Just one week after the Atlanta Film Critics Circle announced our awards, we pull the scope back a bit to the entire Southeast as the Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) has announced its winners for the past year in film. By and large, it was absolute domination for Netflix’s The Power of the Dog, which nabbed Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. As always, I do want to point out how well Drive My Car did, not only winning Best Foreign Language Film, but also making the top 10 of yet another voting body down here.
In complete transparency, I am the Vice-President of this organization, and participate in the vote counting itself. Here’s the full press release with the winner list to follow:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Southeastern Film Critics Association Names Jane Campion’s ‘The Power of the Dog’ as the Best Picture of 2021
Campion’s haunting and soulful western also won for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director
ATLANTA, DECEMBER 13, 2021 – The Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) has announced its accolades for 2021 and chosen Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog as the Best Picture of the Year. This is the second time a Campion film has won Best Picture and Best Director as SEFCA also recognized her film The Piano back in 1993. Her latest work, based on the novel by Thomas Savage, is a captivating examination of loneliness, masculinity, and frailty set on a ranch in 1925 Montana.
“Jane Campion has been one of our finest directors for decades, and I’m thrilled that our members chose to recognize her exquisite work on The Power of the Dog,” said SEFCA President Matt Goldberg. “Campion has crafted a unique Western that gets to the core of the genre while still feeling fresh and vital. It’s an absolute triumph of mood, performances, and craft that will certainly go down as one of her finest movies in a career full of marvelous filmmaking.”
SEFCA voters also recognized The Power of the Dog in the categories of Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch, Best Supporting Actor for Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Best Supporting Actress for Kirsten Dunst while Kristen Stewart was awarded Best Actress for her turn as Princess Diana in Spencer.
Award winners below:
Top 10 Films
- The Power of the Dog
- Licorice Pizza
- Belfast
- The Green Knight
- West Side Story
- The French Dispatch
- Tick, Tick…BOOM!
- Drive My Car
- Dune
- Summer of Soul
Best Actor
Winner: Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Runner-Up: Will Smith, King Richard
Best Actress
Winner: Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Runner-Up: Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Runner-Up: Jeffrey Wright, The French Dispatch
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Runner-Up: Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Best Ensemble
Winner: The French Dispatch
Runner-Up: Mass
Best Director
Winner: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Runner-Up: Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Runner-Up: Wes Anderson, The French Dispatch
Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Runner-Up: Tony Kushner, West Side Story
Best Documentary
Winner: Summer of Soul
Runner-Up: Flee
Best Foreign-Language Film
Winner: Drive My Car
Runner-Up: The Worst Person in the World
Best Animated Film
Winner: The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Runner-Up: Flee
Best Cinematography
Winner: Greig Fraser, Dune
Runner-Up: Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog
Best Score
Winner: Hans Zimmer, Dune
Runner-Up: Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog