Awards
Selma
Selma, described as the first studio film to center around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is the big winner among the critics representing the African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA). Selma earned multiple awards from AAFCA for Best Director, (Ava DuVernay); Best Actor for Oyelowo and Best Song for its John Legend/Common theme song, “Glory”. AAFCA will hold its annual award ceremony and dinner on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 at 7:00pm the Taglyan Complex in Hollywood, CA.
The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) announced its top picks for the year, and “Boyhood” won the coveted “Best Film” spot. “Boyhood” also won for Best Director (Richard Linklater), Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Arquette), and Best Youth Performance by Ellar Coltrane, the young boy who literally becomes a man before audiences’ eyes. However, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” was the big winner with five awards. “Birdman,” directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and marking the explosive return of ’80s star Michael Keaton (winner of this year’s Best Actor award), also snatched Best Acting Ensemble, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.
Under the Skin
The Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking announced the five nominees for its annual Cinema Eye Heterodox Award. The Cinema Eye Heterodox Award honors a narrative fiction film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production. The five films nominated this year for the Cinema Eye Heterodox Award are:
The 2015 Screen Actors Guild Award nominations were announced this morning and Birdman, lead the list with four nominations, including Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for Michael Keaton, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for EdwardNorton, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for EmmaStone and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Following closely, Boyhood, The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything each snagged 3 nominations including for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. The 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony will take place on January 25, 2015.
WHIPLASH
The American Film Institute (AFI) announced today the official selections of AFI AWARDS 2014 – 11 outstanding films and 10 outstanding television programs deemed culturally and artistically representative of the year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image.
“We celebrate these films and television programs as more than just milestones in a year of excellence.” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. “They are a part of our American cultural heritage – collectively, a new chapter in the story of the art form and of our nation.”
Boyhood
The Online Film Critics Society announced the nominees for the 18th annual OFCS awards for excellence in film. “Boyhood” lead the field with 6 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for Richard Linklater. Other nominees for Best Picture include “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Ida,” “The Lego Movie,” “Mommy,” “Nightcrawler,” “Selma,” “Two Days, One Night,” “Whiplash,” and “Under the Skin.” The 2014 OFCS award winners will be announced on Monday, December 15th.
Snowpiercer
The Boston Online Film Critics Association picked Snowpiercer, directed by Bong Joon-ho, and starring Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt, and Ed Harris, as Best Picture of 2014. In this sci-fi epic from director Bong Joon Ho (The Host, Mother), a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet. The final survivors board the SNOWPIERCER, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine. When cryptic messages incite the passengers to revolt, the train thrusts full-throttle towards disaster.
“Life Itself” won Best Documentary
Again, another group of film critics, pick “Boyhood” as Best Film of 2014; this time, the New York Film Critics Online picked “Boyhood” as Best Film of 2014, and Richard Linklater as Best Director. Patricia Arquette snagged the award for Best Supporting Actress, for her amazing performance in “Boyhood.” “Birdman” the other favorite film of the award season, received the awards for Best Screenplay, Best Ensemble and Best Cinematography. And in a bit of a surprise, the Roger Eberts film “Life Itself” won Best Documentary beating the perennial favorite documentary, “Citizenfour.”
Boyhood
The Los Angeles Film Critics picked “Boyhood” as Best Picture of 2014 for their 40th Annual LAFCA Awards. “Boyhood” also received the awards for Best Director for Richard Linklater, Best Actress for Patricia Arquette, and Film editing for Sandra Adair. The Grand Budapest Hotel snagged the Runner-up honors for Best Picture and Best Director, plus the awards for Screenplay for Wes Anderson, and Best Production design for Adam Stockhausen. And in what is becoming a consistent trend, “Citizenfour” won the award for Best Documentary/nonfiction film, and “Ida” won for award for Best Foreign-language film.
Boyhood
The Boston Society of Film Critics has selected Boyhood as Best Film of 2014, in addition the film also snagged the honors for Best Director for Richard Linklater, Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer), Best Screenplay, and Best Ensemble Cast. Citizenfour, the Edward Snowden documentary, snagged the award for Best Documentary. Last year’s winner for Best Film, 12 Years a Slave, went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture at the 2014 Academy Awards.
CITIZENFOUR
“CITIZENFOUR,” the Edward Snowden documentary, won the International Documentary Association 2014 top award, Best Feature Award. CITIZENFOUR is described as a real life thriller, unfolding by the minute, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).
Interstellar
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 10 films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 87th Oscars.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order: