44th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards: ‘All of Us Strangers,’ ‘The Zone of Interest’ Take Top Wins

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The London Critics’ Circle announced their 44th annual film awards today where The Zone of Interest was named Film of the Year and Jonathan Glazer Director of the Year. The ceremony was held live at the May Fair Hotel London and hosted by UK film critic Mark Kermode.

The Holocaust-set drama, which is nominated for five Academy Awards, also won the group’s technical achievement award for its score and sound design, going to Mica Levi and Johnnie Burn, respectively.

Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, which came in as the top nominations getter with nine, was also a triple winner, taking home British/Irish Film of the Year, Actor of the Year for Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal winning British/Irish Performer of the Year for his body of work in 2023: All of Us Strangers, God’s Creatures, Foe, and Carmen. In his acceptance speech Scott remarked, “For a film with a gay love story to be #1 in Ireland and Britain, it’s not nothing!” and Mescal commented that the film, Haigh and Scott have “changed my life forever.’

Emma Stone was named Actress of the Year for her performance in Poor Things, Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers) continued her supporting actress dominance with a win here and Supporting Actor of the Year was a surprise with Charles Melton in May December besting Oscar nominees Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer and Ryan Gosling in Barbie. Oppenheimer and Barbie entered with seven and five nominations apiece, respectively, and both went home empty-handed.

The Breakthrough Performer of the Year went to Mia McKenna-Bruce for How to Have Sex and the Screenplay of the Year winner was Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari. In her speech Triet joked “I don’t know if you’ll ever want to work with me again!” Triet and Harari are life partners as well as writing partners.

The inaugural Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation went to Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Colman Domingo. The award is named in memory of the legendary critic Derek Malcolm, who died in August 2023 at age 91. Jeffrey Wright, who appears alongside Domingo in Rustin, was the 33rd recipient of the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film.

The 44th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards are voted by the 210-member Film Section of the Critics’ Circle, the UK’s longest-standing and most prestigious critics’ organization. Films are automatically eligible if they are released in cinemas or on premiere streaming services between mid-February 2023 and mid-February 2024. The May Fair Hotel, part of Edwardian Hotels London, is the main sponsor of the event, alongside non-alcoholic sparkling wine Wild Idol, cocktail specialists Gattertop, Guisborough Brewery, Reddit, MetFilm, production company Cinemadix, print solutions experts MTA Digital and creative industry accountants Nyman Libson Paul LLP.

Here is the full list of winners.

Film of the Year

All of Us Strangers
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
May December
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest – WINNER

Director of the Year

Greta Gerwig, Barbie
Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest – WINNER
Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Actor of the Year

Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers – WINNER
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Actress of the Year

Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Greta Lee, Past Lives
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Emma Stone, Poor Things – WINNER

Supporting Actor of the Year

Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Charles Melton, May December – WINNER
Paul Mescal, All of Us Strangers
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

Supporting Actress of the Year

Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers
Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest
Julianne Moore, May December
Rosamund Pike, Saltburn
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers – WINNER

Breakthrough Performer of the Year

Greta Lee, Past Lives
Mia McKenna-Bruce, How to Have Sex – WINNER
Vivian Oparah, Rye Lane
Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla

Screenwriter of the Year

Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers
Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall – WINNER
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Celine Song, Past Lives

Animated Film of the Year

The Boy and the Heron – WINNER
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Suzume
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Documentary of the Year

20 Days in Mariupol – WINNER
Beyond Utopia
The Eternal Memory
Scala!!!
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Foreign Language Film of the Year

Anatomy of a Fall
The Boy and the Heron
Fallen Leaves
Past Lives – WINNER
The Zone of Interest

The Attenborough Award for British/Irish Film of the Year

All of Us Strangers – WINNER
How to Have Sex
Poor Things
Rye Lane
The Zone of Interest

British/Irish Performer of the Year

Paul Mescal for All of Us Strangers, God’s Creatures, Foe, and Carmen – WINNER
Carey Mulligan for Maestro and Saltburn
Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer
Andrew Scott for All of Us Strangers
Tilda Swinton for The Eternal Daughter, The Killer, and Asteroid City

The Philip French Award for Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker

Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane
Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, Femme
Molly Manning Walker, How to Have Sex – WINNER
Nida Manzoor, Polite Society
Charlotte Regan, Scrapper

British/Irish Short Film of the Year

For People in Trouble (Alex Lawther)
Muna (Warda Mohammed)
Outlets (Duncan Cowles)
Predators (Jack King)
The Veiled City (Nathalie Cubides-Brady) – WINNER

Technical Achievement Award

All of Us Strangers – Kahleen Crawford for casting
Barbie – Sarah Greenwood for production design
The First Slam Dunk – Kôji Kasamatsu for sound design
Full Time – Mathilde Van De Moortel for film editing
Killers of the Flower Moon – Thelma Schoonmaker for film editing
Medusa Deluxe – Eugene Souleiman for makeup & hair
Oppenheimer – Andrew Jackson for visual effects
Past Lives – Shabier Kirchner for cinematography
Poor Things – Holly Waddington for costumes
Saltburn – Kharmel Cochrane for casting
The Zone of Interest – Mica Levi for music & Johnnie Burn for sound – WINNER