IFJA honors ‘Nomadland’
“Nomadland,” the tale of a woman who eschews convention to live out of her van while exploring her own spiritual road map, took top honors at the 2020 Indiana Film Journalists Association awards, winning four prizes including best picture, best actress for Frances McDormand and best adapted screenplay and best director for Chloé Zhao.
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” won the runner-up prize for best picture as well best ensemble acting. In addition, eight other movies were announced as finalists, which along with the winners represent the IFJA’s picks for the top 10 films of the year.
Delroy Lindo won best actor for “Da 5 Bloods,” Maria Bakalova was named best supporting actress for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and Leslie Odom Jr. won best supporting actor for “One Night in Miami.” Jamie Foxx won for best vocal/motion capture performance for “Soul.”
Indiana University graduate Eliza Hittman took best original screenplay for “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.” “Another Round” was named best foreign language Film, “Soul” won best animated film and “Dick Johnson is Dead” won best documentary film.
The Hoosier Award was given to the documentary “Athlete A,” which chronicles the sexual abuse of gymnasts, the attempt to cover it and the heroic journalism that brought it to light. The IFJA issued the following statement along with the award:
“We congratulate The Indianapolis Star investigative team, the filmmakers and especially the survivors for having the bravery and persistence to speak an uncomfortable truth and tell a story that needed to be told. ‘Athlete A’ represents the finest achievement in both journalism and documentary filmmaking.”
Below is a complete list of winners and runners-up in all IFJA categories:
BEST FILM
Winner: “Nomadland”
Runner-Up: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Other finalists (listed alphabetically):
“Another Round”
“The Assistant”
“Da 5 Bloods”
“First Cow”
“i’m thinking of ending things”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Minari”
“The Twentieth Century”
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Winner: “Soul”
Runner-Up: “Wolfwalkers”
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Winner: “Another Round”
Runner-Up: “Song Without a Name”
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Winner: “Dick Johnson is Dead”
Runner-Up: “Athlete A”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: Eliza Hittman, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Runner-Up: Matthew Rankin, “The Twentieth Century”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”
Runner-Up: Charlie Kaufman, “i’m thinking of ending things”
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner: Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”
Runner-up: Regina King, “One Night in Miami”
BEST ACTRESS
Winner: Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”
Runner-up: Jessie Buckley, “i’m thinking of ending things”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
Runner-Up: Youn Yuh-jung, “Minari”
BEST ACTOR
Winner: Delroy Lindo, “Da 5 Bloods”
Runner-Up: Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Leslie Odom Jr., “One Night in Miami”
Runner-Up: Chadwick Boseman, “Da 5 Bloods”
BEST VOCAL / MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE
Winner: Jamie Foxx, “Soul”
Runner-Up: Sean Bean, “Wolfwalkers”
BEST ENSEMBLE ACTING
Winner: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Runner-Up: “One Night in Miami”
BEST MUSICAL SCORE
Winner: Ludwig Göransson “Tenet”
Runner-Up: Emile Mosseri, “Minari”
BREAKOUT OF THE YEAR
Winner: Maira Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
Runner-Up: Andrew Patterson, “The Vast of Night”
ORIGINAL VISION AWARD
Winner: “The Twentieth Century”
Runner-Up: “Dick Johnson is Dead”
HOOSIER AWARD
Winner: “Athlete A”
(As a special award, no runner-up is declared in this category.)
About the IFJA: The Indiana Film Journalists Association was established in 2009 to celebrate the cinematic arts and support Hoosier film criticism.