The 25th Annual Art Directors Guild Awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, April 10th, 2021.

As I have been doing for a few years, as we get into the awards season, I’ll post the fictional ballots for some of the guild awards, showing what my vote would be if I had one. I will, as a rule, abstain from my fictional vote if I haven’t seen at least half of the nominees. And to be perfectly clear, I’m not a member of any of these guilds and organizations.

The list of nominees can be seen here.

Here it goes:

Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film – Period: Donald Graham Burt, for Mank

Donald Graham Burt’s work was in good company among the other nominees, but the level of detail and the variety of sets here, as well as its precise emulation of films of the 1940s, set this one apart.

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Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film – Fantasy: Jim Bissell, for The Midnight Sky

Jim Bissell creates two different environments for this film, and they are both modernistic, clean, functional, elegant. (Not seen: Pinocchio.)

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Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film – Contemporary: Molly Hughes, for I’m Thinking of Ending Things

The set design of this film would be interesting even if it was static, as it is an important part of what gives the film its uneasiness. But, on top of that, the sets change in small ways as the story evolves; it’s a work of great attention to detail. (Not seen: Palm Springs, The Prom.)

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Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film – Animated Film: Steve Pilcher, for Soul

Not content in recreating a very believable and realistic-looking New York, Steve Pilcher also creates a metaphysical world that is abstract, beautiful to look at and a fine representation of the film’s ideas. (Not seen: The Croods: A New Age.)