Lucrecia Martel’s Zama, Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, and Paul Schrader’s First Reformed took the top spots among films released in 2018 on Film Comment’s annual end-of-year survey. Of the films that screened at festivals worldwide but have not announced stateside distribution, Roberto Minervini’s What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?, Mariano Llinás’s La Flor, and Khalik Allah’s Black Mother received the top rankings.
The African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) named Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther” the Best Film of 2018 along with Best Director (Ryan Coogler) and Best Song (“All the Stars” performed by Kendrick Lamar and SZA with music and lyrics by Kendrick Lamar, Anthony Tiffith, Mark Spears, Solana Rowe and Al Shuckburgh) making it AAFCA’s top award-winner of 2018.
Sight & Sound, the BFI’s international film magazine, today named Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma as the Best Film of 2018 in one of the most anticipated and respected critics’ opinion poll: Sight & Sound’s Films of the Year. Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar®-winning Phantom Thread is in second place, followed by Lee Chang-dong’s Burning in third.
The San Francisco Film Critics Circle named Roma the Best Picture of 2018 along with Best Foreign Language Picture but gave the award for Best Director to Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman. BlacKkKlansman also won the awards for Best Original Score and Best Screenplay, Adapted.
“The Favourite” leads the nominations for the 24th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards this year with 14 nominations including Best Picture, Olivia Colman for Best Actress and Best Actress in a Comedy, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz both for Best Supporting Actress, Best Acting Ensemble, and Yorgos Lanthimos for Best Director.
Roma and If Beale Street Could Talk tied to win 3 awards, the most at the second annual Philadelphia Film Critics Circle awards. Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma took the top prize for Best Movie, along with Best Foreign Film and Best Cinematography. If Beale Street Could Talk won the award for Best Director for Barry Jenkins , Best Supporting Actress for Regina King, and Best Breakthrough Performance for Kiki Layne.
Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” is the clear favorite with the Chicago Film Critics Association, earning the most nominations of all for their 2018 film awards with nine. In addition to being one of the finalists for Best Picture, Cuaron himself was personally nominated in four additional categories for Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography and Editing, the latter alongside Adam Gough. Yalitza Aparicio, the non-professional chosen by Cuaron to star in the film received two nominations herself for Best Actress and Most Promising Performer and it also received nods for Art Direction/Production Design and Foreign Film.
BlacKkKlansman[/caption]
The Favourite and Black Panther top the 2018 Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society (LAOFCS) nominations list with ten nominations each, followed by A Star is Born with nine and BlacKkKlansman with eight. Indie films were well represented with Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade scoring six nominations. and Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk scoring a total of five nominations including Best Supporting Actress.
The members of the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society have also voted on some of the more underrepresented films this award season including Fox’s The Hate U Give, Focus Features’ Tully, Sony Pictures’ Searching, and Roadside’s Ben is Back, among several others.
“In a year where diversity and representation have been at the forefront of so many conversations, I believe that the LAOFCS nominations this year proves how much representation truly matters. There have been a lot of great films this year that have tackled important issues, so I am thrilled to see that reflected in our nominations,” added LAOFCS’ Scott Menzel.
In addition to the film nominations, the LAOFCS will also announce a few other awards including the recipient of this Trailblazer Award which was previously awarded to Jessica Chastain.
The Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society (LAOFCS) 2nd Annual Awards Ceremony will be held on January 9th, 2019, at the Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles.
EIGHTH GRADE[/caption]
The HUMANITAS Prize which honors film and television writers whose work inspires compassion, hope, and understanding in the human family, has named fifty-eight film and television writers as finalists for the 44th Annual HUMANITAS Prize. All Prize winners will be announced at The 44th Annual HUMANITAS Prize event on Friday, February 8, 2019 at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA.
Six college students have also been named as finalists for The David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Fellowship and The Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Fellowship. The winning writers in each category will be awarded $20,000 in prize money.
HUMANITAS will also honor Marta Kauffman with The Kieser Award and Kenya Barris with the VOICE FOR CHANGE Award.
Marta Kauffman is a critically acclaimed writer/director/producer. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for Friends, a series she co-created. She also co-created HBO’s Dream On, was the co-producer for NBC’s Veronica’s Closet, and is the co-creator of Netflix’s Grace and Frankie.
Kenya Barris is also a critically acclaimed writer/producer and the creator of ABC’s Black-ish and Grown-ish. He won The HUMANITAS Prize for Black-Ish: “Hope” in 2017. He won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series in 2016/17. He has received three nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
Since its inception in 1974, The HUMANITAS Prize has awarded over $3.5 million to more than 360 deserving television and motion picture writers whose work examines what it means to be a fully realized human being in a world struggling with racism, terrorism, sexism, ageism, anti-Semitism, political polarization, religious fanaticism, extreme poverty, violence, and unemployment. By deeply exploring the cultures, lifestyles, sexual orientations, political views, and religious beliefs of people who are very different from ourselves, we can dissolve the walls of ignorance and fear that separate us from one another.
All winners, except for those in the Independent Feature Film and College Fellowship categories, designate a non-profit focused on nurturing the next generation of writers to receive their earnings. Past recipients have included Young Storytellers, Film2Future, P.S. Arts, The Heidelberg Project, Rosie’s Theatre Kids, International Documentary Association, and Inside Out Writers.
“HUMANITAS enjoyed an embarrassment of riches this year,” said HUMANITAS President Ali LeRoi, “There were so many incredible submissions from such gifted writers.”
“Green Book” directed by Peter Farrelly[/caption]
The National Board of Review named Green Book as Best Film of the Year, Bradley Cooper as Best Director of the Year for A Star is Born, Viggo Mortensen as Best Actor of the Year for his performance in Green Book, and Lady Gaga as Best Actress of the Year for her performance in A Star is Born.
NBR President Annie Schulhof said, “We are proud to honor Green Book as our best film – it is a warm and heartfelt look at a remarkable friendship, brought to the screen at a moment where its story of love, compassion, and shared humanity deeply resonates. We are also thrilled to award Bradley Cooper as our best director – he is an extraordinary talent behind the camera, bringing a fresh and modern perspective, as well as superb craftsmanship and tremendous heart, to the classic story of A Star is Born.”
The 2018 awards continue the NBR’s tradition of recognizing excellence in filmmaking, going back 109 years. This year 261 films were viewed by this select group of film enthusiasts, filmmakers, professionals, academics, and students, many of which were followed by in-depth discussions with directors, actors, producers, and screenwriters.
The National Board of Review’s awards celebrate the art of cinema, with categories that include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Original and Adapted Screenplay, Breakthrough Performance, and Directorial Debut, as well as signature honors such as Freedom of Expression and the William K. Everson Film History Award.
The honorees will be feted at the NBR Awards Gala, hosted by Willie Geist, on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at Cipriani 42nd Street.
We the Animals[/caption]
We the Animals leads the nominations for the 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards with 5 nods including Best First Feature, but missed out on a nomination for Best Feature. Nominees for Best Feature are Eighth Grade, First Reformed, If Beale Street Could Talk, Leave No Trace and You Were Never Really Here.
Suspiria was selected to receive the Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. The Altman Award was created in 2008 in honor of legendary director Robert Altman who was known for creating extraordinary ensemble casts.
Winners of the Spirit Awards Filmmaker Grants will be announced at the Film Independent Spirit Awards Filmmaker Grant and Nominee Brunch on Saturday, January 5, 2019.
