The UK’s leading film critics today announced the nominations for the 40th annual London Critics’ Circle Film Awards presented by Pearl Street Productions. Writer-director Joanna Hogg’s delicate autobiographical drama The Souvenir was out front with 7 nominations, including Film, Screenwriter, Actor (Tom Burke), Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton) and Young Performer (Honor Swinton Byrne). In addition, the film is nominated for British/Irish Film of the Year.

The critics spread the nominations around the field this year, naming both Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Sam Mendes’ 1917 in six categories, while giving five nominations each to Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory and Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite. The remaining four films in contention for Film of the Year are Joker, Knives Out, Midsommar and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

The nominations were announced today at The May Fair Hotel by actors Jenn Murray, who appeared alongside the nominated Lesley Manville in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and John Dagleish, who appeared with nominee Renée Zellweger in Judy. Multiple nominees today include Florence Pugh, shortlisted as lead actress in Midsommar, supporting actress in Little Women and as British/Irish Actress for her body of work over the year.

Those receiving double nominations include Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho, Spanish maestro Pedro Almodóvar and actor Tom Burke.

“Because our critics see almost everything that’s released, they nominated more than 200 movies across their ballots,” says Awards Chair Rich Cline. “And as usual, we have also made some surprise choices in our voting, which makes our list of nominees stand out in the current awards season. In addition, we’ve selected four women specifically for their work as writers and directors, and highlighted work in films that tend to get overlooked this time of year.”

Anna Smith, chair of the Film Section and host of the Girls On Film podcast, says: “I’m proud that our members have recognised the fantastic work of both female and male directors this year. While some awards ceremonies continue to shut out women filmmakers and smaller films, the Critics’ Circle voters are leading the way again. And we’re thrilled that the iconic – and very funny – actor and writer Sally Phillips will be hosting our ceremony.”

Known for her intelligence, talent and razor-sharp wit, Phillips was listed in The Observer’s survey of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy (2003). She is instantly recognisable from Smack the Pony, which she also wrote, as well as such classic series as I’m Alan Partridge, Miranda and Veep, the acclaimed BBC2 documentary A World Without Down’s Syndrome (2016) and as the eponymous Clare in the Community on the Radio 4 sitcom since 2004. On film, she costarred in the three Bridget Jones films and The Decoy Bride, which she cowrote. This past year, she had a role in Gurinder Chadha’s Blinded by the Light. Coming up are roles in the road comedy Off the Rails alongside Judi Dench, Stephen Fry’s The Liar and the musical Chocolate Cake, starring Toby Sebastian.

The Critics’ Circle will announce its winners a gala 40th anniversary ceremony at which three special awards will be presented. Aardman, the animators behind Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, will receive the 40th Anniversary Award, while British film icons Sally Potter and Sandy Powell will each be presented with the critics’ top honour, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Cinema.

The 40th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards is presented by Pearl Pictures Productions on Thursday, 30th January at The May Fair. The red carpet event is also sponsored by The May Fair and Rémy Martin, and Audi is the official car of the awards.

Full list of nominations:

FILM OF THE YEAR

The Irishman

Joker

Knives Out

Marriage Story

Midsommar

1917

Pain and Glory

Parasite

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

The Souvenir

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

Happy as Lazzaro

Monos

Pain and Glory

Parasite

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

Amazing Grace

Apollo 11

The Cave

For Sama

Varda by Agnès

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Pedro Almodóvar – Pain and Glory

Bong Joon Ho – Parasite

Sam Mendes – 1917

Céline Sciamma – Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Martin Scorsese – The Irishman

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR

Pedro Almodóvar – Pain and Glory

Noah Baumbach – Marriage Story

Bong Joon Ho & Han Jin Wan – Parasite

Joanna Hogg – The Souvenir

Steven Zaillian – The Irishman

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story

Lupita Nyong’o – Us

Florence Pugh – Midsommar

Charlize Theron – Bombshell

Renée Zellweger – Judy

ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory

Tom Burke – The Souvenir

Robert De Niro – The Irishman

Adam Driver – Marriage Story

Joaquin Phoenix – Joker

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Laura Dern – Marriage Story

Jennifer Lopez – Hustlers

Florence Pugh – Little Women

Margot Robbie – Bombshell

Tilda Swinton – The Souvenir

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Shia LaBeouf – Honey Boy

Al Pacino – The Irishman

Joe Pesci – The Irishman

Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood

BRITISH/IRISH FILM: THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD

Bait

1917

Rocketman

The Souvenir

Wild Rose

BRITISH/IRISH ACTRESS (for body of work)

Jessie Buckley – Wild Rose/Judy

Cynthia Erivo – Harriet

Lesley Manville – Ordinary Love/Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Florence Pugh – Fighting With My Family/Midsommar/Little Women

Saoirse Ronan – Little Women

BRITISH/IRISH ACTOR (for body of work)

Tom Burke – The Souvenir

Taron Egerton – Rocketman

George MacKay – 1917/Where Hands Touch/Ophelia

Robert Pattinson – The Lighthouse/High Life/The King

Jonathan Pryce – The Two Popes

YOUNG BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER (for body of work)

Raffey Cassidy – Vox Lux

Dean-Charles Chapman – 1917/The King/Blinded by the Light

Roman Griffin Davis – Jojo Rabbit

Noah Jupe – Honey Boy/Le Mans ’66

Honor Swinton Byrne – The Souvenir

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH/IRISH FILMMAKER: THE PHILIP FRENCH AWARD

Waad Al-Khateab & Edward Watts – For Sama

Richard Billingham – Ray & Liz

Mark Jenkin – Bait

Owen McCafferty – Ordinary Love

Nicole Taylor – Wild Rose

BRITISH/IRISH SHORT FILM OF THE YEAR

Appreciation

Beyond the North Winds: A Post-Nuclear Reverie

The Devil’s Harmony

Kingdom Come

Pompeii

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Ad Astra – Allen Maris, visual effects

Apollo 11 – Todd Douglas Miller, film editing

Judy – Jeremy Woodhead, makeup and hair

Little Women – Jacqueline Durran, costumes

Motherless Brooklyn – Daniel Pemberton, music

Monos – Jasper Wolf, cinematography

1917 – Oliver Tarney, sound design

Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood – Barbara Ling, production design

Parasite – Lee Ha Jun, production design

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon – Will Becher & Richard Phelan, animation

DILYS POWELL AWARD for EXCELLENCE IN FILM

Sally Potter

DILYS POWELL AWARD for EXCELLENCE IN FILM

Sandy Powell

40TH ANNIVERSARY AWARD

Aardman

Winners will be announced Thursday, 30th January 2020, at The May Fair Hotel

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