The lovefest for”The Souvenir” continues. Earlier this month Joanna Hogg’s coming-of-age drama topped Sight & Sound’s Best of 2019 list, and now comes word that the pic leads in nominations for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards. “The Souvenir” scored seven nominations, including Film of the Year, Screenwriter (Hogg), Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton), and Young Performer (Honor Swinton Byrne).
Inspired by Hogg’s own experiences, “The Souvenir” tells the story of a film student who falls for an untrustworthy older man struggling with addiction.
“The Souvenir” is one of 10 titles up for Film of the Year. The only other woman-directed pic in the running is “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” Céline Sciamma’s period romance about an artist commissioned to paint a portrait of a reluctant bride-to-be. Sciamma is the only woman nominated for Best Director. The Cannes winner also received a nom for Foreign-Language Film of the Year, as did Alice Rohrwacher’s “Happy as Lazzaro,” a fable about the unlikely friendship between a peasant and nobleman.
Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ “For Sama” and Agnès Varda’s “Varda by Agnès” are among the titles up for Documentary of the Year. The former chronicles life in Aleppo through five years of the Syrian revolution and the latter sees Varda providing insight into her creative process and works, which included “Cleo from 5 to 7,” “The Gleaners & I,” and “Faces Places.” Varda died earlier this year.
Head over to Deadline to check out all of the nominees. Winners will be announced on January 30. Writer-director Sally Potter and costume designer Sandy Powell are set to receive the event’s highest honor, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Cinema.