16th Annual British Independent Film Awards

The 16th Annual Moët British Independent Film Awards were held on December 8th, 2013 with giving away the Best Film award to Metro Manila, co-written, co-produced and directed by Sean Ellis who also won the Best Director award.

Here is the complete list of winners:

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM: Metro Manila

BEST DIRECTOR: Sean Ellis – Metro Manila

BEST ACTRESS: Lindsay Duncan – Le Week-End

THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD [BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR]: Paul Wright – For Those In Peril

BEST SCREENPLAY: Steven Knight – Locke

BEST ACTOR James McAvoy – Filth

BEST DOCUMENTARY Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION Metro Manila

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Imogen Poots – The Look Of Love

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT: Amy Hubbard – Casting – The Selfish Giant

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE: Sixteen Films & Friends (aka Team Loach)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ben Mendelsohn – Starred Up

BEST BRITISH SHORT: Z1

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER: Chloe Pirrie – Shell

THE RAINDANCE AWARD: The Machine

BEST INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM: Blue Is the Warmest Color

VARIETY AWARD: Paul Greengrass

RICHARD HARRIS AWARD: Julie Walters

13th Annual New York Film Critics Online Awards

The New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO) announced their awards on December, 8th, 2013 with giving away the Best Picture award to 12 Years a Slave, directed and co-produced by Steve McQueen. I think it’s now safe to say that 12 Years a Slave is this year’s Zero Dark Thirty because it also got almost the same appreciation from critics at the beginning of the awards season last year. But still, it’s impossible to say which film is going to win big at the end of the day. Alfonso Cuarón won the Best Director award for his brilliant piece of filmmaking Gravity. (FINALLY!) Cuarón also won the Best Director award at Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards.

Last year, only 4 NYFCO winners won at the Oscars, i.e. Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway, Best Cinematography for Claudio Miranda and Best Foreign Language Film for Amour. Hoping for the best this year!

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave

Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)

Best Debut Director: Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station)

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave)

Best Ensemble: American Hustle

Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave)

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Foreign Language Film: Blue Is the Warmest Color

Best Documentary: The Act of Killing

Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises

Best Use Of Music: Inside Llewyn Davis

Best Screenplay: Spike Jonze (Her)

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity)

Best Breakthrough Performance: Adele Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color)

34th Annual Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

The Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) announced their awards on December 8th, 2013 with giving away the Best Picture award to 12 Years a Slave, directed and co-produced by Steve McQueen who won the Best Director award making 12 Years a Slave the biggest winner of the night, also winning Best Actor and coming on 2nd place in Best Supporting Actress category. It's almost like what happened at the Boston Online Film Critics Association Awards.

The amazing things that happened are:

1) Enough Said won its first critics awards but the most important one is Best Supporting Actor for James Gandolfini. He was a great actor. Would never forget his Tony Soprano.
2) The Wolf of the Wall Street is a runner-up in 5 categories including the big 3, i.e. Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. This is a good sign for the Wolf and it might win something in future.
3) Emmanuel Lubezki's win for his cinematography in Gravity. Brilliant, exceptional piece of photography. He deserves every award.

Last year, only 2 BSFC winners won the Oscar, i.e. Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor and Amour for Best Foreign Language Film, whereas only 3 runner-ups won the respective Oscars, i.e. Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor, William Goldenberg for Best Editing and Claudio Miranda for Best Cinematography. Let's see what happens this year!

Here is the complete list of winners along with runner-ups:

Best Picture:

• Winner: 12 Years a Slave


• Runner-up: The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director:

• Winner: Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)


• Runner-up: Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Best Actor:

• Winner: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)


• Runner-up: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Best Actress:

• Winner: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)


• Runner-up: Judi Dench (Philomena)

Best Supporting Actor:

• Winner: James Gandolfini (Enough Said)


• Runner-up (tie): Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) and Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Supporting Actress:

• Winner: June Squibb (Nebraska)


• Runner-up: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

Best Screenplay:

• Winner: Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said)


• Runner-up: Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Best Cinematography:

• Winner: Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity)


• Runner-up: Philippe Le Sourd (The Grandmaster)

Best Documentary:

• Winner: The Act of Killing


• Runner-up: Blackfish

Best Foreign Language Film: 

• Winner: Wadjda (Saudi Arabia)


• Runner-up: Blue Is the Warmest Color (France)

Best Animated Film:

• Winner: The Wind Rises


• Runner-up: Frozen

Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer):

• Winner: Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill (Rush)


• Runner-up: Thelma Schoonmaker (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy):

• Winner: Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station)


• Runner-up: Josh Oppenheimer (Act Of Killing)

Best Use of Music in a Film:

• Winner: Inside Llewyn Davis


• Runner-up: Nebraska

2nd Annual Boston Online Film Critics Association Awards

The Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA) announced their awards today, on December 7th, 2013, with giving away the Best Picture award to Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave which was the biggest winner of the night, also winning Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Editing and Best Original Score awards. This is such a remarkable achievement for 12 Years a Slave because it's finally starting to get some critics love which will probably continue until the Oscars.

Other great winner includes Jared Leto for Best Supporting Actress for his role in Dallas Buyers Club. Leto is my most favorite Oscar front-runner at the moment, because whatever he does, he does with extreme passion.

One thing that I completely disliked about the BOFCA awards this year is that instead of Spike Jonze's Her, the stupid Spring Breakers is in the list of top 10 films. Utterly ridiculous!

Last year, only 2 BOFCA winners eventually won the Oscar, i.e. Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis and Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway. Let's see what happens this time.

Here is the complete list of winners:

BEST PICTURE: 12 YEARS A SLAVE

BEST DIRECTOR: Steve McQueen (12 YEARS A SLAVE)

BEST ACTOR: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 YEARS A SLAVE)

BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett (BLUE JASMINE)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto (DALLAS BUYERS CLUB)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Lupita Nyong'o (12 YEARS A SLAVE)

BEST SCREENPLAY: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, and Richard Linklater (BEFORE MIDNIGHT)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

BEST DOCUMENTARY: THE ACT OF KILLING

BEST ANIMATED FILM (tie): THE WIND RISES and FROZEN

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Bruno Delbonnel (INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS)

BEST EDITING: Joe Walker (12 YEARS A SLAVE)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Hans Zimmer (12 YEARS A SLAVE)

TOP 10 FILMS OF THE YEAR:

1. 12 YEARS A SLAVE


2. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS


3. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET


4. GRAVITY


5. BEFORE MIDNIGHT


6. THE SPECTACULAR NOW


7. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR


8. SPRING BREAKERS


9. THE WORLD’S END


10. FRUITVALE STATION

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

79th Annual New York Film Critics Circle Awards

The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) started the critics award season and announced the winners on December 3rd, 2013 with giving away the Best Film award to American Hustle, whereas Best Director went to Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave.

There were TWO big surprises:
1) Best Cinematography went to Bruno Delbonnel for Inside Llewyn Davis. I was 100% sure that Emmanuel Lubezki would win every cinematography award for Gravity. But I was wrong. Anyway, Lubezki might eventually win the Oscar.
2) Stories We Tell won the Best Documentary instead of the Act of Killing. This isn't a surprise because both of them are amazing in their unique way. I'd be happy if either of them wins the ultimate award.

Plus, I'm really happy that critics appreciated Jared Leto's work and awarded him with Best Supporting Actor for his role as transsexual in Dallas Buyers Club.

Last year, only 2 out of 11 NYFCC winners (not counting First Film and Special Award categories) actually won the Oscar. Gravity didn't win anything tonight. Same happened with Argo and Life of Pi in 2012. But they ended up becoming the big winners at the Oscars. Let's see what happens this year.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Film: American Hustle

Best Director: Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)

Best Actor: Robert Redford (All Is Lost)

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (America Hustle)

Best Screenplay: David O. Russell, Eric Singer (American Hustle)

Best Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel (Inside Llewyn Davis)

Best Foreign Language Film: Blue Is the Warmest Color (France)

Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary): Stories We Tell

Best Animated Film: The Wind Rises

Best First Film: Fruitvale Station

Special Award: Frederick Wiseman

23rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) announced the winners of the 23rd annual Gotham Independent Film Awards on December 2nd, 2013. The Gotham Awards is one of the leading awards for independent film and signals the kickoff to the film awards season.

12 Years a Slave received most nominations and on the other hand, there wasn't a single nomination for Mud, Nebraska, Frances Ha and The Place Beyond the Pines. Surprising.

What's more surprising is that Inside Llewyn Davis won the Best Feature award, even with 12 Years a Slave in nominations. Other wins seem reasonable, as I haven't seen most of the films yet. The best thing is the Act of Killing won the Best Documentary award. Truly deserving.

Here is the complete list of winners and nominees:

Best Feature:

• 12 Years a Slave
  


• Ain't Them Bodies Saints


• Before Midnight


• WINNER: Inside Llewyn Davis


• Upstream Color

Best Documentary:

• WINNER: The Act of Killing


• The Crash Reel


• First Cousin Once Removed


• Let the Fire Burn


• Our Nixon

Best Actor:

• Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)


• Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis)


• WINNER: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)


• Robert Redford (All Is Lost)


• Isaiah Washington (Blue Caprice)

Best Actress:

• Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)


• Scarlett Johansson (Don Jon)


• WINNER: Brie Larson (Short Term 12)


• Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color)


• Shailene Woodley (The Spectacular Now)

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director:

• WINNER: Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station)


• Adam Leon (Gimme the Loot)


• Alexandre Moors (Blue Caprice)


• Stacie Passon (Concussion)


• Amy Seimetz (Sun Don't Shine)

Breakthrough Actor:

• Dane DeHaan (Kill Your Darlings)


• Kathryn Hahn (Afternoon Delight)


• WINNER: Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station)


• Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)


• Robin Weigert (Concussion)

Gotham Independent Film Audience Award:

• Tadashi Nakamura (Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings)

Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ Grant:

• Gita Pullapilly, director, (Beneath the Harvest Sky)

Founded in 1979, IFP is the largest and oldest not-for-profit organization dedicated to independent film.  More info at www.ifp.org