The Zone of Interest and All of Us Strangers led the way at the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards with three wins apiece during a ceremony on Sunday (2/4) at the May Fair Hotel in London. Jonathan Glazer’s German-language drama The Zone of Interest was named Film of the Year and also took prizes for director and a technical achievement honor for music and sound. Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers won the Attenborough Award for British/Irish Film of the Year, with Andrew Scott named Actor of the Year and co-star Paul Mescal earning distinction as British/Irish Performer of the Year for his body of work in 2023.
Emma Stone won Actress of the Year for Poor Things, while supporting performance awards went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers and Charles Melton for May December. All three accepted their awards on videotape. Justine Triet and Arthur Harari were on hand to receive the Screenwriter award for Anatomy of a Fall, and director Mstyslav Chernov arrived to accept Documentary of the Year for 20 Days in Mariupol. Celine Song’s Past Lives was named Foreign-Language Film of the Year, while Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron won the new Animated Film award.
Jeffrey Wright received the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film, presented to him by American Fiction director-writer Cord Jefferson. And Misan Harriman, an Oscar nominee this year for his short The After, presented the inaugural Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation to Colman Domingo, who had received the award in a small videotaped ceremony two days earlier in London. Rustin co-stars Wright and Domingo are both nominated for Oscars this year; Wright for American Fiction and Domingo for Rustin.
Right behind The Zone of Interest and All of Us Strangers was How to Have Sex, which garnered two awards from U.K. critics. Mia McKenna-Bruce received the group’s first international Breakthrough Performance award for How to Have Sex, and the film’s writer-director Molly Manning Walker won the Philip French Award for British/Irish Breakthrough Filmmaker. Other British/Irish winners included Lola Campbell as Young Performer for Scrapper, and Natalie Cubides-Brady, director of short film The Veiled City.
Here’s a full rundown of winners:
FILM OF THE YEAR
The Zone of Interest (A24)
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Past Lives (StudioCanal)
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
20 Days in Mariupol (Dogwoof)
ANIMATED FILM OF THE YEAR
The Boy and the Heron (Elysian)
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Jonathan Glazer – The Zone of Interest (A24)
SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Justine Triet & Arthur Harari – Anatomy of a Fall (Picturehouse)
ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Emma Stone – Poor Things (Searchlight)
ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Andrew Scott – All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers (Universal)
SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Charles Melton – May December (Sky)
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Mia McKenna-Bruce – How to Have Sex (Mubi)
THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD: BRITISH/IRISH FILM OF THE YEAR
All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
THE PHILIP FRENCH AWARD: BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH/IRISH FILMMAKER
Molly Manning Walker – How to Have Sex (Mubi)
BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR (for body of work)
Paul Mescal – All of Us Strangers (Searchlight), God’s Creatures (BFI), Foe (Metfilm), Carmen (Miracle)
YOUNG BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Lola Campbell – Scrapper (Picturehouse)
BRITISH/IRISH SHORT FILM OF THE YEAR
The Veiled City – Natalie Cubides-Brady, director
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The Zone of Interest – music & sound, Mica Levi & Johnnie Burn (A24)
THE DILYS POWELL AWARD: EXCELLENCE IN FILM
Jeffrey Wright
THE DEREK MALCOLM AWARD FOR INNOVATION
Colman Domingo
Comedic Director Roderick Fenske Joins Yard Dog TV For U.S. Spot Work
Roderick Fenske, the award-winning agency copywriter/creative director turned comedic director of commercials and films, has joined Yard Dog TV for U.S. representation.
Fenske--known for his idiosyncratic casting, stylish art direction, and blend of practical and digital effects--saw his newest commercial work, for Drink Weird Ice Tea, break earlier this month. His most recent short film, I’m Dead, You’re Welcome, starring JR Russell, Taissa Zveiter, Sandy Eels, and Julia Lorpriore, is making the rounds of film festivals now, having won Best Comedy Short at the Flagstaff International Film Festival last month.
Fenske, who started out in the business as a copywriter, is one of a select group of agency creatives to have found success in both New York and London, where his last post was as a creative director at TBWA there. “I owe so much of my career to Trevor Beattie [TBWA London chairman/creative director at the time], because he believed in me and started my career directing commercials,” said Fenske, citing work for Sony PlayStation, French Connection UK, and Channel 5.
Those spots led to an invitation to become a member of the visionary Swedish film collective known as ACNE. “I learned so much there working in a directing collective. With everybody talking about how to make stuff look stylish and cinematic it was like a film school for me,” Fenske explained. “Production design is so important because humor can be much more unexpected when you have an elevated look.”
Over the course of his career, Fenske’s work has received many international awards from shows including the Cannes Lions, British D&AD, and AICP. He moved from London to Los Angeles, and during this time he met Yard Dog... Read More