The Power of the Dog
Runner Up: Vincent Lindon Titane

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana Debose – West Side Story
Runner Up: Ruth Negga – Passing

Best Ensemble: Mass
Runner up: Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Best Director: Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Runner up: Leos Carax – Annette

Best Original Screenplay: Wes Anderson – The French Dispatch
Runner up: Leos Carax , Ron and Russell Mael– Annettte, Ryusuke Hamaguchi – Wheel of fortune and fantasy, and Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza

Best Adapted Screenplay – Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Runner Up: Steven Levenson – Tick, Tick…Boom and Tony Kushner – West Side Story

Best Cinematography: – Ari Wegner – The Power of the Dog
Runner Up: Janusz Kaminski – West Side Story and Claire Mathon – Spencer

Best Visual Effects: Dune
Runner up: Annette

Best Art Direction/Production: Dune
Runner up: Barb & Star go to Vista Del Mar

Best Score: Hans Zimmer Dune
Runner Up: Jonny Greenwood The Power of the Dog

Best Documentary:Summer of Soul
Runner Up: Procession

Best Foreign Language Film: The Hand of God
Runner up: Drive My Car, Titane and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Best Animated Film: Encanto
Runner Up: Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, Flee, and Josep

Best First Film: Pig
Runner up:  Mass and Passing

Breakout Award: Cooper Hoffman – Licorice Pizza
Runner up: Rachel Zegler – West Side Story

For more information, visit www.FloridaFilmCritics.com.

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About Florida Film Critics Circle (FFCC)

The Florida Film Critics Circle is an organization of 25 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. Allison Hazlett of FlickDirect has served as chair of the organization since the beginning of 2020.