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The nominations for the 86th Academy Awards were announced this morning and although there were quite a few snubs, films like DALLAS BUYERS CLUb and NEBRASKA received multiple nominations including Best Picture. There were not many surprises in the Documentary category, with THE ACT OF KILLING, CUTIE AND THE BOXER, DIRTY WARS, THE SQUARE and 20 FEET FROM STARDOM grabbing nominations. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar® Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network. 

The Directors Guild of America announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries for 2013.  The winner will be named at the 66th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

Paolo Sorrentino’s THE GREAT BEAUTY (LA GRANDE BELLEZZA)

Paolo Sorrentino’s THE GREAT BEAUTY (LA GRANDE BELLEZZA), beat  France’s Blue is the Warmest Color; Denmark’s The Hunt; Iran’s The Past; and the Japanese animated film The wind Rises to win the award for Best Foreign Film at the 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards.  Set in Rome, the 2013 THE GREAT BEAUTY follows Jep Gambardella, played by actor Toni Servillo, a hedonistic socialite who is forced to examine his party-filled life after his 65th birthday.

FRUITVALE STATION

The nominees for the 45th NAACP Image Awards were announced today and The Weinstein Company lead with 17 nominations, followed by Fox Searchlight Pictures with seven nominations. The awards will be presented during the two-hour TV One telecast on Saturday, February 22. Nominees include The Weinstein Company’s FRUITVALE STATION up for numerous awards include Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Independent Motion Picture, Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for Michael B. Jordan, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Octavia Spencer. Other films up for the award for Outstanding Independent Motion Picture include BLUE CAPRICE,  DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER & PETE, and THE TRIALS OF MUHAMMAD ALI.

THE ACT OF KILLING, that features former Indonesian death squad leaders re-enacting their crimes, took the top prize – the award for Outstanding Feature at the 7th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking. Sarah Polley was named the year’s Outstanding Director for STORIES WE TELL, her personal exploration of memory and storytelling.  Zachary Heinzerling’s CUTIE AND THE BOXER, a portrait of the relationship between two New York artists, received three honors, including Outstanding Debut for Heinzerling, Outstanding Graphics and Animation for Art Jail and Outstanding Original Score for Yasuaki Shimizu.  Dave Grohl’s SOUND CITY won the Audience Choice Prize, voted on by the public and the Legacy Award was presented to the landmark 1976 film HARLAN COUNTY, USA, about a brutal coal strike in Kentucky.

WATERMARK, directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky, described as a mesmerizing portrait of the planet’s lifeblood,  won the Toronto Film Critics Association’s 2013 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award.  Also nominated for the award were Gabrielle, directed by Louise Archambault, and The Dirties, directed by Matt Johnson.  The $100,000 value of the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award makes it by far the richest annual arts prize in Canada.  As runners-up, Archambault and Johnson each received $5,000

FRUITVALE STATION

The ABFF Hollywood Awards an online platform created to recognize the work of persons of African descent in the motion picture industry and outstanding films portraying the Black experience announce the nominees for the 2014 award season.  FRUITVALE STATION is up for multiple awards including Movie of the Year, Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan,  Best Supporting Actress for Octavia Spencer, Best Screenplay, and Best Director for Ryan Coogler.  Other films receiving nominations include MOTHER OF GEORGE grabbed Best Actress for Danai Gurira, and Best Screenplay for THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER & PETE.  

THE DIRTIES

Thomas Vinterberg’s THE HUNT was named Best Foreign Film, while Joshua Oppenheimer’s THE ACT OF KILLING was selected as Best Documentary at the 14th Annual Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards. THE DIRTIES, desribed as a conceptually daring story of two film geeks plotting a high school shooting, led all winners in the Canadian section. Matt Johnson’s debut feature earned accolades for Best Canadian Film and Best First Film by a Canadian Director (a new VFCC award this year). Johnson also picked up Best Actor in a Canadian Film for his efforts in front of the camera. Best Canadian Documentary was awarded to Chelsea McMullan’s My Prairie Home, an evocative portrait of transgender musician Rae Spoon.

THE ACT OF KILLING

The nominations for the EE British Academy Film Awards in 2014 were announced this morning in London and THE ACT OF KILLING received two nominations for Film Not in the English Language and Documentary. Also nominated in the Documentary category are: THE ARMSTRONG LIE, BLACKFISH, TIM’S VERMEER, and WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS.  BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR, THE GREAT BEAUTY, METRO MANILA and WADJDA are nominated alongside THE ACT OF KILLINg to complete for Film Not in the English Language. The EE British Academy Film Awards take place on Sunday 16 February at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

Directors Guild of America announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2013. The winner will be named at the 66th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang) and Hide Your Smiling Faces (Daniel Patrick Carbone)

The National Society of Film Critics, made up of many of the country’s most distinguished movie critics, on Saturday, January 4th, 2014, chose INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS as Best Picture of the Year 2013. The film also won awards for Best Director, Best Actor and Best Cinematography. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR won the award for Best Foreign-Language Film, and THE ACT OF KILLING and AT BERKELEY (Frederick Wiseman) tied for Best Non-Fiction Film. In an amazing nod to independent films, LEVIATHAN won the award for Experimental Film;  STRAY DOGS and HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES won the award for Best Film Still Awaiting American Distribution.