Philadelphia Film Critics Circle names Anora the best film of 2024.
December 21, 2024
The Philadelphia Film Critics Circle on Saturday voted on its seventh annual year-end awards, and the choice for Best Film of 2023 was Anora. It was one of six awards for Anora, including two for Mikey Madison, who was the choice for Best Actress and Best Breakthrough Performance.
In addition, Anora won Best Director and Best Script (both Sean Baker) and Best Ensemble. The Brutalist won in two categories: Best Actor (Adrien Brody) and Best Soundtrack/Score (Daniel Blumberg). In addition, the Circle presented its Elaine May Award, for a deserving person or film that brings awareness to a story from a woman’s perspective, to The Substance, directed by Coralie Fargeat. That film also won for Best Supporting Actress (Margaret Qualley.)
Other winners included Kieran Culkin, Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain; Vera Drew, Best Directorial Debut for The People’s Joker, and Jarin Blaschke, Best Cinematography for Nosferatu. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story was the winner for Best Documentary, and Memoir of a Snail won for Best Animated Film.
The Philips Cheesesteak Award, sponsored by Philips Steaks in Philadelphia, meant to recognize a blockbuster that’s hard to ignore, went to The Fall Guy. It was the third year of the award, for the first time going to a non-Tom Cruise film, with Top Gun: Maverick winning in 2022 and Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning- Part I winning in 2023.
Full list of winners:
Best Film: Anora (runner-up: The Brutalist)
Philip’s Steaks Cheesesteak Award: The Fall Guy (runner-up: The Beekeeper)
Best Director: Sean Baker, Anora (runner-up: RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys)
Best Actress: Mikey Madison, Anora (runner-up: Demi Moore, The Substance)
Best Actor: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (runner-up: Hugh Grant, Heretic.)
Best Supporting Actress: Margaret Qualley, The Substance (runner-up: Aubrey Plaza, Megalopolis.)
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (runner-up Guy Pearce, The Brutalist)
Best Foreign Film: All We Imagine as Light, India (runner-up The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Germany)
Best Animated Film: Memoir of a Snail (runner-up: Flow.)
Best Documentary: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (runner-up: Will & Harper)
Best Cinematography: Jarin Blaschke, Nosferatu (runner-up: Lol Crawley, The Brutalist)
Best Breakthrough Performance: Mikey Madison, Anora (runner-up: Yuriy Borisov, Anora.)
Best Directorial Debut: Vera Drew, The People’s Joker (runner-up: India Donaldson, Good One.)
Best Script: Sean Baker, Anora (Runner-up, RaMell Ross, and Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys)
Best Score/Soundtrack: Sean Baker, Anora (Runner-up, RaMell Ross, and Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys)
Best Ensemble: Anora (runner-up: Conclave.)
This was the eighth year of awards since the Circle’s inception in 2017. Get Out was the 2017 winner for Best Film, while Roma was the choice in 2018, Knives Out won in 2019, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom won in 2020, and The Power of the Dog was the winner in 2021. Everything Everywhere All At Once won in 2022, and Poor Things won in 2023.
This year’s voting, for the third year, utilized the resilient STAR voting system, an instant runoff approach that streamlines the process while adding more value to each member’s ballots.