Area film critics honor ‘Nomadland,’ Chadwick Boseman

“Nomadland,” the highly-acclaimed drama starring Frances McDormand as a woman traveling the American West in a van in the wake of the Great Recession, has been named top picture of 2020 by the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle.

The film — which is based on the 2017 non-fiction book, “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century,” by Jessica Bruder — also won three other major awards from the organization. Chloé Zhao triumphed in both the director and film editing categories and McDormand was named best actress. “Nomadland” also received an honorable mention for the cinematography work by Joshua James Richards.

“Nomadland” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, securing the Golden Lion award, then picked up the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival later that month. It is scheduled to get a full theatrical release — whatever that might end up meaning in the COVID era — in February.

“First Cow” and “Soul” were among the other top films honored by the Bay Area critics circle. Pixar’s

“Soul” won in the animated film category. Chadwick Boseman, the “Black Panther” superstar who died from colon cancer in August at the age of 43, was named best actor for his work in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” And filmmaker Dawn Porter won the prestigious Marlon Riggs Award, which is bestowed on Bay Area filmmakers or individuals who represent courage and innovation.

“She had not one, but two impactful films that could not be more timely in this political climate: ‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ and ‘The Way I See It,'” the critics circle announced.