2023 Austin Film Critics Association Award Nominations

The AFCA presents their shortlist for the 2023 awards season

The Austin Film Critics Association (AFCA) announced its 2023 awards nominations today.

Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon lead the pack with nominations in 10 categories — including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Score, Best Ensemble, and other acting categories. Other films vying for multiple wins include Poor Things (nominations in 9 categories), Barbie (nominations in 7 categories), The Holdovers and Past Lives (nominations in 6 categories).

We continue to celebrate new creative talent in our Best First Film category, with nominations for Raine Allen-Miller (Rye Lane), Cord Jefferson (American Fiction), Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou (Talk To Me), A.V. Rockwell (A Thousand And One), as well as Celine Song, whose breakout debut feature Past Lives also earned a nomination for Best Picture, Best Actress (Greta Lee), Best Original Screenplay, and for the writer/director in our Breakthrough Artist award. We also celebrate the work of those filmmakers based in our own city of Austin, TX, with this year’s nominees for the Best Austin Film award.

The winners, as voted by our membership, will be unveiled on January 10th.

List of Nominees (all in alphabetical order)

Best Director

• Greta Gerwig, Barbie
• Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
• Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
• Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Celine Song, Past Lives

Best Picture

• American Fiction
• Barbie
• Godzilla Minus One
• The Holdovers
• The Iron Claw
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• Oppenheimer
• Past Lives
• Poor Things
• Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Best Actress

• Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
• Greta Lee, Past Lives
• Margot Robbie, Barbie
• Emma Stone, Poor Things

Best Actor

• Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
• Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
• Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers
• Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Best Supporting Actor

• Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
• Ryan Gosling, Barbie
• Charles Melton, May December
• Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

Best Supporting Actress

• Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
• Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
• Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
• Julianne Moore, May December
• Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Best Ensemble

• Asteroid City
• Barbie
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• Oppenheimer
• Poor Things

Best Original Screenplay

• Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, May December
• Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie
• David Hemingson, The Holdovers
• Celine Song, Past Lives
• Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Kelly Fremon Craig, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
• Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
• Tony McNamara, Poor Things
• Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
• Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Cinematography

• Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer
• Matthew Libatique, Maestro
• Rodrigo Prieto, Barbie
• Rodrigo Prieto, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Robbie Ryan, Poor Things

Best Editing

• Jennifer Lame, Oppenheimer
• Yorgos Mavropsaridis, Poor Things
• Thelma Schoonmaker, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Kevin Tent, The Holdovers
• Michelle Tesoro, Maestro

Best Original Score

• Jerskin Fendrix, Poor Things
• Ludwig Göransson, Oppenheimer
• Daniel Pemberton, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
• Robbie Robertson, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, Barbie

Best International Film

• Anatomy of a Fall
• The Boy and the Heron
• Godzilla Minus One
• The Taste of Things
• The Zone of Interest

Best Documentary

• 20 Days in Mariupol
• Beyond Utopia
• Four Daughters
• Little Richard: I Am Everything
• Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Best Animated Film

• The Boy and the Heron
• Elemental
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse
• Suzume
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Best Voice Acting/Animated/Digital Performance

• Bradley Cooper, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
• Ayo Edebiri, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
• Shameik Moore, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
• Chloë Grace Moretz, Nimona
• Hailee Steinfeld, Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse

Best Stunt Coordinator

• Stephen Dunlevy & Scott Rogers, John Wick Chapter 4
• Wade Eastwood, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning
• Chavo Guerrero, Jr. and Hiro Koda, The Iron Claw
• Crispin Layfield, Polite Society
• Noon Orsatti, Extraction 2

Best First Film

• Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane
• Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
• Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou, Talk To Me
• A.V. Rockwell, A Thousand And One
• Celine Song, Past Lives

The Robert R. “Bobby” McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award

• Ayo Edebiri, Bottoms, Theater Camp, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
• Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Unknown Country, Fancy Dance, Quantum Cowboys
• Abby Ryder Fortson, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
• Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
• Celine Song, Past Lives

As part of the organization’s annual voting, the Austin Film Critics Association acknowledges standout titles with local ties — works made by directors who live in Austin. This award is distinct to our group of critics, recognizing the talent of Austin filmmakers as we celebrate the best films of the year.

In alphabetical order, the five nominees for Best Austin Film 2023 are:

• Milli Vanilli (dir. Luke Korem)
• The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon (dir. Matt Eskey)
• Sorry About the Demon (dir. Emily Hagins)
• Thirst (dir. Eric Owen)
• When You Get to the Forest (dir. Eric Power)

The AFCA will announce the 2023 award winners, including the Austin Film Award, and special awards, on Wednesday, Jan 10th.

Founded in 2005 by Cole Dabney & Bobby McCurdy, the AFCA has seen its membership grow from single digits to well over 35 members. The diverse outlets our members contribute to include the Austin Chronicle, Bullz-Eye, But Why Tho?, Certified Forgotten, Cinapse, Cinema Scholars, Consequence, Daily Grindhouse, Double Toasted, Dread Central, Edge Media Network, Fangoria, Film School Rejects, Hyperreal Film Club, Indiewire, Horror’s Not Dead, Junkfood Cinema, KOOP 91.7 FM Radio, Mendowerks, One Movie Punch, One Of Us, Paste, The Playlist, Sightlines, Slashfilm, True View Reviews, Uproxx, and We Got This Covered.