The Power of the Dog Named Best Film by Austin Film Critics Association

Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog has been named Best Film by the Austin Film Critics Association. The film also won awards for Best Director for Campion, Best Supporting Actor for Kodi Smit-McPhee, Best Supporting Actress for Kirsten Dunst, and Best Original Score for Johnny Greenwood. Michael Sarnoski’s Pig picked up three awards for Best Actor for Nicolas Cage, Best Original Screenplay and Best First Film for Sarnoski.

Winners in bold below.

Best Film
Dune
The Green Knight
Licorice Pizza
Pig
The Power of the Dog

Top 10 Films of 2021
The Power of the Dog
Pig
Licorice Pizza
Dune
Drive My Car
The Green Knight
Titane
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Parallel Mothers and The Worst Person in the World (tie)

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
David Lowery, The Green Knight
Denis Villeneuve, Dune

Best Actress
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Agathe Rouselle, Titane

Best Actor
Nicolas Cage, Pig
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield, Tick Tick… Boom!
Simon Rex, Red Rocket
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best Supporting Actress
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Ann Dowd, Mass
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Kathryn Hunter, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Ruth Negga, Passing

Best Supporting Actor
Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza
Colman Domingo, Zola
Vincent Lindon, Titane
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Jeffrey Wright, The French Dispatch

Best Ensemble
Dune
The French Dispatch
The Harder they Fall
Licorice Pizza
Mass

Best Original Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Wes Anderson, The French Dispatch
Vanessa Block and Michael Sarnoski, Pig
Fran Kranz, Mass
Mike Mills, C’mon C’mon

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Ryusuke Hamagucki and Takamasa Oe, Drive My Car
Sian Heder, CODA
David Lowery, The Green Knight
Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth, Dune

Best Cinematography
Bruno Delbonnel, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Greig Fraser, Dune
Janusz Kaminski, West Side Story
Andrew Droz Palermo, The Green Knight
Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog

Best Editing
Andy Jurgensen, Licorice Pizza
Peter Sciberras, The Power of the Dog
Claire Simpson, The Last Duel
Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar, West Side Story
Joe Walker, Dune

Best Original Score
Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog
Jonny Greenwood, Spencer
Daniel Hart, The Green Knight
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Candyman
Hans Zimmer, Dune

Best International Film
Drive My Car
Lamb
Parallel Mothers
Titane
The Worst Person in the World

Best Documentary
Flee
The Rescue
The Sparks Brothers
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
The Velvet Underground

Best Animated Film
Belle
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. The Machines

Best Voice Acting/Animated/Digital Performance
Stephanie Beatriz, Encanto
Abbi Jacobson, The Mitchells vs The Machines
John Leguizamo, Encanto
Danny McBride, The Mitchells vs the Machines
Kaho Nakamura, Belle

Best Stunts
Dune
No Time to Die
Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spiderman: No Way Home
Raging Fire

Best First Film
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
Rebecca Hall, Passing
Fran Kranz, Mass
Michael Samoski, Pig
Emma Seligman, Shiva Baby

The Robert R. “Bobby” McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
Emilia Jones, CODA
Agathe Rousselle, Titane
Rachel Sennott, Shiva Baby

Best Austin Film 2021
The Carnivores (dir. Caleb Michael Johnson)
The Get Together (dir. Will Bakke)
Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles (co-dir. Robert Rodriguez)
Queens of Pain (co-dir. Cassie Hay)
Without Getting Killed or Caught (dirs. Tamara Saviano and Paul Whitfield)

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.