Personal Ballot for 2021, List Version

Note: This list is cultivated from films released in the US in 2021, rather than Oscar’s eligibility list.

2021 Films Alphabetically | 2021 Films Chronologically | 2021 Films By Grade

* – original nominee that subsequent became a runner-up
^ – runner-up that was originally a nominee
^^ – runner-up that was a nominee and then became a runner-up again
^* – originally categorized as a lead
” – film seen after original ballot was posted

Best Picture

Notturno, dir. Gianfranco Rosi
The Lost Daughter, dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal
Prayers for the Stolen, dir. Tatiana Huezo
The Orphanage, dir. Shahrbanoo Sadat
What We Left Unfinished, dir. Mariam Ghani
Days, dir. Tsai Ming-liang
Zola, dir. Janicza Bravo
This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, dir. Leomong Jeremiah Mosse
Sweat, dir. Magnus Van Horne
Quo Vadis, Aida?, dir. Jasmila Žbanić

Runners-Up: Atlantis, The Disciple, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?, Identifying Features, Drive My Car, Ascension, Passing, No Ordinary Man, Memoria, Licorice Pizza, C’mon C’mon, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, The Killing of Two Lovers, The Power of the Dog, Malignant.

Best Director

Janicza Bravo, Zola^
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
Tatiana Huezo, Prayers for the Stolen
Gianfranco Rosi, Notturno
Tsai Ming-liang, Days

Runners-Up: Shahrbanoo Sadat (The Orphanage)*, Valentyn Vasyanovych (Atlantis), Jasmila Žbanić (Quo Vadis, Aida?), Jessica Kingdon (Ascension), Fernanda Valadez (Identifying Features), Mariam Ghani (What We Left Unfinished), Chaitanya Tamhane (The Disciple), Leomong Jeremiah Mosse (This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection), Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Memoria), Magnus Van Horne (Sweat), Rebecca Hall (Passing), Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt (No Ordinary Man), Aleksandre Koberidze (What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?), Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part One), Camilla Nielsen (President), Robert Machioan (The Killing of Two Lovers), James Wan (Malignant).

Best Documentary Film

Ascension, dir. Jessica Kingdon
Attica, dirs. Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Cherry^
No Ordinary Man, dirs. Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt
Notturno, dir. Gianfranco Rosi
What We Left Unfinished, dir. Mariam Ghani

Runners-Up: Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, MLK/FBI, President*, Faya Dayi, State Funeral, Wojnarowicz: Fuck You Faggot Fucker, Little Girl, Procession, Flee, Mama Gloria.

Best International Film

Drive My Car, dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Great Freedom, dir. Sebastian Meise
Happening, dir. Audrey Diwan^”
Prayers for the Stolen, dir. Tatiane Huezo
What Do We See When We Look At the Sky?, dir. Aleksandre Koberidze

Runners-Up: Ascension, Memoria*, El Planeta, The Metamorphosis of Birds, Parallel Mothers, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Titane, The Intruder.

Best Actress

Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Jasna Duričić, Quo Vadis, Aida?
Magdalena Kolesnik, Sweat
Mary Twala, This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection

Runners-Up: Martha Plimpton (Mass), Taylour Paige (Zola)^^, Virginia Efira (Benedetta), Riley Keough (Zola), Tessa Thompson (Passing), Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World), Andra Day (The United States vs Billie Holiday), Rebecca Hall (The Night House), Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza), Aoba Kawai (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), Fusako Urban (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), Jodie Comer (The Last Duel), Ann Dowd (Mass), Yu Aoi (Wife of a Spy), Niamh Algar (Censor), Nina Hoss (My Little Sister), Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Beanie Feldstein (The Humans), Kristen Stewart (Spencer), Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho), Isabelle Fuhrman (The Novice), Jennifer Lawrence (Don’t Look Up), Jayne Houdyshell (The Humans), Milena Smits (Parallel Mothers), Erica Rivas (The Intruder), Maren Eggert (I’m Your Man), Natalie Morales (Language Lessons), Stephanie Beatriz (Encanto), Bukky Bukray (Rocks), Chloe Grace-Moretz (Shadow in the Cloud), Lili Taylor (Paper Spiders).

Best Actor

Nicolas Cage, Pig^
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Hidetoshi Nishijima, Drive My Car
Woody Norman, C’mon C’mon
Joaquin Phoenix, C’mon C’mon

Runners-Up: Jason Isaacs (Mass), Andrew Garfield (tick, tick . . . . BOOM!), Amir Jadidi (A Hero), Don Cheadle (No Sudden Move), Reed Bierney (Mass), Cooper Hoffmann (Licorice Pizza), Fabrizio Rongione (Azor), Richard Jenkins (The Humans), Lars Eidinger (My Little Sister), Leonardo DiCaprio (Don’t Look Up), Aditya Modak (The Disciple), Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Clayne Crawford (The Killing of Two Lovers), Will Smith (King Richard), Dan Stevens (I’m Your Man), Michael Keaton (Worth), Adam Driver (Annette), Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah), Franz Rogowski (Undine), Tom Hardy (Venom: Let There Be Carnage), Simon Rex (Red Rocket), Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley), Frankie Faison (The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain), Alex Wolff (Pig).

Best Supporting Actress

Gaby Hoffmann, C’mon C’mon
Kathryn Hunter, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Dakota Johnson, The Lost Daughter
Ruth Negga, Passing
Charlotte Rampling, Benedetta

Runners-Up: Mayra Batalla (Prayers for the Stolen), Dagmara Domincyzk (The Lost Daughter), Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard), Myriem Akheiddou (Titane), Rebecca Ferguson (Dune: Part One), Rita Moreno (West Side Story), Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter), Saniyya Sidney (King Richard), Harriet Sansom Harris (Licorice Pizza), Amy Seimetz (No Sudden Move), Park Yu-rim (Drive My Car), Vinette Robinson (Boiling Point), Suzanna Son (Red Rocket), Nina Ariadna (Being the Ricardos), Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog), Toko Miura (Drive My Car), Breeda Wool (Mass), Jennifer Ehle (Saint Maud), Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah), Carrie-Ann Moss (The Matrix Resurrections), Reika Kirishima (Drive My Car), Naomie Harris (Venom: Let There Be Carnage), Amy Ryan (Worth), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Dune: Part One), Charlotte Rampling (Dune: Part One), Olivia Colman (The Mitchells vs The Machines), Anika Noni-Rose (The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain), Marlee Matlin (CODA), Olga Merediz (In the Heights), Emma Thompson (Cruella), Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad), Abbey Lee (Old).

Best Supporting Actor

Colman Domingo, Zola
Mike Faist, West Side Story
Anders Danielsen Lie, The Worst Person in the World
Vincent Lindon, Titane^*
Jeffrey Wright, The French Dispatch

Runners-Up: Robin de Jesús (tick, tick . . . . BOOM!), Mohsen Tanabande (A Hero)*, Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog), Masaki Okada (Drive My Car), Brendan Fraser (No Sudden Move), Ben Affleck (The Last Duel), David Knell (Pig), Kiyohiku Shibukawa (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), Troy Kotsur (CODA), Jon Berenthal (King Richard), Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog), Bradley Cooper (Licorice Pizza), Kieran Culkin (No Sudden Move), David Harbour (No Sudden Move), Joseph Cross (Licorice Pizza), Daniel Durant (CODA), David Strathairn (Nightmare Alley), Stanley Tucci (Worth), Jason Mitchell (Zola), André Holland (Passing), Javier Bardem (Dune: Part One), Stephen Root (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Alex Wolff (Old), Ralph Ineson (The Green Knight), Chaske Spencer (Wild Indian).

Best Ensemble

Licorice Pizza, casting dir. Cassandra Kulukunis
The Lost Daughter, casting dir. Kathleen Crawford
Mass, casting dirs. Henry Russell Bergstein and Allison Estrin
No Sudden Move, casting dir. Carmen Cuba^
Zola, casting dir. Kim Coleman

Runners-Up: Drive My Car*, Rocks, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Worth, The French Dispatch, King Richard, Azor, Boiling Point, The Killing of Two Lovers, The Orphanage.

Original Screenplay

Azor, Andreas Fontana and Mariano Llińas
The Disciple, Chaitanya Tamhane
Holler, Nicole Riegel
Sweat, Magnus Van Horne
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Runners-Up: Limbo, C’mon C’mon, Worth, El Planeta, Parallel Mothers, This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, Test Pattern, Licorice Pizza, Censor, Being the Ricardos, Identifying Features, Wife of a Spy, Mass, The Killing of Two Lovers, The Orphanage, No Sudden Move, The French Dispatch, The Night House, The Worst Person in the World, Saint Maud.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe
Benedetta, David Birke & Paul Verhoeven
The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Passing, Rebecca Hall
Quo Vadis, Aida?. Jasmila Žbanić

Runners-Up: Zola*, The Power of the Dog, Prayers for the Stolen, The Intruder, Dune: Part One, The Last Duel, I’m Your Man, West Side Story.

Best Cinematography

Notturno, Gianfranco Rosi
Passing, Edu Grau
Prayers for the Stolen, Dariela Ludlow
This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, Pierre Del Villiers
Zola, Ari Wegner

Runners-Up: Licorice Pizza, Identifying Features, Days, Dune: Part One, Atlantis, The Power of the Dog, Faya Dayi, Ascension, Moffie, Titane, Malignant, Petite Maman, The Worst Person in the World, The Tragedy of Macbeth, C’mon C’mon, Little Girl, El Planeta, Censor, The French Dispatch, Sweat, Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, Night of the Kings, The Killing of Two Lovers, West Side Story, Judas and the Black Messiah, The Humans, Holler, Raya and the Last Dragon, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?, The Orphanage, Adam, Memoria, The Lost Daughter.

Best Editing

The Killing of Two Lovers, Robert Machioan
The Lost Daughter, Affonso Gonçalves
The Novice, Laura Hadaway and Nathan Nugent
The Power of the Dog, Peter Sciberras
Zola, Joi McMillon

Runner-Ups: Ascension*, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?, Drive My Car, Dune: Part One, Parallel Mothers, No Ordinary Man, Censor, Bo Burnham: Inside, Prayers for the Stolen, C’mon C’mon, Quo Vadis Aida?, What We Left Unfinished, King Richard, The Orphanage, Titane, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, Azor, Saint Maud, Malignant, Worth, Notturno, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn.

Best Sound Design

The Humans, Skip Lievsay & Paul Urmson
Memoria, Richard Hocks & Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr
Passing, George A. Lara, Jacob Ribicoff & co.
Prayers for the Stolen, Lena Esquenazi & co.
The Tragedy of Macbeth, Craig Berkey, Skip Lievsay & Paul Urmson^

Runner-Ups: Ascension, In the Earth, The Power of the Dog, The Intruder, Dune: Part One*, The Last Duel, Bo Burnham: Inside, Malignant, Night of the Kings, Days, West Side Story, This is Not a Burial It’s a Resurrection, The Killing of Two Lovers, Licorice Pizza, Last Night in Soho, Ema, Shadow in the Cloud, Zola, Notturno, Undine, Atlantis, Candyman.

Best Score

The Green Knight, Daniel Hart
Last and First Men, Yair Elazar Glotman & Jóhann Jóhannsson
The Power of the Dog, Jonny Greenwood^
Shadow in the Cloud, Maui Bridgman-Cooper
Zola, Mica Levi

Runner-Ups: Ema*, The World to Come, Parallel Mothers, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?, This is Not a Burial It’s a Resurrection, The French Dispatch, Encanto, Dune: Part One, Judas and the Black Messiah, The Killing of Two Lovers, Annette, Cyrano, Passing, Raya and the Last Dragon, The Novice, Don’t Look Up.

Best Production Design

About Endlessness, Frida Elmstrand, Anders Hellström & co.
Dune: Part One, Patrice Vermette, Richard Roberts & Zsuzsanna Sipos
The French Dispatch, Adam Stockhausen & Rena DeAngelo
The Night House, Prerna Chawla
The Orphanage, Bruno Duarte, Jan Hormann & co.

Runner-Ups: Licorice Pizza, Nightbooks, Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, West Side Story, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Night of the Kings, Petite Maman, The Power of the Dog, Censor, Nightmare Alley, Cliff Walkers, Annette, No Time to Die, Reminiscence, Candyman, Atlantis, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Green Knight, This is Not a Burial It’s a Resurrection, In the Earth, The Matrix Resurrections, Raya and the Last Dragon, Cyrano, The Suicide Squad, Zola, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.

Best Costume Design

The Green Knight, Malgosia Turzanksa
Spencer, Jacqueline Durran
The United States vs Billie Holiday, Paolo Nieddu
Wife of a Spy, Haruki Koketsu
Zola, Derica Cola Washington

Runner-Ups: The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Cruella, This is Not a Burial It’s a Resurrection, Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Licorice Pizza, Dune: Part One, The Power of the Dog, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Suicide Squad, Passing, Cyrano*, Being the Ricardos, Cliff Walkers, El Planeta, Nightmare Alley, The Lost Daughter, West Side Story, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Judas and the Black Messiah.

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

The Green Knight, Eileen Buggy, Audrey Doyle & co.
Malignant, Mike Elizalde, Lori McCoy-Bell & co.
Nightmare Alley, Iantha Goldberg, Megan Many & co.
Old, Michelle Diamantides, Tony Gardner & co.
Titane, Flore Masson

Runner-Ups: Zola, Annette, Dune: Part One, The United States vs Billie Holiday, The Lost Daughter, Cruella, West Side Story, The French Dispatch, Cyrano, Candyman, Benedetta, The Suicide Squad, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, House of Gucci, The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

Best Visual Effects

Annette, Estelle Charlier, Romuald Collinet, Thomas Jonckheere & co.
Dune: Part One, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor & Gerd Nefzer
No Time to Die, Charlie Noble, Mara Bryan, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkne & co.
The Suicide Squad, Daniel Sudick, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner & co.
The Tragedy of Macbeth, Michael Huber, Alex Lemke & co.

Runner-Ups: Raya and the Last Dragon, The Mitchells vs The Machines, Reminiscence, Last Night in Soho, Malignant, The Matrix: Resurrections, The Green Knight.

Best Films With No Nominations:

Atlantis, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Bo Burnham: Inside, Censor, Ema, Flee, King Richard, Identifying Features, In the Earth, The Intruder, Limbo, Little Girl, MLK/FBI, Night of the Kings, El Planeta, Saint Maud, Test Pattern, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, Worth.

Films With Multiple Nominations:

Zola-8
The Lost Daughter-7
Prayers for the Stolen-5
Notturno-4
Passing-4
Drive My Car-3
C’mon C’mon-3
The Green Knight-3
The Power of the Dog-3
Quo Vadis, Aida?-3
The Tragedy of Macbeth-3
Sweat-3
This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection-3
Benedetta-2
Days-2
Dune: Part One-2
The French Dispatch-2
The Orphanage-2
Titane-2
What We Left Unfinished-2

Still to See:

Beginning, Belle, Black Widow, Blue Bayou, Bruised, Cinderella, Coming 2 America, A Cop Movie, The Courier, Cryptozoo, Dance of the Forty One, The Dig, Dogs, Encounter, Eternals, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Finch, Four Good Days, Free Guy, Gaia, Genus Pan, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Godzilla vs Kong, Halloween Kills, The Hand of God, The Harder They Fall, Her Socialist Smile, Hive, Hope, The Hunt, Isabella, Jockey, Labyrinth of Cinema, Land, Lapsis, The Little Things, Luzzu, Malcolm & Marie, Malmkrog, The Many Saints of Newark, The Mauritanian, Mogul Mowgli, Moments Like This Never Last, Nine Days, A Quiet Place Pt. II, Radiograph of a Family, Respect, Red Moon Tide, The Scary of 61st, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Some Kind of Heaven, The Sparks Brothers, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Strong Ones, Summit of the Gods, Swan Song, Swan Song, Sweet Thing, Swimming Out Til the Sea Turns Blue, Take Me Somewhere Nice, The Tender Bar, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Tina, True Mothers, Two of Us, The White Tiger, The Witches of the Orient, Yellow Cat.

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