08/02/2022 - Jane Campion’s European co-production has racked up 12 nods, while Belfast has 7, and Flee, The Worst Person in the World and Parallel Mothers also shine bright

It has been one of the most successful films during the awards season ever since its Best Director win at the Venice Film Festival, and it certainly hasn't disappointed – Jane Campion’s haunting psychosexual western The Power of the Dog [+see also:
film review
film profile] now leads the nominations for the 94^th edition of the Academy Awards, scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on 27 March. The film, a co-production between the UK, New Zealand, Australia, the USA and Canada, has racked up 12 nods, including Best Actor for English thesp Benedict Cumberbatch, Best Direction and Best Picture.

Following hot on its heels, a quality blockbuster from last year with European involvement, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], made it into a total of ten categories, including Best Picture. On the other hand, Kenneth Branagh’s look at his own childhood, Belfast [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], boasts seven nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for Ireland’s Ciaran Hinds and Best Supporting Actress for Dame Judi Dench, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture; and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s debut feature, The Lost Daughter [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a co-production between the USA, the UK, Greece and Israel, got three nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for Ireland’s Jessie Buckley and Best Actress for Brit Olivia Colman. Sian Heder's CODA, which has French participation, has also grabbed three nominations (including Best Film).

But the real surprise comes from the great performance of three European films not in the English language. Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary Flee [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
film profile], one of the sensations of this year’s festival season since it won the Grand Jury Prize in Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Competition, ended up with a historic total of three nominations, in virtually all of the categories it was in with a chance of being in: Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film (as Denmark’s submission). As a reminder, the film is also one of the finalists for the LUX Audience Award, organised by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy (read news). The film has already won two European Film Awards (read news) and has been nominated for a Golden Globe and a Spirit Award.

Next up, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile], a true festival favourite and definitely one of the most beloved by the audience this year, secured a slot in Best International Feature Film (as Norway’s submission) and unexpectedly made it into the Best Original Screenplay category. In the end, Cannes-awarded lead Renate Reinsve failed to make a surprise appearance in the acting categories.

However, in said acting categories, the best news comes with a Spanish tinge: Penélope Cruz secured the fourth Oscar nomination of her career, thus making history as one of the few actresses from a non-English-speaking European country to pull off such a feat, only just coming in under Ingrid Bergman's six nominations, for her astounding work in Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile], which had already earned her the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival. The film, which was not selected by Spain as its official submission, also managed to get a nod for Alberto Iglesias’ original score (curiously not nominated for a Spanish Goya either). Spain’s Javier Bardem is also nominated for Best Actor, albeit for a 100% US film, Being the Ricardos.

Other films with European involvement that have been nominated are Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile] (Best International Feature Film), Pablo Larraín’s Spencer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (with Kristen Stewart nominated for Best Actress for her depiction of Lady Di), Joe Wright’s Cyrano [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Cary Joji Fukunaga’s No Time to Die [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and a very diverse selection of short films. Lastly, as further proof of the internationalisation of the Oscars, it is worth noting that Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s highly acclaimed Drive My Car, a 100% Japanese film, has also made it into more than just the Best International Feature Film category, including nods for Best Director and Best Picture.

Here is the list of nominees:

Best Picture
Belfast [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Kenneth Branagh (UK)
CODA - Sian Heder (USA/France)
Don’t Look Up - Adam McKay
Drive My Car - Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
Dune [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Denis Villeneuve (USA/Hungary/Jordan/United Arab Emirates/Norway/Canada)
King Richard - Reinaldo Marcus Green
Licorice Pizza - Paul Thomas Anderson
Nightmare Alley - Guillermo del Toro
The Power of the Dog [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Jane Campion (UK/New Zealand/Australia/USA/Canada)
West Side Story - Steven Spielberg

Best Director
Kenneth Branagh - Belfast
Ryusuke Hamaguchi - Drive My Car
Paul Thomas Anderson - Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion - The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg - West Side Story

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain - The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman - The Lost Daughter [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (USA/UK/Greece/Israel)
Penelope Cruz - Parallel Mothers [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile] (Spain)
Nicole Kidman - Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart - Spencer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Germany/UK)

Best Actor
Javier Bardem - Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield - tick, tick... Boom!
Will Smith - King Richard
Denzel Washington - The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose - West Side Story
Judi Dench - Belfast
Kirsten Dunst - The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis - King Richard

Best Supporting Actor
Ciaran Hinds - Belfast
Troy Kotsur - CODA
Jesse Plemons - The Power of the Dog
Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Power of the Dog
JK Simmons - Being the Ricardos

Best Adapted Screenplay
Sian Heder - CODA
Ryusuke Hamaguchi and and Takamasa Oe - Drive My Car
Denis Villeneuve, Erith Roth, and Jon Spaihts - Dune
Maggie Gyllenhaal - The Lost Daughter
Jane Campion - The Power of the Dog

Best Original Screenplay
Kenneth Branagh - Belfast
Adam McKay, David Sirota - Don’t Look Up
Zach Baylin - King Richard
Paul Thomas Anderson - Licorice Pizza
Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt - The Worst Person in the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile] (Norway/France/Sweden/Denmark)

Best International Feature Film
Drive My Car - Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Flee [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
film profile] - Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Denmark/France/Norway/Sweden)
The Hand of God [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile] - Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom - Pawo Choyning Dorji (Bhutan/China)
The Worst Person in the World - Joachim Trier

Best Documentary Feature
Summer of Soul - Questlove
Flee - Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Writing with Fire - Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas (India)
Ascension - Jessica Kingdon (China)
Attica - Stanley Nelson

Best Animated Feature
Encanto - Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Charise Castro Smith
Flee - Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Luca - Enrico Casarosa
The Mitchells vs. The Machines - Michael Rianda, Jeff Rowe
Raya and the Last Dragon - Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Paul Briggs, John Ripa

Best Cinematography
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story

Best Editing
Don’t Look Up
Dune
King Richard
The Power of the Dog
tick, tick... Boom!

Best Production Design
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story

Best Costume Design
Cruella
Cyrano [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (UK/Canada/USA)
Dune
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci

Best Sound
Belfast
Dune
No Time to Die
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

Best Visual Effects
Dune
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home

Best Original Score
Don’t Look Up
Dune
Encanto
Parallel Mothers
The Power of the Dog

Best Original Song
“No Time to Die” - No Time to Die [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (UK/USA)
“Be Alive” - King Richard
“Dos Oruguitas” - Encanto
“Down to Joy” – Belfast
“Somehow You Do” – Four Good Days

Best Live Action Short
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run - Maria Brendle (Switzerland/Kyrgyzstan)
The Dress - Tadeusz Lysiak (Poland)
The Long Goodbye - Aneil Karia (UK/Netherlands)
On My Mind - Martin Strange-Hansen (Denmark)
Please Hold - KD Davila (USA)

Best Documentary Short Subject
The Queen of Basketball - Ben Proudfoot
Audible - Matthew Ogens
Lead Me Home - Pedro Kos, Jon Shenk
Three Songs for Benazir - Elizabeth Mirzaei, Gulistan Mirzaei (Afghanistan)
When We Were Bullies - Jay Rosenblatt

Best Animated Short
Affairs of the Art - Joanna Quinn (UK)
Bestia - Hugo Covarrubias (Chile)
Boxballet - Anton Dyakov (Russia)
Robin Robin - Daniel Ojari, Michael Please (UK)
The Windshield Wiper - Alberto Mielgo (Spain/USA)