The Harder They Fall Leads Black Reel Awards Nominations

Jeymes Samuel’s The Harder They Fall leads the nominations for the 22nd Annual Black Reel Awards with a record-breaking 20 nods including Outstanding Motion Picture. Black Panther previously held the record for the most nominations in a single year with 17. Samuel also ties Radha Blank’s record for the most individual nominations in a single year with seven.

For the first time, three women are nominated for Outstanding Director; Halle Berry for Bruised, Nia DaCosta for Candyman, and Rebecca Hall for Passing, which earned 13 nominations overall.

The Black Reel Awards, or “BRAs”, is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) to recognize the excellence of African-Americans, as well as the cinematic achievements of the African diaspora, in the global film industry, as assessed by the Foundation’s voting membership.

Full list of nominations below. The winners will be announced on February 27, 2022.

OUTSTANDING MOTION PICTURE

The Harder They Fall

Lawrence Bender, Shawn Carter, James Lassiter & Jeymes Samuel, producers

King Richard

Will Smith, Tim White & Trevor White, producers

Passing

Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Rebecca Hall & Margot Hand, producers

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Joel Coen, Robert Graf & Frances McDormand, producers

West Side Story

Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger & Kevin McCollum, producers

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR

Halle Berry | Bruised

Nia DaCosta | Candyman

Reinaldo Marcus Green | King Richard

Rebecca Hall | Passing

Jeymes Samuel | The Harder They Fall

OUTSTANDING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali | Swan Song

Winston Duke | Nine Days

Jonathan Majors | The Harder They Fall

Will Smith | King Richard

Denzel Washington | The Tragedy of Macbe

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS

Zazie Beetz | The Harder They Fall

Halle Berry | Bruised

Jennifer Hudson | Respect

Taylour Paige | Zola

Tessa Thompson | Passing

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR

Colman Domingo | Zola

Idris Elba | The Harder They Fall

Andre Holland | Passing

LaKeith Stanfield | The Harder They Fall

Jeffrey Wright | The French Dispatch

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Ariana DeBose | West Side Story

Aunjanue Ellis | King Richard

Regina King | The Harder They Fall

Rita Moreno | West Side Story

Ruth Negga | Passing

OUTSTANDING SCREENPLAY

Candyman

Nia DaCosta, Jordan Peele & Win Rosenfeld

The Harder They Fall

Jeymes Samuel & Boaz Yakin

In the Heights

Quiara Alegria Hudes

Passing

Rebecca Hall

Zola

Janicza Bravo & Jeremy O. Harris

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY

Ailey

Jamila Wignot, director

Citizen Ashe

Rex Miller & Sam Pollard, directors

My Name is Pauli Murray

Julie Cohen & Betsy West, directors

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It

Mariem Pérez Riera, director

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, director

OUTSTANDING FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

African America (South Africa)

Muzi Mthembu, director

Bitter Sugar (Tunisia)

Malik Isasis, director

Faya Dayi (Ethiopia)

Jessica Beshir, director

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE

The Harder They Fall

Victoria Thomas, casting director

In the Heights

Tiffany Little Canfield & Bernard Telsey, casting directors

King Richard

Rich Delia & Avy Kaufman, casting directors

Passing

Kim Ostroy & Laura Rosenthal, casting directors

Zola

Kim Coleman, casting director

OUTSTANDING VOICE PERFORMANCE

Eric Andre | The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Marsai Martin | Spirit Untamed

Maya Rudolph | Luca

Maya Rudolph | The Mitchells vs. The Machines

Zoe Saldana | Vivo

OUTSTANDING SCORE

Candyman

Robert Aiki Aubrey, composer

The Harder They Fall

Jeymes Samuel, composer

In the Heights

Alex Lacamoire, Lin-Manuel Miranda & Bill Sherman, composers

Passing

Devonte Hynes, composer

Respect

Kris Bowers, composer

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG

“Automatic Woman” (Bruised)

H.E.R., performer; Van Hunt, H.E.R. & Brittany Hazzard, writers 

“Be Alive” (King Richard)

Beyonce, performer; Beyoncé Knowles-Carter & DIXSON, writers

“Guns Go Bang” (The Harder They Fall)

Jay-Z & Kid Cudi, performers; Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Kid Cudi & Jeymes Samuel, writers

“The Harder They Fall” (The Harder They Fall)

Koffee, performer; Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter & Jeymes Samuel, writers

“Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)” (Respect)

Jennifer Hudson, performer; Carole King, Jennifer Hudson & Jamie Hartman, writers

OUTSTANDING INDEPENDENT FILM

Concrete Cowboy

Ricky Staub, director

Nine Days

Edson Oda, director

Test Pattern

Shatara Michelle Ford, director

The Water Man

David Oyelowo, director

Zola

Janicza Bravo, director

OUTSTANDING SHORT FILM

54 Years Late

Michele Wise Wright, director

Coffee

Jordan Pitt, director

The Door of Return

Kokutekeleza Musebeni & Anna Zhukovets, directors

Junior

Jehnovah Carlisle, director

The Snakes

Michelle Beck, director

OUTSTANDING INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY

100 Years from Mississippi

Tarabu Betserai Kirkland, director

Big Chief, Black Hawk

Jonathan Isaac Jackson, director

I Still Breathe

Alfred George Bailey, director

Little Satchmo

John Alexander, director

Unzipped: An Autopsy of American Inequality

Colin K. Gray, director

OUTSTANDING EMERGING DIRECTOR

Halle Berry | Bruised

Janicza Bravo | Zola

Rebecca Hall | Passing

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson | Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Jeymes Samuel | The Harder They Fall

OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE, MALE

Deon Cole | The Harder They Fall

Edi Gathegi | The Harder They Fall

Joshua Henry | tick, tick…Boom!

Caleb McLaughlin | Concrete Cowboy

Anthony Ramos | In the Heights

OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE, FEMALE

Danielle Deadwyler | The Harder They Fall

Ariana DeBose | West Side Story

Taylour Paige | Zola

Saniyya Sidney | King Richard

Demi Singleton | King Richard

OUTSTANDING FIRST SCREENPLAY

In The Heights

Quiara Alegria Hudes

Passing

Rebecca Hall

Zola

Janicza Bravo & Jeremy O. Harris

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY 

The Harder They Fall

Mihai Malaimare Jr., cinematographer

In the Heights

Myron Kerstein, cinematographer

Passing

Edu Grau, cinematographer

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Bruno Delbonnel, cinematographer

West Side Story  

Janusz Kaminski, cinematographer

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN

Coming 2 America

Ruth E. Carter, costume designer

The Harder They Fall

Antoinette Messam, costume designer

Passing

Marci Rodgers, costume designer

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Mary Zophres, costume designer

West Side Story

Paul Tazewell, costume designer

OUTSTANDING EDITING

Bruised

Jacob Craycroft & Terilyn A. Shropshire, editors

The Harder They Fall

Tom Eagles, editor

King Richard

Pamela Martin, editor

Respect

Avril Beukes, editor

Zola

Joi McMillion, editor

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN

The Harder They Fall

Martin Whist, production designer

In the Heights

Nelson Coates, production designer

Passing

Nora Mendis, production designer

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Stefan Dechant, production designer

West Side Story

Adam Stockhausen, production designer


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Author: Doug Jamieson

From musicals to horror and everything in between, Doug has an eclectic taste in films. Both a champion of independent cinema and a defender of more mainstream fare, he prefers to find an equal balance between two worlds often at odds with each other. A film critic by trade but a film fan at heart, Doug also writes for his own website The Jam Report, and Australia’s the AU review.