Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women leads the nominations for the Chicago Indie Critics fourth annual film awards with eight nominations. The Irishman, Marriage Story, 1917, and Parasite followed with seven nominations.

Two awards of special recognition and interest are the annual Trailblazer and Impact Awards. The CIC’s Trailblazer Award honors the work of an artist who truly pushed the boundaries of the medium in terms of form and content. Nominated this year are filmmakers Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Rian Johnson (Knives Out), Sam Mendes (1917), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Lena Waithe (Queen & Slim), and Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit). Secondly, the Impact Award celebrates a person whose work during the past year or beyond made a positive impact on society. The nominees include Pedro Almodovar (Pain and Glory), Bong Joon-Ho (Parasite), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), and late Chicago film critic Milos Stehlik.

Founded in 2016, the Chicago Indie Critics (formerly known as the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle) is a creative and engaging non-for-profit organization composed of unique, dedicated, and diversified film critics.

The 2019 CIC Award winners will be announced on the evening of January 4, 2020. This year’s Awards Party will be emcee by stand-up comedienne and former film critic Katie Baker. The event will be held at the Cards Against Humanity Theater in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago starting at 5:00pm and open to the public with ticket admission. Fans and followers can watch the awards event live-streaming on the CIC’sYouTube channel.

2019 Chicago Indie Critics Awards Nominees

BEST INDEPENDENT FILM (budgets under $20 million)

Booksmart
Chelsea Barnard, David Distenfield, Jessica Elbaum, Megan Ellison, and Katie Silberman (producers)

The Farewell
Anita Gou, Daniele Melia, Andrew Miano, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Chris Weitz, Jane Zheng, and Lulu Wang (producers)

Jojo Rabbit
Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi, and Chelsea Winstanley (producers)

Marriage Story
Noah Baumbachand David Heyman (producers)

Parasite
Bong Joon-ho, Kwak Sin-ae, Moon Yang-kwon, and Jang Young-hwan (producers)

BEST STUDIO FILM (budgets over $20 million)

The Irishman
Gerald Chamales, Robert De Niro, Randall Emmett, Gabriele Israilovici, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Jane Rosenthal, Gastón Pavlovich, Martin Scorsese, and Irwin Winkler (producers)

Knives Out
Ram Bergman and Rian Johnson (producers)

Little Women
Denise Di Novi, Amy Pascal, and Robin Swicord (producers)

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, and Quentin Tarantino (producers)

1917
Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes, Brian Oliver, and Jayne-Ann Tenggren, (producers)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Birds of Passage
Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (producers)

Monos
Fernando Epstein, Alejandro Landes, Cristina Landes, and Santiago Zapata, (producers)

Pain and Glory
Agustin Almodovar (producer)

Parasite
Bong Joon-ho, Kwak Sin-ae, Moon Yang-kwon, and Jang Young-hwan (producers)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Véronique Cayla and Bénédicte Couvreur (producers)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Apollo 11
Evan Krauss, Todd Douglas Miller, Thomas Petersen (producers)

Hail, Satan?
Gabriel Sedgwick (producer)

Honeyland
Atanis Georgiev (producer)

The Kingmaker
Frank Evers and Laura Greenfield (producers)

One Child Nation
Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Christoph Jorg, Nanfu Wang, and Jialing Zhang (producers

BEST ANIMATED FILM

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Bonnie Arnold and Brad Lewis (producers)

I Lost My Body
Marc du Pontavice (producer)

The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
Jinko Gotoh, Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller, (producers)

Missing Link
Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner (producers)

Toy Story 4
Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera (producers)

BEST DIRECTOR

Greta Gerwig, Little Women

Bong Joon-ho, Parasite

Sam Mendes, 1917

Céline Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Lulu Wang, The Farewell

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Farewell- Lulu Wang

Knives Out- Rian Johnson

Marriage Story- Noam Baumbach

Parasite- Bong Joon-Ho and Jin Won-Han

Portrait of a Lady on Fire- Céline Sciamma

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Irishman- Steve Zaillian

Jojo Rabbit- Taika Waititi

Little Women- Greta Gerwig

Luce- J.C. Lee and Julius Onah

The Two Popes- Anthony McCarten

BEST ACTOR

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory

Adam Driver, Marriage Story

Eddie Murphy, Dolemite is My Name

Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems

BEST ACTRESS

Awkwafina, The Farewell

Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story

Elisabeth Moss, Her Smell

Lupita Nyong’o, Us

Florence Pugh, Midsommar

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Al Pacino, The Irishman

Joe Pesci, The Irishman

Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Kang-ho Song, Parasite

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Laura Dern, Marriage Story

Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers

Florence Pugh, Little Women

Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell

Octavia Spencer, Luce

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

Avengers: Endgame- Sarah Finn (casting director)

The Irishman- Ellen Lewis (casting director)

Knives Out- Mary Vernieu (casting director)

Little Women- Kathy Driscoll and Francine Maisler (casting directors)

Marriage Story- Francine Maisler and Douglas Aibel (casting directors)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ad Astra- Hoyte Van Hoytema

Ford v. Ferrari- Phedon Papamichael

The Lighthouse- Jarin Blaschke

1917- Roger Deakins

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood- Robert Richardson

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Ad Astra- Kevin Thompson

Knives Out- David Crank

1917- Dennis Gassner

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood- Barbara Ling

Parasite- Ha-Jun Lee

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Dolemite is My Name- Ruth E. Carter

Knives Out- Jenny Eagan

Little Women- Jacqueline Durran

Midsommar- Andrea Flesch

Once Upon a Time.. in Hollywood- Arianne Phillips

BEST MAKEUP

Bombshell- Vivian Baker, Kazu Hiro, and Anne Morgan

Dolemite is My Name- Debra Denson, Carla Joi Farmer, Stacey L. Morris, Vera Steimberg

The Irishman- Sean Flanigan, Nicki Ledermann, and Carla White

Joker- Kay Georgiou and Nicki Ledermann

Us- Camille Friend and Scott Wheeler

BEST EDITING

Ford v. Ferrari- Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker, and Dirk Westervelt

Knives Out- Bob Ducsay

Little Women- Nick Houy

1917- Lee Smith

Parasite- Jinmo Yang

BEST MUSICAL SCORE

Avengers: Endgame- Alan Silvestri

Little Women- Alexandre Desplat

Marriage Story- Randy Newman

1917- Thomas Newman

Us- Michael Abels

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Catchy Song” from The LEGO Movie Part 2: The Second Part
(performed by Dillion Francis featuring T-Pain and That Girl Lay Lay and written by Jon Lajoie)

“Glasgow (No Place Like Home)” from Wild Rose
(performed by Jessie Buckley and written by Mary Steenburgen, Caitlin Smith, and Kate York)

“I Punched Keanu Reeves” from Always Be My Maybe
(performed and written by Randall Park)

“Not Evil” from The LEGO Movie Part 2: The Second Part
(performed by Tiffany Haddish and written by Jon Lajoie)

“Speechless” from Aladdin
(performed by Naomi Scott and written by Pasek & Paul)

“Stand Up” from Harriet
(performed by Cynthia Erivo and written by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Ad Astra- Scott R. Fisher, Allan Maris, Guillaume Rocheron, and Jedediah Smith

Avengers: Endgame- Matt Aitken, Russell Earl, Dan Leeluw, and Dan Sudick

The Irishman- Leandro Estebecorena, Stephanie Grabli, Pablo Helman, and Nelson Sepulveda

1917- Greg Butler, Guillaume Rocheron, and Dominic Tuohy

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker- Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, and Dominic Tuohy

SPECIAL AWARDS

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Honors the work of an artist who truly pushes the boundaries of the medium in terms of form and content

Greta Gerwig

Rian Johnson

Sam Mendes

Martin Scorsese

Lena Waithe

Taika Waititi

IMPACT AWARD

Given to a person whose work has had a positive impact on society

Pedro Almodovar

Bong Joon-Ho

Martin Scorsese

Milos Stehlik

Lulu Wang