2024 "An Irish Person" FILM Awards RECAP!!

2024 as a year in film is one in more conflicted on as while there were many films I loved for the most part the overall quality had the slightest step down from more recent years. Also as I’m ending this year out I just want to say the online engagement with film gets uglier and while I manage to avoid most of it I will freely admit the consent berage of criticism and not so much adoration of film makes me question why many bother. Can’t we just talk about what we love especially when there are many great international titles worth celebrating.

This year I managed to recognise 49 films with at least one nomination. Only one film scored double digit nominations from me, many films received single nominations showing how wide spread the quality of films was this year. My top 10 goes to show how varied cinema was this year.

1. The Substance

2. All We Imagine as Light

3. Challengers

4. Flow

5. Dahomey

6. No Other Land

7. Hard Truths

8. His Three Daughters

9. I'm Still Here

10. Will & Harper

To all of you who even took time to read any of these posts I appreciate it. Goodbye to you all and I'll see you again next year to celebrate the best in film.

OUTSTANDING PICTURE:

All We Imagine as Light (Produced by Thomas Hakim & Julien Graff)

Challengers (Produced by Amy Pascal, Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya & Rachel O'Connor)

Dahomey (Produced by Mati Diop, Eve Robin & Judith Lou Lévy)

Flow (Produced by Matīss Kaža, Gints Zilbalodis, Ron Dyens & Gregory Zalcman)

The Substance (Produced by Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:

Mati Diop for Dahomey

Coralie Fargeat for The Substance

Luca Guadagnino for Challengers

Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light

Jane Schoenbrun for I Saw the TV Glow

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:

Colman Domingo as John "Divine G" Whitfield in "SING SING"

André Holland as Tarrell in "EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS"

Keith Kupferer as Dan Mueller in "GHOSTLIGHT"

Josh O'Connor as Patrick Zweig in "CHALLENGERS"

Justice Smith as Owen in "I SAW THE TV GLOW"

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp in "WICKED"

Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Pansy in "HARD TRUTHS"

Kani Kusruti as Prabha in "ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT"

Saoirse Ronan as Rona in "THE OUTRUN"

Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva in "I'M STILL HERE"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Yura Borisov as Igor in "ANORA"

John Earl Jelks as La'Ron in "EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS"

Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin as himself in "SING SING"

Adam Pearson as Oswald in "A DIFFERENT MAN"

Richard Roundtree as Ben in "THELMA"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Michele Austin as Chantelle in "HARD TRUTHS"

Joan Chen as Chungsing Wang in "DIDI"

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Joyce in "EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS"

Sophie Okonedo as Regina in "JANET PLANET"

Jurnee Smollett as Dolores in "WE GROWN NOW"

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light

Justin Kuritzkes for Challengers

Mike Leigh for Hard Truths

Azazel Jacobs for His Three Daughters

Coralie Fargeat for The Substance

OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Screenplay by Richard Linklater & Glen Powell; Based on "Hit Man" by Skip Hollandsworth, Hit Man

Screenplay by Murilo Hauser & Heitor Lorega; Based on I'm Still Here by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, I'm Still Here

Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes; Based on The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, Nickel Boys

Screenplay by Pedro Almodóvar; Based on What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez, The Room Next Door

Screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin & John "Divine G" Whitfield; Based on "The Sing Sing Follies" by John H. Richardson & Breakin' the Mummy's Code by Brent Buell, Sing Sing

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:

Chicken for Linda! (Directed by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach)

Flow (Directed by Gints Zilbalodis)

Memoir of a Snail (Directed by Adam Elliot)

SPY x FAMILY CODE: White (Directed by Takashi Katagiri)

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Directed by Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham)

OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:

Lily Collias (Good One)

Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing)

Katy O'Brian (Love Lies Bleeding)

Maisy Stella (My Old Ass)

Brandon Wilson (Nickel Boys)

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Ranabir Das for All We Imagine as Light

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom for Challengers

Michał Dymek for The Girl with the Needle

Dinh Duy Hung for Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

Jarin Blaschke for Nosferatu

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:

Jonathan Anderson for Challengers

Jacqueline West for Dune: Part Two

Massimo Cantini Parrini for Maria

Emmanuelle Youchnowski for The Substance

Paul Tazewell for Wicked

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY:

Dahomey (Directed by Mati Diop)

Daughters (Directed by Natalie Rae & Angela Patton)

No Other Land (Directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor)

Sugarcane (Directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie)

Will & Harper (Directed by Josh Greenbaum)

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:

Ghostlight (Keith Kupferer, Dolly de Leon, Katherine May Kupferer, Tara Mallen, Hana Dworkin, Tommy Rivera-Vega, Alma Washington, H.B. Ward, Dexter Zollicoffer, Lia Cubilete, Deanna Dunagan, Francis Guinan)

Hard Truths (Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown, Jonathan Livingstone)

His Three Daughters (Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Rudy Galvan, Jose Febus, Jasmine Bracey, Jay O. Sanders, Jovan Adepo)

The Piano Lesson (John David Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Fisher, Danielle Deadwyler, Michael Potts, Corey Hawkins, Erykah Badu)

Sing Sing (Colman Domingo, Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin, Sean San José, Paul Raci, David "Dap" Giraudy, Patrick "Preme" Griffin, Jon-Adrian "JJ" Velazquez, Sean "Dino" Johnson)

OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:

Clément Pinteaux for All We Imagine as Light

Dávid Jancsó for The Brutalist

Marco Costa for Challengers

Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor for No Other Land

Coralie Fargeat, Jérôme Eltabet & Valentin Feron for The Substance

OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL FILM:

All We Imagine as Light (Directed by Payal Kapadia)

Dahomey (Directed by Mati Diop)

Flow (Directed by Gints Zilbalodis)

Green Border (Directed by Agnieszka Holland)

I'm Still Here (Directed by Walter Salles)

OUTSTANDING MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:

Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener, Charmaine Fuller, Mona Turnbull, Chloe Meddings & Susan Cole for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Mike Marino, Sarah Graalman & Aaron Saucier for A Different Man

Marie Deehan for Femme

Stéphanie Guillon & Pierre-Olivier Persin for The Substance

Frances Hannon, Sarah Nuth & Laura Blount for Wicked

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE:

Cristobal Tapia de Veer for Babygirl

Daniel Blumberg for The Brutalist

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Challengers

Alberto Iglesias for The Room Next Door

Raffertie for The Substance

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:

"El Mal", Emilia Pérez (Music and Lyrics by Clément Ducol, Camille & Jacques Audiard)

"Claw Machine", I Saw the TV Glow (Music and Lyrics by Haley Dahl)

"Sick in the Head", Kneecap (Music and Lyrics by Adrian McLeod, Thomas Mackenzie Bell & Kneecap)

"Blood on White Satin", Smile 2 (Music and Lyrics by Alexis Idarose Kesselman)

"Harper and Will Go West", Will & Harper (Music and Lyrics by Sean Douglas and Kristen Wiig)

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:

Willem Dafoe (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Kinds of Kindness, Nosferatu, Saturday Night)

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (The Deliverance, Exhibiting Forgiveness, Nickel Boys)

Margaret Qualley (Drive-Away Dolls, Kinds of Kindness, The Substance)

Jason Schwartzman (Between the Temples, The Last Showgirl, Megalopolis, Queer)

Tilda Swinton (The End, Problemista, The Room Next Door)

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN:

Production Design by Judy Becker; Set Decoration by Patricia Cuccia for The Brutalist

Production Design by Stefano Baisi; Set Decoration by Lorenzo De Cillis & Lisa Scoppa for Queer

Production Design by Inbal Weinberg; Set Decoration by Carlota Casado for The Room Next Door

Production Design by Stanislas Reydellet; Set Decoration by Cécilia Blom, Marion De Villechabrolle, Jacques Oursin & Pierre Strub for The Substance

Production Design by Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration by Lee Sandales for Wicked

OUTSTANDING SOUND:

John Casali, Paul Cotterell & James Harrison for Blitz

Craig Berkey, Lisa Piñero & Paul Carter for Challengers

Glenn Freemantle, Howard Bargroff & Mary H. Ellis for Civil War

Victor Fleurant & Valérie Deloof for The Substance

Simon Hayes, John Marquis, Andy Nelson & Nancy Nugent Title for Wicked

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS:

Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe & Gerd Nefzer for Dune: Part Two

Andy Williams, Eric Whipp, Dan Bethell & Andrew Jackson for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Mike Cheslik & Jerry Kurek for Hundreds of Beavers

Bryan Jones, Chevin Shafaghi, Pierre Olivier Persin & Jean Miel for The Substance

Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, Paul Corbould & David Shirk for Wicked

MOST NOMINATIONS:

10 nominations: The Substance

9 nominations: Challengers

7 nominations: All We Imagine as Light

6 nominations: Wicked

4 nominations: Dahomey, Hard Truths, Sing Sing

3 nominations: The Brutalist, Exhibiting Forgiveness, Flow, I Saw the TV Glow, I’m Still Here, The Room Next Door

2 nominations: A Different Man, Dune: Part Two, Ghostlight, His Three Daughters, No Other Land, Will & Harper

1 nomination: Anora, Babygirl, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Blitz, Chicken for Linda!, Civil War, Daughters, Didi, Emilia Pérez, Femme, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Girl with the Needle, Green Border, Hit Man, Hundreds of Beavers, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, Janet Planet, Kneecap, Maria, Memoir of a Snail, Nickel Boys, Nosferatu, The Outrun, The Piano Lesson, Queer, Smile 2, Sugarcane, SPY x FAMILY CODE: White, Thelma, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, We Grown Now

MOST WINS:

3 wins: The Substance

2 wins: Challengers, Hard Truths

1 win: All We Imagine as Light, The Brutalist, Civil War, Dahomey, Dune: Part Two, Exhibiting Forgiveness, Flow, His Three Daughters, I’m Still Here, Nosferatu, Sing Sing, Wicked, Will & Harper

OUTSTANDING PICTURE

All We Imagine as Light (Produced by Thomas Hakim & Julien Graff)

Challengers (Produced by Amy Pascal, Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya & Rachel O'Connor)

Dahomey (Produced by Mati Diop, Eve Robin & Judith Lou Lévy)

Flow (Produced by Matīss Kaža, Gints Zilbalodis, Ron Dyens & Gregory Zalcman)

The Substance (Produced by Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner)

AND THE WINNER:

THE SUBSTANCE (PRODUCED BY CORALIE FARGEAT, TIM BEVAN & ERIC FELLNER)

This is the second win and fourth nomination for Coralie Fargeat. Fargeat won my directing prize and was also nominated for writing and editing The Substance (2024). These are the first wins and second nominations for Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, they were previously nominated for producing Pride & Prejudice (2005).

With this prize The Substance wins three awards from its ten nominations. The film won for picture, director & makeup and hairstyling. It was also nominated for original screenplay, costume design, film editing, original score, production design, sound and visual effects.

When it comes to standout films from 2024 no film has stayed with me both emotionally and artistically then The Substance. I was lucky enough to first see the film when I attended a few days the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and instantly I became obsessed with the film. I have since watched the film another three times and with each viewing I became more enthralled by this captivating horror drama comedy whatever genre you want to associate the film with as it will be appropriate. I am excited for this film to continue to beloved throughout the history of cinema and am so happy for all involved and the great acclaim they have all received from this standout feature film.

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp in "WICKED"

Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Pansy in "HARD TRUTHS"

Kani Kusruti as Prabha in "ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT"

Saoirse Ronan as Rona in "THE OUTRUN"

Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva in "I'M STILL HERE"

AND THE WINNER:

MARIANNE JEAN-BAPTISTE AS PANSY IN "HARD TRUTHS"

This is the first win and fourth nomination for Marianne Jean-Baptiste. She was previously nominated indiviually and with the ensemble of Secrets & Lies (1996). She also received a nomination alongside the ensemble of Hard Truths (2024). She wins for her performance as Pansy in Hard Truths.

If you had told me at the beginning of 2024 that Marianne Jean-Baptiste reuniting on film with director Mike Leigh after their last collaboration thirty years prior would be my winning performance for leading actress honestly I would've understood. I mean earlier this year I even tweeted that Marianne's performance was the one I was most looking forward to and once I saw the film at the BFI London Film Festival I could not think of anyone but Marianne being my leading actress choice.

It truly is impressive of Marianne as Pansy managed to give both the most dramatic and humorous performance of the year nailing all the comic lines of dialogue early on and absolutely selling the fall into sadness so well. I do not know how anyone who has seen Hard Truths could not just proclaim MJB as having delivered the finest performance of the year regardless of genre, gender or size of part. She is a powerful force as Pansy from the very beginning playing this deeply flawed woman so fiercely. I don't think I'm soon to forget her tough interactions with basically other characters and while I say this I do love this character especially when we later understand how hurt she is by many other forces in her world.

It is such a pleasure to see Mike Leigh give Marianne this moment to shine as she sat and allowed Brenda Blethyn her Secrets & Lies co-star to play the flashier part thirty years earlier. I do expect to watch this film countless more times throughout my life as I appreciate this performance so much and believe to be among the centuries greatest.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR

Mati Diop for Dahomey

Coralie Fargeat for The Substance

Luca Guadagnino for Challengers

Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light

Jane Schoenbrun for I Saw the TV Glow

AND THE WINNER:

CORALIE FARGEAT FOR THE SUBSTANCE

This is the first win and third nomination for Coralie Fargeat. She was also nominated this year for screenwriting and editing The Substance (2024).

Since seeing The Substance for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival in May of this year I knew this film was something special and just watching the film go from win to win in the months that passed between then and now has been such a delight to witness. Coralie Fargeat was a director whose first film I saw a few years ago and enjoyed absolutely blew away any expectations I might've had from her to make something so fabulous.

Fargeat and her whole team were clearly unafraid to embrace gore, outlandishness and just overall embracing excess. Fargeat has established herself as a director to watch and truly the film was made so fantastically that I look forward to watching whatever she will do next. I almost don't want to describe what makes Fargeat's director so great especially for those who've not seen the film. I just recommend watching the film because it is a wild ride and sure to be one of the major titles most associated with the film year of 2024.

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR

Colman Domingo as John "Divine G" Whitfield in "SING SING"

André Holland as Tarrell in "EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS"

Keith Kupferer as Dan Mueller in "GHOSTLIGHT"

Josh O'Connor as Patrick Zweig in "CHALLENGERS"

Justice Smith as Owen in "I SAW THE TV GLOW"

AND THE WINNER:

ANDRÉ HOLLAND AS TARRELL IN "EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS"

This is the second win and fourth nomination for André Holland. Holland previously won as part of the ensemble of Moonlight (2016), he was also nominated individually for Moonlight and as part of the ensemble of Selma (2014). He wins for his performance as Tarrell in Exhibiting Forgiveness.

Exhibiting Forgiveness is probably a film title from 2024 not nearly enough people have witnessed because Holland's is that impressive he should've been more in the conversation for best leading male performances of the year. Holland is an actor I've been a longtime fan of most primarily from the two season run of TV series 'The Knick' and of course his charming and disarming performance in 2016's Moonlight.

I have been patiently waiting for more complicated parts for him to play and after a nearly 12 month wait in 2024 once I saw Exhibiting Forgiveness I knew his work was that standout that even with some impressive competition he would be my choice. In the film Holland as Tarrell has to deal with approaching a troubling history while trying to stay in the moment of the present and his handle on this part is so compelling. The deeply upsetting emotions Holland must play are genuinely heartbreaking with myself on the verge of tears in the scenes where Holland played the injured child coming through his adult self opposite his on screen parents. Holland is marvellous opposite each of his co-stars and I truly believe his work deserves great honours that maybe were the title a bit more major he might've been more mentioned throughout the 2024-25 awards season as he deserved to be.

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG

"El Mal", Emilia Pérez (Music and Lyrics by Clément Ducol, Camille & Jacques Audiard)

"Claw Machine", I Saw the TV Glow (Music and Lyrics by Haley Dahl)

"Sick in the Head", Kneecap (Music and Lyrics by Adrian McLeod, Thomas Mackenzie Bell & Kneecap)

"Blood on White Satin", Smile 2 (Music and Lyrics by Alexis Idarose Kesselman)

"Harper and Will Go West", Will & Harper (Music and Lyrics by Sean Douglas and Kristen Wiig)

AND THE WINNER:

"HARPER AND WILL GO WEST", WILL & HARPER (MUSIC AND LYRICS BY SEAN DOUGLAS AND KRISTEN WIIG)

This is the first win and nomination for Sean Douglas. This is Kristen's second win and fourth nomination. Wiig previously won for screen-writing Bridesmaids (2011) and was also nominated individually and as part of the ensemble for Bridesmaids.

The utter delight that overtakes me whenever I think of the great Netflix documentary is immense. The film itself is such a delightful viewing experience and while it's nominated here for song I have to at least mention the greatness of the film overall.

How this original song written by Wiig and Douglas works in the structure of the documentary is so special having been an in real time request by the titular Will & Harper and while we do not hear the whole song until the closing credits unlike usual thrown in end credits themes this song feels so in conversation with the spirit of the film that occurred previously.

Kristen Wiig is of course one of our great comedic talents yet when she creates art like this song I appreciate her talent even more so as her work contains so much heart will spills out through the catchiness of the song and how good it makes you feel after such a comforting film experience that was the documentary Will & Harper

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE

Cristobal Tapia de Veer for Babygirl

Daniel Blumberg for The Brutalist

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Challengers

Alberto Iglesias for The Room Next Door

Raffertie for The Substance

AND THE WINNER:

TRENT REZNOR AND ATTICUS ROSS FOR CHALLENGERS

These are the first wins and third nominations for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Reznor and Ross were previously nominated for scoring The Social Network (2010) and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

2024 proved to be a pretty incredible year for original music composing yet my choice for best of the year has been clear since I first saw Challengers in May of the year. It's rare even when a score impresses me that music such as the compositions of this film can enter the pop culture and become a piece of music both of the film and of itself. The tech beats really emphasised the face paced nature of the sports match and hotness of the central trio featured in the film.

I have watched the film three times in title and listened to the music separate from the film too and truly this is just a fantastic score that deserves to be one of the great film elements of this past year in cinema.