Minari Tops Austin Film Critics Association Awards

Lee Isaac Chung's Minari dominates the Austin Film Critics Association awards, taking six prizes including Best Film and the number one slot in the members' Top 10 list

Award season was delayed, but it's now in full flow. The Austin Film Critics Association has voted, and announced that Minari is its selection for this year's best film.

Lee Isaac Chung's semi-autobiographical story of a Korean family's trials and tribulations in 1980's rural America dominated the awards with six wins including Best Film, plus the top slot in the top 10 list. This double doesn't always happen, as there are two voting processes: the individual awards are done via a nominating first round, then members vote on a second round short list, while the top 10 is calculated by aggregating members' individual top 10s. So Minari's double hitter shows its consensus support among the AFCA's membership.

Other big winners include Nomadland with three wins (including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing to director Chloé Zhao), and Promising Young Woman (taking Best First Film for writer/director Emerald Fennel, and Best Actress for Carey Mulligan) and technical category champ The Invisible Man (Best Stunts and Best Motion Capture Performance) with two wins each.

In the special awards, kudos to Ric Roman Waugh: the stuntman-turned-director takes home the Best Austin Film award for his modern disaster flick, Greenland. Meanwhile, the members gave a Special Honorary Texas Spirit prize to SXSW 2020 Louis Black "Lone Star" award winner Miss Juneteenth "for exemplifying the creative output of the film industry here in the Lone Star State, as well as embodying the character of our community."

Here's the full list of winners:

Best Film: Minari (dir: Lee Isaac Chung)

Best Director: Lee Issac Chung, Minari

Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Best Actor: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal

Best Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-jung, Minari

Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Ensemble: Minari

Best Original Screenplay: Lee Isaac Chung, Minari

Best Adapted Screenplay: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best Cinematography: Joshua James Richards, Nomadland

Best Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste, Soul

Best Editing: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best Foreign-Language Film: Minari (dir: Lee Isaac Chung)

Best Documentary: Boys State (dir: Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine)

Best Animated Film: Wolfwalkers (dir: Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart)

Best Stunts: The Invisible Man

Best Motion Capture/Special Effects Performance: Elisabeth Moss, The Invisible Man

Best First Film: Promising Young Woman (dir: Emerald Fennell)

The Robert R. “Bobby” McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award: Radha Blank, The 40-Year-Old Version

Austin Film Award: Greenland (dir: Ric Roman Waugh)

Special Honorary "Texas Spirit" Award: Honoring Miss Juneteenth

AFCA 2020 Top Ten Films

Founded in 2005, the AFCA represents Austin's critical community, with members from print, online, and broadcast outlets. The voting membership includes several Chronicle writers and staff members, including Screens section editor Richard Whittaker, publication editor Kimberley Jones, and account executive Marisa Mirabal, and writers Marjorie Baumgarten, Josh Kupecki, Matthew Monagle, Jenny Nulf, and Marc Savlov.