Nickel Boys cinematographer Jomo Fray’s technical achievement on Nickel Boys is recognised at the Critics Circle Awards and the film’s director RaMell Ross received the award for Director of the Year.
Brady Corbet’s immigrant epic The Brutalist took the top prize from the UK’s leading critics, as Conclave and A Real Pain all receive multiple awards, and Zoe Saldaña is honoured twice.
The UK’s leading film writers and broadcasters spread the wealth at the annual London Critics’ Circle film awards ceremony, held at London’s May Fair Hotel and hosted by Circle member Mark Kermode. Fifteen titles were honoured across 18 categories, and though The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s epic American immigrant saga, won only a single prize, it was the big one for Film of the Year.
Corbet’s film emerged victorious in a tight contest that saw Edward Berger’s Vatican thriller Conclave take two awards for British/Irish Film of the Year and Actor of the Year for Ralph Fiennes, while RaMell Ross’s radical Colson Whitehead adaptation Nickel Boys was recognised with Director of the Year and the Technical Achievement Award for Jomo Fray’s first-person cinematography. Jesse Eisenberg’s dark comedy A Real Pain was the night’s other multiple prize winner, landing Screenwriter of the Year for the actor-filmmaker, and Supporting Actor of the Year for costar Kieran Culkin. Payal Kapadia’s Mumbai-set drama All We Imagine as Light was named Foreign Language Film of the Year, while the Palestinian-Israeli collective behind No Other Land took Documentary of the Year.
Alongside Conclave, British productions awarded by the Circle in the top categories included Mike Leigh’s intimate character study Hard Truths, which took Actress of the Year for Marianne Jean-Baptiste, while Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl was named Animated Feature of the Year. In the British/Irish-specific categories, Saoirse Ronan won British/Irish Performer of the Year for her performances in The Outrun and Blitz, 14-year-old Nykiya Adams won Young British/Irish Performer of the Year for her screen debut in Andrea Arnold’s Bird, and Rich Peppiatt won the Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker award for writing and directing the hip-hop biopic Kneecap. Nina Gantz took British/Irish Short Film of the Year for her Oscar- and Bafta-nominated animation Wander to Wonder.
American actor Zoe Saldaña was honoured twice by the Circle. The star of such hits as Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy had already been announced as the winner of the Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation — presented at the ceremony by America Ferrera and last year’s winner Colman Domingo — while she further took Supporting Actress of the Year for her Spanish-language turn in Jacques Audiard’s cartel musical Emilia Pérez.
The night’s second honorary award, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film, went to Daniel Craig, 20 years after he earned the Circle’s British Actor of the Year award for Enduring Love. After a reunion with his Bond costar Fiennes, Craig was presented with the award by Lesley Manville, his costar in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, for which he was also an Actor of the Year nominee this year. Finally, the Breakthrough Performer award, initiated last year, went to Anora star and Actress of the Year nominee Mikey Madison.
The 45th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards were voted by the 210 members of Film Section of the Critics’ Circle, the UK’s longest-standing and most prestigious critics’ organisation. Films are automatically eligible if they are released in UK cinemas or on premiere streaming services between mid-February 2024 and mid-February 2025.
The May Fair Hotel, part of the Edwardian Hotels London group, is the main sponsor of the event, while awards were sponsored by MetFilm School, Reddit, Seesaw Media and WS Hair Pro. In-kind sponsors were Gusbourne sparkling English wine, Wild Idol non-alcoholic sparkling wine, cocktail specialists Gattertop Drinks Co, Double Dutch mixers, Boodles Gin, Maestro Dobel Tequila, press and media managers DDA, print solutions experts MTA Digital, Excel Executive cars and Onlooker.tv, the video production group that live-streamed the ceremony on the Critics’ Circle YouTube Channel, where it can still be watched: @criticscirclefilmsection
Full list of winners:
FILM OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Seesaw Media
The Brutalist – directed by Brady Corbet
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
All We Imagine as Light – directed by Payal Kapadia
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
No Other Land – directed by Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor
ANIMATED FEATURE OF THE YEAR
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – directed by Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham
BRITISH/IRISH FILM OF THE YEAR
Conclave – directed by Edward Berger
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
RaMell Ross – Nickel Boys
SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Jesse Eisenberg – A Real Pain
ACTRESS OF THE YEAR – sponsored by WS Hair Pro
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
ACTOR OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Reddit
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez
SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER
Mikey Madison – Anora
BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH/IRISH FILMMAKER – sponsored by MetFilm
Rich Peppiatt – Kneecap
BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR (for body of work)
Saoirse Ronan – Blitz and The Outrun
YOUNG BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Nykiya Adams – Bird
BRITISH/IRISH SHORT FILM OF THE YEAR
Wander to Wonder – directed by Nina Gantz
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Nickel Boys – cinematography by Jomo Fray
DILYS POWELL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILM
Daniel Craig
DEREK MALCOLM AWARD FOR INNOVATION
Zoe Saldaña
