With the Chicago Film Critics Association announcing the winners of their annual awards this evening, I figured that I might as well publish my annual list of the great work I would love to see nominated during the current awards season. New categories this year include Best Documentary on an Artist (of which there were so many stellar ones this year), Best Limited Series, Best First Feature and Best Breakout Performance. The list of nominees is followed by nine special mentions revealing the winners in categories such as Best Shattering of Stigmas and Best Badass Leading Lady Debut.
Earning the most nominations—a grand total of 11—is my favorite film of 2024, Edward Berger’s masterpiece, “Conclave,” followed by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s astonishing “Ghostlight” and Osgood Perkins’ insidiously spooky “Longlegs” with seven nods apiece. Brady Corbet’s magnificent epic “The Brutalist” and James Mangold’s hugely impressive “A Complete Unknown” received six nominations, while Mike Cheslik’s euphoric “Hundreds of Beavers,” Amber Sealey’s viscerally powerful “Out of My Mind,” Mohammad Rasoulof’s courageous “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” and Greg Kwedar’s exhilarating “Sing Sing” each earned five nods.
Four nominations went to Sean Baker’s sublime “Anora,” Joanna Arnow’s uproarious “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed” and Arkasha Stevenson’s stunning “The First Omen,” while Bertrand Bonello’s mesmerizing “The Beast,” Zia Anger’s ingenious “My First Film,” Coralie Fargeat’s galvanizing “The Substance” and Jon M. Chu’s sensational “Wicked: Part I” garnered three nods each.
And now (drum roll, please), the nominees—if I called the shots—are…
BEST PICTURE
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Ghostlight
Out of My Mind
Sing Sing
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Black Box Diaries
Dear Thirteen
Girls State
JessZilla
No Other Land
BEST DOCUMENTARY ON AN ARTIST
Beatles ’64
Jim Henson: Idea Man
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
Music by John Williams
Steve! (martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces
BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Art of Joy
Girls Will Be Girls
Green Border
Last Summer
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
BEST SHORT FILM
Bodily Renaissance
Hickey
His Mother
Places of Worship
Tight
BEST LIMITED SERIES
Disclaimer
The Penguin
Simone Biles Rising
Social Studies
Under the Bridge
BEST DIRECTOR
Edward Berger, “Conclave”
Greg Kwedar, “Sing Sing”
James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”
Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, “Ghostlight”
Amber Sealey, “Out of My Mind”
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Zia Anger, “My First Film”
Joanna Arnow, “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed”
Mike Cheslik, “Hundreds of Beavers”
Josh Margolin, “Thelma”
Ben Taylor, “Joy”
BEST ACTOR
Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”
Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”
Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”
Keith Kupferer, “Ghostlight”
BEST ACTRESS
Soheila Golestani, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
Nicole Kidman, “Babygirl”
Mikey Madison, “Anora”
Thomasin McKenzie, “Joy”
Odessa Young, “My First Film”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Nicolas Cage, “Longlegs”
Luke Kirby, “Out of My Mind”
Clarence Maclin, “Sing Sing”
Danny McCarthy, “Good One”
Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Monica Barbaro, “A Complete Unknown”
Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist”
Tara Mallen, “Ghostlight”
Isabella Rossellini, “Conclave”
Alicia Witt, “Longlegs”
BEST BREAKOUT PERFORMANCE
Joanna Arnow, “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed”
Lily Collias, “Good One”
Tecla Insolia, “The Art of Joy”
Preeti Panigrahi, “Girls Will Be Girls”
Mahsa Rostami, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
BEST ACTOR UNDER 18
Nykiya Adams, “Bird”
Isabel Deroy-Olson, “Fancy Dance”
Katherine Mallen Kupferer, “Ghostlight”
Phoebe-Rae Taylor, “Out of My Mind”
Zoe Ziegler, “Janet Planet”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Joanna Arnow, “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed”
Sean Baker, “Anora”
Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold, “The Brutalist”
Kelly O’Sullivan, “Ghostlight”
Mohammad Rasoulof, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar, “Sing Sing”
Bertrand Bonello, Guillaume Breaud and Benjamin Charbit, “The Beast”
James Mangold and Jay Cocks, “A Complete Unknown”
Daniel Stiepleman, “Out of My Mind”
Peter Straughan, “Conclave”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Pooyan Aghababaei, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
Andres Arochi, “Longlegs”
Drew Daniels, “Anora”
Stéphane Fontaine, “Conclave”
Jomo Fray, “Nickel Boys”
BEST EDITING
Joanna Arnow, “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed”
Joe Bini & Matthew Hannam, “My First Film”
Mike Cheslik, “Hundreds of Beavers”
Nick Emerson, “Conclave”
Mike S. Smith, “Ghostlight”
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Colleen Atwood, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”
Lisy Christi, “Conclave”
Pauline Jacquard, “The Beast”
Linda Muir, “Nosferatu”
Jocelyn Pierce, “Anora”
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Judy Becker, “The Brutalist”
Nathan Crowley, “Wicked: Part I”
Suzie Davies, “Conclave”
Stanislas Reydellet, “The Substance”
Danny Vermette, “Longlegs”
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Volker Bertelmann, “Conclave”
Daniel Blumberg, “The Brutalist”
Mark Korven, “The First Omen”
Elvis Perkins, “Longlegs”
Chris Ryan, “Hundreds of Beavers”
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Evening Mirror” from “The Sweet East”
“Harper and Will Go West” from “Will & Harper”
“Jean Kayak and His Acme Applejack” from “Hundreds of Beavers”
“Kiss the Sky” from “The Wild Robot”
“River” from “Dandelion”
BEST MAKEUP
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
The First Omen
Longlegs
Smile 2
The Substance
BEST SOUND
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Hundreds of Beavers
Longlegs
Wicked: Part I
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Dune: Part Two
The First Omen
The Substance
Wicked: Part I
Nine Special Mentions
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
“All My Love,” Coldplay and Dick Van Dyke
BEST SHATTERING OF STIGMAS
Molly McGlynn and Maddie Ziegler, “Fitting In”
BEST BADASS LEADING LADY DEBUT
June Squibb, “Thelma”
BEST PORTRAYAL OF POSSESSION
Nell Tiger Free, “The First Omen”
BEST COMEBACK
Celine Dion in “I Am: Celine Dion” and at the 2024 Olympic Games
BEST DISCIPLE OF “TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN”
The Beast
BEST MONOLOGUE
Hugh Grant Discussing Monopoly in “Heretic”
BEST JOKER MOVIE
The People’s Joker
WORST FILM OF THE YEAR
The Forest Hills
Indie Outlook 