28th Annual ASC Awards

The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) announced the winners of the 28th Annual ASC Awards on February 1st, 2014 with giving away the top prize to EMMANUEL LUBEZKI for GRAVITY.

Last year, Roger Deakins won the ASC award for his photography work in Skyfall, but the Oscar for Best Cinematography went to Claudio Miranda for Life of Pi. Let's see what happens this year.

Here is the complete list of winners:

FILM

THEATRICAL RELEASE: Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC for Gravity

SPOTLIGHT AWARD: Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski for Ida

TELEVISION

ONE-HOUR EPISODIC TELEVISION SERIES: Jonathan Freeman, ASC for Game of Thrones (“Valar Dohaeris”)

HALF-HOUR EPISODIC SERIES: Blake McClure for Drunk History (“Detroit”)

TELEVISION MOVIE/MINI SERIES: Jeremy Benning CSC for Killing Lincoln

8th Annual Excellent Dynamic Activism Awards

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) announced its 8th Excellent Dynamic Activism (EDA) awards with giving away the Best Film award to 12 Years a Slave, directed and co-produced by Steve McQueen who also won the Best Director award.

Last year, only 6 EDA winners won the Oscars, i.e. Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Documentary and Best Cinematography award.

AWFJ EDA ‘BEST OF’ AWARDS

Best Film: 12 Years a Slave

Best Director (Female or Male): Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave

Best Screenplay, Original: Her – Spike Jonze

Best Screenplay, Adapted: John Ridley - 12 Years a Slave

Best Documentary: Stories We Tell – Sarah Polley

Best Animated Film: The Wind Rises - Hayao Miyazaki

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Lupita Nyong’o - 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club

Best Ensemble Cast: American Hustle

Best Editing: Gravity - Alfonso Cuaron and Mark Sanger

Best Cinematography: Gravity - Emmanuel Lubezki

Best Film Music Or Score: Inside Llewyn Davis – T-Bone Burnett

Best Non-English-Language Film: The Hunt – Thomas Vinterberg – Denmark

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS

Best Woman Director: Nicole Holofcener - Enough Said

Best Woman Screenwriter: Nicole Holofcener - Enough Said

Kick Ass Award For Best Female Action Star: Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Best Animated Female: Anna (Kristen Bell) in Frozen

Best Breakthrough Performance: Lupita Nyong’o - 12 Years A Slave

Actress Defying Age and Ageism: Sandra Bullock – Gravity

AWFJ EDA Female Icon Award (presented to an actress for the portrayal of the most positive female role model, or for a role in which she takes personal and/or career risks to plumb the female psyche and therefore gives us courage to plumb our own, and/or for putting forth the image of a woman who is heroic, accomplished, persistent, demands her rights and/or the rights of others.): Angelina Jolie for continued commitments to humanitarian causes, and for promoting awareness about breast cancer.

This Year’s Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry (presented only when warranted to a female who has had a banner-making, record-breaking, industry-changing achievement during any given year.): Haaifa Al-Mansour for challenging the limitations placed on women within her culture by making the film Wadjda.

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

AWFJ Hall Of Shame Award: The Counselor – Ridley Scott

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent: Cameron Diaz for The Counselor

Movie You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn’t Award: The Counselor

Unforgettable Moment Award: 12 Years A Slave – Solomon Northrup hanging

Best Depiction Of Nudity, Sexuality, or Seduction Award: Her - Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix for their digital lovemaking.

Sequel or Remake That Shouldn’t Have Been Made Award (Tie): Carrie and Oz, Great and Powerful

Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Leading Man and The Love Interest Award: Last Vegas – Michael Douglas and Bre Blair

17th Annual Las Vegas Film Critics Society Sierra Awards

The Las Vegas Film Critics Society (LVFCS) announced their 17th Annual Sierra awards on December 18th, 2013 with giving away the Best Picture award to 12 Years a Slave, directed and co-produced by Steve McQueen who also won the Best Director award. This is getting easier now. 12 Years a Slave is the strongest contender this season and it's highly likely that it will win the Oscars. None of the wins are surprising or shocking as all of the winners are deserving with the exception of This Is the End, which won the Best Comedy Film award. I strongly believe that Edgar Wright's the World's End should have won it.

Last year, 10 LVFCS winners won the Oscars (you can view the previous year's winners here: 16th Annual Las Vegas Film Critics Society Sierra Awards) which is serious and important as some of the LVFCS winners might win the Oscars this year as well.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave

Best Director: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress: Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave

Best Screenplay: Spike Jonze, Her

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity

Best Film Editing: Alfonso Cuaron & Mark Sanger, Gravity

Best Costume Design: Patricia Norris, 12 Years a Slave

Best Art Direction: Andy Nicholson, Gravity

Best Visual Effects: Gravity

Best Foreign Film: Blue is the Warmest Color

Best Documentary: Blackfish

Best Animated Film: Frozen

Best Family Film: Saving Mr. Banks

Best Horror/Sci-Fi Film: Pacific Rim

Best Comedy Film: This is the End

Best Action Film: Lone Survivor

Best Score: Hans Zimmer, 12 Years a Slave

Best Song: Please Mr. Kennedy, Inside Llewyn Davis

Youth in Film: Tye Sheridan, Mud

Best DVD (Packaging, Design and Content): Breaking Bad – The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

The William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award: John Goodman

LVFCS Top 10 Films of 2013

1. 12 Years a Slave


2. Dallas Buyers Club


3. Gravity


4. The Wolf of Wall Street


5. American Hustle


6. Inside Llewyn Davis


7. Saving Mr. Banks


8. Nebraska


9. Her


10. Lone Survivor

10th Annual St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards

The St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association announced their 10th annual awards on December 16th, 2013 with giving away the Best Film award to 12 Years a Slave, directed and co-produced by Steve McQueen who also won the Best Director award. 12 years a Slave was the biggest winner winning 7 awards in total and it's not surprising at all. Other winners are completely reasonable as well and most of them would probably winning the Oscar as well.

Last year, only 5 St. Louis winners won the Oscars, i.e. Best Film for Argo, Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz, Best Documentary for Searching for Sugar Man and Best Visual Effects for Life of Pi. Let's see if the same happens this year or not.

Here is the complete list of winners along with runners-up and nominations.

Best Film:

• Winner: 12 Years a Slave


• Runner-up: American Hustle


• Gravity


• Her


• Nebraska

Best Director:

• Runner-up: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)


• Spike Jonze (Her)


• Winner: Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)


• Alexander Payne (Nebraska)


• David O. Russell (American Hustle)

Best Actor:

• Christian Bale (American Hustle)


• Bruce Dern (Nebraska)


• Winner: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)


• Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station)


• Runner-up: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress:

• Amy Adams (American Hustle)


• Winner: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)


• Sandra Bullock (Gravity)


• Judi Dench (Philomena)


• Runner-up: Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)


• Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks)

Best Supporting Actor:

• Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)


• Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)


• Harrison Ford (42)


• Runner-up: Will Forte (Nebraska)


• Winner: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Supporting Actress:

• Scarlett Johansson (Her)


• Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)


• Winner: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)


• Lea Seydoux (Blue Is the Warmest Colour)


• Runner-up: June Squibb (Nebraska)

Best Original Screenplay:

• Runner-up: American Hustle


• Enough Said


• Winner: Her


• Nebraska


• Saving Mr. Banks

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• Winner: 12 Years a Slave


• Before Midnight


• Captain Phillips


• Runner-up: Philomena


• Short Term 12


• The Spectacular Now

Best Cinematography:

• Winner (tie): 12 Years a Slave


• The Grandmaster


• The Great Gatsby


• Winner (tie): Gravity


• Inside Llewyn Davis


• Nebraska

Best Visual Special Effects:

• Winner: Gravity


• Runner-up: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug


• Iron Man 3


• Pacific Rim


• Star Trek Into Darkness


• Thor: The Dark World

Best Musical Score:

• 12 Years a Slave


• Runner-up: Gravity


• Winner: Her


• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug


• Runner-up: Nebraska


• Saving Mr. Banks

Best Soundtrack:

• American Hustle


• Despicable Me 2


• Runner-up: Frozen


• The Great Gatsby


• Winner: Inside Llewyn Davis


• Muscle Shoals

Best Art Direction:

• 12 Years A Slave


• The Grandmaster


• Winner: The Great Gatsby


• Runner-up: Her


• Inside Llewyn Davis

Best Documentary:

• 20 Feet from Stardom


• Runner-up: The Act of Killing


• Winner: Blackfish


• Muscle Shoals


• Runner-up: Stories We Tell

Best Non-English Language Film:

• Winner: Blue Is the Warmest Colour


• A Hijacking


• The Hunt


• No


• Runner-up: Wadjda

Best Comedy:

• Winner (tie): Enough Said


• The Heat


• Nebraska


• The Way Way Back


• Winner (tie): The World’s End

Best Animated Feature:

• The Croods


• Despicable Me 2


• Winner: Frozen


• Monsters University


• Runner-up: The Wind Rises

Best Art-House or Festival Film (for artistic excellence in independent, international or smaller-budget films that played at film festivals, film series or had a limited-release run in St. Louis, playing one to three cinemas):

• Ain't Them Bodies Saints


• Before Midnight


• Runner-up: Blue Is the Warmest Colour


• Runner-up: Frances Ha


• In a World…


• Winner: Short Term 12

Best Scene (a favorite movie scene or sequence):

• Winner: 12 Years a Slave – The hanging scene


• Captain Phillips – The scene near the end of the film where Tom Hanks is being checked out by military medical personnel and he breaks down.


• Runner-up: Gravity – he opening tracking shot.


• Her – Off-screen OS sex scene


• The Place Beyond the Pines – The opening scene where Ryan Gosling is walking through the carnival.

85th Annual National Board of Review Awards

The National Board of Review (NBR) announced their awards on December 4th, 2013 with giving away the Best Film award to HER, directed and produced by Spike Jonze who also won the Best Director award. To be honest, I wasn't expecting it at all, especially after yesterday's NYFCC awards. Spike is a talented and innovative filmmaker and it's very nice of the board to appreciate his work.

All the wins are actually kind of amazing especially the Wolf of Wall Street's Adapted Screenplay award and the Secret Life of Walter Mitty (a genuine surprise - I so want to watch this film now) making it to the list of top 10 films. These are the first honors for both of these movies this award season and I'm sure the best is yet to come.

Last year, only 2 out of 11 (not counting those categories that are not recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) NBR winners actually won the Oscar, i.e. Best Documentary for Searching for Sugar Man and Best Foreign Language Film for Amour. Let's see what happens this year.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Film: HER

Best Director: Spike Jonze (HER)

Best Actor: Bruce Dern (NEBRASKA)

Best Actress: Emma Thompson (SAVING MR. BANKS)

Best Supporting Actor: Will Forte (NEBRASKA)

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (FRUITVALE STATION)

Best Original Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen (INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Terence Winter (THE WOLF OF WALL STREET)

Best Animated Feature: THE WIND RISES

Breakthrough Actor: Michael B. Jordan (FRUITVALE STATION)

Breakthrough Actress: Adele Exarchopoulos (BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR)

Best Directorial Debut: Ryan Coogler (FRUITVALE STATION)

Best Foreign Language Film: THE PAST

Best Documentary: STORIES WE TELL

William K. Everson Film History Award: George Stevens, Jr.

Best Ensemble: PRISONERS

Spotlight Award: Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio

NBR Freedom of Expression Award: WADJDA

Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award: GRAVITY

Top Films (in alphabetical order):

• 12 Years a Slave


• Fruitvale Station


• Gravity


• Inside Llewyn Davis


• Lone Survivor


• Nebraska


• Prisoners


• Saving Mr. Banks


• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty


• The Wolf of Wall Street

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order):

• Beyond the Hills


• Gloria


• The Grandmaster


• A Hijacking


• The Hunt

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):

• 20 Feet from Stardom


• The Act of Killing


• After Tiller


• Casting By


• The Square

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order):

• Ain't Them Bodies Saints


• Dallas Buyers Club


• In a World…


• Mother of George


• Much Ado About Nothing


• Mud


• The Place Beyond the Pines


• Short Term 12


• Sightseers


• The Spectacular Now

66th Annual Cannes Film Festival Awards

The 66th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 15th to 26th May 2013 in Cannes, France. The festival opened with Baz Luhrmann's epic romantic drama film THE GREAT GATSBY and closed with Jérôme Salle's crime film ZULU.  THE BLING RING, directed by Sofia Coppola, opened the Un Certain Regard section. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for main competition and along with him, there were Daniel Auteuil (French actor), Vidya Balan, Ang Lee, Nicole Kidman, Naomi Kawase (Japanese film director), Cristian Mungiu (Romanian film director), Christoph Waltz and Lynne Ramsay (Scottish film director) were also the members of the jury for main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and Short Film sections.

The French film BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR directed by Abdellatif Kechiche won the Palme d'Or. In an unprecedented move, the Jury decided to take "the exceptional step" of awarding the film's two main actresses with the Palme d'Or along with the director.

It is completely obvious that I haven't watched any of these films as I didn't attend the festival but I like to keep track of who won which award so it becomes easier for me in the future. There were a lot of brilliant films in the festival and I'm hoping to watch all of them. One film at a time.

Here is the complete list of winners:

In Competition

Palme d'Or: Blue Is the Warmest Colour by Abdellatif Kechiche

• Honorary Palme d'Or: Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux for Blue Is the Warmest Colour

Grand Prix: Inside Llewyn Davis by Joel & Ethan Coen

Best Director: Amat Escalante for Heli

Best Screenplay: Jia Zhangke for A Touch of Sin

Best Actress:  Bérénice Bejo for The Past

Best Actor: Bruce Dern for Nebraska

Jury Prize: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda

Un Certain Regard

Prize of Un Certain Regard:  The Missing Picture by Rithy Panh

Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize: Omar by Hany Abu-Assad

Un Certain Regard Best Director: Alain Guiraudie for Stranger by the Lake

Un Certain Regard Best First Film: Fruitvale Station by Ryan Coogler

A Certain Talent:  Diego Quemada-Diez for The Golden Cage

Parallel sections

Caméra d'Or: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen

Directors' Fortnight

• Art Cinema Award:  Me, Myself and Mum by Guillaume Gallienne


• Prix SACD:  Me, Myself and Mum by Guillaume Gallienne


• Europa Cinemas: The Selfish Giant by Clio Barnard


• Premier Prix Illy for Short Filmmaking: A Wild Goose Chase by Joao Nicolau


• Special Mention: About a Month by Andre Novais Oliveira

Independent Awards

FIPRESCI Prize

• In Competition: Blue Is the Warmest Colour by Abdellatif Kechiche


• Un Certain Regard: Manuscripts Don't Burn by Mohammad Rasoulof


• Directors' Fortnight: Blue Ruin by Jeremy Saulnier

Ecumenical Jury

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury: The Past by Asghar Farhadi

Commendations:

• Miele by Valeria Golino


• Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda

Queer Palm Jury

Queer Palm Award: Stranger by the Lake by Alain Guiraudie

Palm Dog Jury

Palm Dog Award: Baby Boy in Behind the Candelabra