“Nomadland” triumphed with five wins when The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) announced their top honorees for 2020 this morning. A slice-of-life from filmmaker Chloé Zhao about a widow who loses her job and sells her belongings to travel the American West, “Nomadland” won Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress for Frances McDormand, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.

WAFCA posthumously awarded Best Actor to the late Chadwick Boseman for his searing turn as a talented trumpeter and songwriter struggling to make a name for himself in 1927 Chicago in George C. Wolfe’s film adaptation of August Wilson’s play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Best Supporting Actor was awarded to Leslie Odom, Jr. for his powerful performance as soul musician Sam Cooke in Regina King’s 1964-set “One Night in Miami…” and Best Supporting Actress went to Yuh-Jung Youn, a standout in Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari.” Best Youth Performance also went to “Minari,” for Alan Kim’s memorable work as the young son of South Korean immigrants relocating from California to rural Arkansas in the 1980s.

Best Acting Ensemble accolades were awarded to “One Night in Miami…,” a drama about a fictionalized February 1964 meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke, starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom, Jr.

Best Original Screenplay honors went to writer-director Emerald Fennell for her complex, genre-busting tale of revenge and the trauma of sexual assault “Promising Young Woman.”

Pete Docter’s emotionally resounding fable “Soul” earned three WAFCA awards, for Best Animated Feature, Best Voice Performance for Jamie Foxx, and Best Score. Best Documentary kudos went to “Boys State,” Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s fascinating look at the teenage attendees of summer leadership and citizenship program American Legion Boys State, while Best International/Foreign Language Film was awarded to Thomas Vinterberg’s Danish midlife-crisis comedy-drama “Another Round.”

In other technical categories, Best Production Design was given to David Fincher’s transporting Hollywood period piece “Mank,” and Best Editing was awarded to Christopher Nolan’s time-reversal sci-fi thriller “Tenet.”

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC, given each year in honor of one of WAFCA’s cherished late members, went to Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman 1984.”

The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association comprises over 60 DC-VA-MD-based film critics from television, radio, print and the Internet. Voting was conducted from February 5-7, 2021.

THE 2020 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:
Best Film:
Nomadland

Best Director:
Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)

Best Actor:
Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)

Best Actress:
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)

Best Supporting Actor:
Leslie Odom, Jr. (One Night in Miami…)

Best Supporting Actress:
Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari)

Best Acting Ensemble:
One Night in Miami…

Best Youth Performance:
Alan Kim (Minari)

Best Voice Performance:
Jamie Foxx (Soul)

Best Original Screenplay:
Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Chloé Zhao [Based on the Book by Jessica Bruder] (Nomadland)

Best Animated Feature:
Soul

Best Documentary:
Boys State

Best International/Foreign Language Film:
Another Round

Best Production Design:
Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decorator: Jan Pascale (Mank)

Best Cinematography:
Joshua James Richards, Director of Photography (Nomadland)

Best Editing:
Jennifer Lame, ACE (Tenet)

Best Original Score:
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste (Soul)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:
Wonder Woman 1984