The Southeastern Film Critics’ Association voted Ben Affleck’s Argo the best motion picture of 2012, and the actor-director Affleck was named “Best Director.” 

Ben Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild was the overwhelming choice for the group’s Gene Wyatt award, given for the film that “best evokes the spirit of the South,” with Richard Linklater’s Bernie — yet another dramatization of a true story — finishing second. Beasts of the Southern Wild also made the Top 10 best films of 2012 list.

2012 SEFCA AWARD RESULTS

 TOP TEN

1. Argo
2. Zero Dark Thirty
3. Lincoln
4. Moonrise Kingdom
5. Silver Linings Playbook
6. Beasts of the Southern Wild
7. The Master
8. Les Misérables
9. Life of Pi
10. The Dark Knight Rises

BEST ACTOR
Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Runner-up: Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

BEST ACTRESS
Winner: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Runner-up: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Runner-up: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Runner-up: Sally Field, Lincoln

BEST ENSEMBLE
Winner: Lincoln
Runner-up: Moonrise Kingdom

BEST DIRECTOR
Winner: Ben Affleck, Argo
Runner-up: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: Moonrise Kingdom: Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Runner-up: Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: Argo: Chris Terrio
Runner-up: Lincoln: Tony Kushner

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Winner: The Queen of Versailles
Runner-up: Bully

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Winner: The Intouchables (50)
Runner-up: Amour (32)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Winner: ParaNorman
Runner-up: Frankenweenie
3. Brave

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: Life of Pi: Claudio Miranda
Runner-up: Skyfall: Roger Deakins

GENE WYATT AWARD for FILM THAT BEST EVOKES THE SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH
Winner: Beasts of the Southern Wild
Runner-up: Bernie