The nominees for the Critics Choice award are out. The Critics Choice Association announced the film and television nominees for its 25th annual awards ceremony, set to be held on Jan. 12, 2020. The Critics Choice is the first of the four major awards ceremonies (including the SAG, Golden Globes and Oscars) to announce nominations. Atlantics and Trevor Noah's comedy special, Son of Patricia, have been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Comedy Special respectively.
Atlantics is a supernatural Senegalese romantic drama film directed by Mati Diop. In the film, after not being paid for months, construction workers in Dakar working on a futuristic-looking building decide to leave the country by sea. One of the workers is Souleiman, Ada's lover, but Ada is betrothed to another man. Days after the exodus, Souleiman returns, a fire ruins Ada's wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread.
Atlantics is Diop's feature directorial debut. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. When the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Diop made history by becoming the first black woman to direct a film featured In Competition at the festival. The film won the Grand Prix. The film has also been submitted to the Oscars and the Golden Globe Award in the Best Foreign Language Film Category. It is available on Netflix.
Son of Patricia is Daily Show host Trevor Noah's Netflix comedy special in which he "touches on tacos, runaway snakes, camping, racism immunity and lessons he learned from his mother in this comedy special". Noah merges his South African roots and upbringing with his recent American experience making for funny and human juxtapositions and observations. Other Nominees in the category are Amy Schumer: Growing (Netflix), Jenny Slate: Stage Fright (Netflix), Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons (ABC), Ramy Youssef: Feelings (HBO), Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby (Netflix) and Wanda Sykes: Not Normal (Netflix). Son of Patricia has also been nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Comedy Album category.