THE National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) named “Drive My Car” as its best picture of 2021 during the 56th annual meeting, which was held virtually Saturday.

“Drive My Car” and “Wheel of Fortune” and “Fantasy”’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi was selected as best director, while Penélope Cruz won best actress for her performance in “Parallel Mothers” and “Drive My Car”’s Hidetoshi Nishijima won in the category of best actor. Due to “Drive My Car” winning best picture, the group did not vote on a best foreign-language film prize this year.

The society’s special citation for a film awaiting U.S. distribution to Jean-Gabriel Périot’s documentary “Returning to Reims.” This year’s Film Heritage Award was bestowed on the late Bertrand Tavernier and Peter Bogdanovich, “distinguished critic-filmmakers who never lost their passion for other people’s movies and film history.”

Maya Cade was also honored as a winner of this year’s Film Heritage Awards for the Black Film Archive, “which expands knowledge of and access to Black films made between 1915 and 1979.”

This year, the NSFC dedicated the ceremony to Morris Dickstein and Michael Wilmington, “two esteemed colleagues and longtime members” who wrote about movies in reviews, essays and books “with wit, warmth, passion and skill, and will both be deeply missed.” They also announced that Liz Weis, who served as executive director of the National Society of Film Critics for 47 years, is stepping down.

Typically, vote meetings are held at New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually for the second year in a row and will not have an awards party.

Previous year’s winners include Chloé Zhao’s drama “Nomadland” and Bong Joon- ho’s black comedy thriller “Parasite” have been among the NSFC’s recent best picture winners.

Founded in 1966, the NSFC features 59 elected and eligible members from major papers and outlets across the country including The Wall Street Journal, The L.A. Times, The New Yorker, The Christian Science Monitor and NPR. The society annually honors the best in acting, direction, writing, cinematography and more across onscreen and streaming releases in the U.S.

(SD-Agencies)