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HER, directed by Spike Jonze

The National Board of Review has named HER the 2013 Best Film of the Year.  “Spike Jonze is one of the most talented and visionary filmmakers working today,” said Annie Schulhof, NBR President. “In HER, he explores the age-old themes of love and human connection in a completely fresh and innovative way. It is an outstanding achievement that is sure to become a new classic.”  

The National Board of Review honors diverse members of the film community at their annual Awards Gala, which also acts as a fundraiser for student grant philanthropy.  Hosted by Lara Spencer, this year’s gala will take place on January 7, 2014 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.

AMERICAN HUSTLE

The New York Film Critics Circle voted AMERICAN HUSTLE directed by David O. Russell as the Best Feature Film of 2013. AMERICAN HUSTLE also won the awards for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence. Steve McQueen snagged Best Director for 12 YEARS A SLAVE, and Ryan Coogler’s FRUITVALE STATION won the award for Best First Film.

FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 86th Oscars . One hundred forty-seven films had originally qualified in the category.

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

Joel & Ethan Coen’s INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS won the award for Best Feature Film at the 23rd Gotham Independent Film Award held in New York City.  Joshua Oppenheimer’s THE ACT OF KILLING won the award for Best Documentary.  FRUITVALE STATION also snagged two awards, Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award for director Ryan Coogler and Breakthrough Actor for Michael B. Jordan.  In addition to the competitive awards, Gotham Award Tributes were given to actor Forest Whitaker, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment’s Katherine Oliver, director Richard Linklater and the late actor James Gandolfini.

 A Letter to Momo

Monsters University (Pixar Animation Studios) and Frozen (Walt Disney Animation Studios) lead the nominations for the 41st Annual Annie Awards, each with 10 nods, including Best Animated Feature.  The slate of nominations for Best Animated Features also include: A Letter to Momo (GKIDS), Despicable Me 2 (Universal Pictures), Ernest & Celestine (GKIDS), The Croods (DreamWorks Animations), The Wind Rises (Studio Ghibli and The Walt Disney Studios).

12 YEARS A SLAVE

12 YEARS A SLAVE continues to dominate the early Awards season garnering 10 nominations for the 18th Annual Satellite Awards, including Best Motion Picture of 2013. AMERICAN HUSTLE and GRAVITY received 8 nominations each, with both also nominated for Best Motion Picture of 2013. Although FRUITVALE STATION was effectively locked out with no nominations, director Ryan Coogler will receive the Honorary Satellite Award and leading actor Michael B. Jordan will receive the Breakthrough Performance Award. NEBRASKA will be honored with the Best Ensemble, Motion Picture.  The 18th Annual Satellite Awards ceremony presented by the International Press Academy (IPA) will be held on March 9, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.

THE ACT OF KILLING

The International Film Magazine Sight & Sound, published by the British Film Institute polled their contributors, international critics, curators and academics to come up with one of the first Top 10 Best Films of 2013 lists. The award-winning documentary, THE ACT OF KILLING directed by Joshua Oppenheimer and Christine Cynn, snagged the number one spot on the list. THE ACT OF KILLING, revisits Indonesia’s horrific past by enlisting former unrepentant members of Indonesian paramilitary death squads, including Indonesian paramilitary leader Anwar Congo, to re-enact their past lives and killings in the style of the films they love.

5 BROKEN CAMERAS, Emad Burnat

The documentary 5 BROKEN CAMERAS snagged the International Emmy for Best Documentary at the 41st International Emmy Awards held in New York.  5 BROKEN CAMERAS, co-directed by Israeli Guy Davidi and Palestinian Emad Burnat, is a personal, firsthand account of life and nonviolent resistance in Bil’in, a West Bank village surrounded by Israeli settlements. The film was shot by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son, Gibreel. The film is structured in chapters around the destruction of each one of Burnat’s cameras, and follows the Burnat family’s evolution over five years of village upheaval. 

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced the Documentary Motion Picture nominees for the 25th Annual Producers Guild Awards. The nominated films, are: A PLACE AT THE TABLE, FAR OUT ISN’T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY, LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM, WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS, and WHICH WAY IS THE FRONT LINE FROM HERE? THE LIFE AND TIME OF TIM HETHERINGTON. The 2014 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 19, 2014 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. 

 12 YEARS A SLAVE

12 YEARS A SLAVE lead the nominations for the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards with 7 nods including Best Feature; other nominees for Best Feature include ALL IS LOST, FRANCES HA, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS and NEBRASKA.  MUD was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.  Winners will be announced at the Spirit Awards on Saturday, March 1, 2014.

Five films – Andrew Bujalski’s COMPUTER CHESS, Randy Moore’s ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW, James Franco and Travis Matthews’ INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR., Kleber Mendonça Filho’s NEIGHBORING SOUNDS and Carlos Reygadas’ POST TENEBRAS LUX – have been nominated for the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking 2014 Heterodox Award. The Cinema Eye Heterodox Award honors a narrative film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production. The 2014 Heterodox Award will be presented at the 7th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking on January 8, 2014,  at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, New York.

 Cutie and the Boxer

Forty feature films and six shorts are among the nominees for the 7th Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking.  Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer led all films with six nominations, while The Act of Killing received five. Heinzerling and the directing duos from two films nominated for Outstanding Feature –Leviathan‘s Castaing-Taylor & Paravel and After Tiller‘s Shane and Wilson – all led individual nominees with four nominations apiece. Making Cinema Eye history with his nomination in the feature film category, Lucien Castaing-Taylor becomes the first person to be nominated for Outstanding Feature after having been previously nominated for Outstanding Debut (he was nominated in 2011 for Sweetgrass).