New York Film Critics Circle announces 'Drive My Car' best film of the year
December 4, 2021, 7:35 am

New York Film Critics Circle announces 'Drive My Car' best film of the year

Drive my car film/Facebook page

The Associated Press reported, the New York Film Critics Circle on Friday named “Drive My Car,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s intimate three-hour epic and Haruki Murakami’s short story adaptation, the best film of the year.

Hamaguchi’s film, about a widowed actor played by Hidetoshi Nishijima, has been widely hailed since its debut earlier in the year at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won for best screenplay. “Drive My Car,” which recently opened in limited theatrical release, is Japan’s submission to the Academy Awards. It’s only the second time in the last four decades that the critics’ top honor went to a non English-language film. (The other was Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” three years ago.)

Film projector-Movie theater/Pixabay

Jane Campion’s Montana gothic drama “The Power of the Dog” led all films with three awards. Campion took best director, Benedict Cumberbatch won best actor and best supporting actor went to Kodi Smit-McPhee.

The New York critics, as it typically does, otherwise spread its honors around. Best actress went to Lady Gaga for her performance as Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci.” Kathryn Hunter won for her ghostly witch in Joel Coen’s upcoming Shakespeare adaptation “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Paul Thomas Anderson took best screenplay for his coming-of-age comedy “Licorice Pizza.”

Michael Rianda’s robot apocalypse-family road trip comedy “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” won best animated film. Best cinematography went to Janusz Kamisnki for Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” revival. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Elena Ferrante adaptation “The Lost Daughter” took best first film. Best documentary went to Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated refugee tale “Flee.” And Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World,” a chronicle of youth and love in Oslo, Norway, won for best foreign language film.

The group also announced several special awards: Maya Cade, for creating the Black Film Archive, a catalogue of Black films from 1915 to 1979 that are available online; the late Diane Weyermann, a film executive who helped produce social-issue documentaries like “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Citizenfour”; and Marshall Fine, the film critic and general manager of the NYFCC.

The New York Film Critics Circle, founded in 1935, will hand out its 89th awards during a ceremony on Jan. 10. Last year, the group picked Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow” as its best film. The year before that, it selected Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.”

Source: AP

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
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Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”