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The Indiana Film Journalists Association selected “Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time” as 2021’s best documentary and also gave the Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award to the film about the iconic author who graduated from Shortridge High School in 1940.
The critics group named “Mass,” a drama in which two sets of parents ask and answer difficult questions in the aftermath of tragedy, as the year’s best film. “Mass” collected four awards overall, including best original screenplay, best ensemble acting and breakout of the year for director Fran Kranz.
Established in 2009, the Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) is dedicated to promoting the art of film criticism in the Hoosier state and supporting Indiana’s growing film industry. It also presents annual awards for the year in film.
On Monday, it announced the winners for 2021 in 16 categories.
“Mass” screened as part of this year’s Heartland International Film Festival. Four other films seen at the Indianapolis festival, “The Power of the Dog,” “Spencer,” “C’mon, C’mon” and “Flee” won Indiana Film Journalists Association awards.
“Mass” follows “Nomadland” (2020), “Marriage Story” (2019) and “The Hate U Give” (2018) as best-film winners selected by the Indiana Film Journalists Association in recent years.
“Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time” was released in November, nearly 40 years after Emmy-winning director and screenwriter Robert Weide mailed an unsolicited letter to Vonnegut and received consent to make a movie based on the author of “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “Breakfast of Champions.”
Weide, known for directing nearly 30 episodes of HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” mailed the letter in 1982 and he began filming “Unstuck in Time” in 1988, when Vonnegut made a train trip from Albany, New York, to Buffalo. Vonnegut, who died in 2007 at age 84, and Weide became close friends.
The film includes a 1994 visit to Shortridge, where Indianapolis native Vonnegut reminisced about high school pranks.
The Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award, named in honor of the Nuvo Newsweekly critic who died in April, recognizes work by artists with roots in Indiana or a film that depicts Indiana locales and stories.
The winners in 16 categories:
Best film
Winner: “Mass”
Runner-Up: “Drive My Car”
Other best -film finalists (listed alphabetically):
“Annette”
“The Card Counter”
“C’mon C’mon”
“CODA”
“The Green Knight”
“The Last Duel”
“Pig”
“The Power of the Dog”
Best animated feature
Winner: “Flee”
Runner-Up: “Luca”
Best foreign language film
Winner: “Drive My Car”
Runner-Up: “Lamb”
Best documentary
Winner: “Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time“
Runner-Up: “Procession”
Best original screenplay
Winner: Fran Kranz, “Mass”
Runner-Up: Mike Mills, “C’mon C’mon”
Best adapted screenplay
Winner: Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, “Drive My Car”
Runner-Up: Nicole Holofcener, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, “The Last Duel”
Best director
Winner: Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”
Runner-Up: Fran Kranz, “Mass”
Best actress
Winner: Kristen Stewart, “Spencer”
Runner-Up: Jodie Comer, “The Last Duel”
Best supporting actress
Winner: Gaby Hoffmann, “C’mon C’mon”
Runner-Up: Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”
Best actor
Winner: Oscar Isaac, “The Card Counter”
Runner-Up: Nicolas Cage, “Pig”
Best supporting actor
Winner: Troy Kotsur, “CODA”
Runner-Up: Jason Isaacs, “Mass”
Best vocal/motion capture performance
Winner: Olivia Colman, “The Mitchells vs. the Machines”
Runner-Up: Tom Hardy, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”
Best ensemble acting
Winner: “Mass”
Runner-Up: “The Humans”
Best musical score
Winner: Jonny Greenwood, “The Power of the Dog”
Runner-Up: Hans Zimmer, “Dune”
Breakout of the year
Winner: Fran Kranz, “Mass”
Runner-Up: Michael Sarnoski, “Pig”
Original vision award
Winner: “Annette”
Runner-Up: “Titane”
Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award
Winner: “Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time”
(No runner-up is named in this category.)
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