2019 Florida Film Critics Winners – PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE Awarded Best Picture

The Florida Film Critics Circle awarded the French language period piece Portrait of a Lady on Fire its Best Picture prize. Portrait of a Lady on Fire tied with Marriage Story for the most wins but received some of the highest honors including Best Director for director Céline Sciamma, and Best Foreign Language film.

Apollo 11 accumulated more votes than American Factory and Honeyland to win Best Documentary; and I Lost My Body beat bigger-budgeted animated features How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, not to mention the Disney sequels Frozen 2 and Toy Story 4 to win Best Animated Film.

Marriage Story swept three of the top four acting categories with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson winning for Best Actor and Actress, respectively, and Laura Dern for Best Supporting Actress.

This year, the Florida Film Critics Circle lost its founding chairman, Jay Boyar. In recognition of his work, the organization renamed its Florida-centric prize, The Golden Orange, after him. This award has a long history of honoring movies, people and places that best represent the essence of Florida filmmaking. This year’s winner of the Jay Boyar Golden Orange award is The Tampa Theatre, a recently renovated historic theater and a city landmark featuring independent and foreign film. It runs on membership dues, corporate sponsorships, and donations and offers audiences a different option to big-budget, studio movies. As the founding chairman and one of the creators of Florida Film Critics Circle, Mr. Boyar had always had a love of filmmaking, especially in Florida, and we are happy to honor him by once again spotlighting one of the many treasures our state has to offer the film industry. A full list of winners and runners up follows.

The Florida Film Critics Circle is an organization of 24 writers from Florida-based print and online publications. Founded in 1996, the FFCC strives to recognize outstanding work in film, further the cause of good movies, and maintain the highest level of professionalism among film critics in Florida. Hans Morgenstern of IndieEthos.com and Miami New Times has served as chair of the organization since May 2018.

BEST PICTURE

Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Runner up: 1917

BEST DIRECTOR

Céline Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Runner up: Sam Mendes, 1917

BEST ACTOR

Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Runner up: Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory

BEST ACTRESS

Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Runner up: Florence Pugh, Midsommar

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Runner up: John Lithgow, Bombshell

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Runners up: Margot Robbie, Bombshell and Isla Fisher, The Beach Bum

BEST ENSEMBLE

Little Women
Runner up: The Farewell

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie, Uncut Gems
Runner up: Lulu Wang, The Farewell

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Greta Gerwig, Little Women
Runner up: Steven Zaillian, The Irishman

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Roger Deakins, 1917
Runner up: Claire Mathon, Portrait of a Lady on Fire

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Alita: Battle Angel
Runners up: Ad Astra and Avengers: Endgame

BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Runner up: Ad Astra

BEST SCORE

Daniel Lopatin, Uncut Gems
Runner up: No clear runner up

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Apollo 11
Runner up: Honeyland

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Runner up: Parasite

BEST ANIMATED FILM

I Lost My Body
Runner up: Toy Story 4

BEST FIRST FILM

Queen & Slim
Runner up: Honeyland

PAULINE KAEL BREAKOUT AWARD

Florence Pugh, Midsommar, Fighting With My Family and Little Women
Runner up: Lulu Wang, The Farewell

JAY BOYAR GOLDEN ORANGE AWARD

Tampa Theatre