
The National Society of Film Critics which is made up of 60 of the country’s most prominent movie critics, held its 53rd annual awards voting on Saturday, January 5th, 2019, and chose THE RIDER as Best Picture of the Year 2018.

The National Society of Film Critics which is made up of 60 of the country’s most prominent movie critics, held its 53rd annual awards voting on Saturday, January 5th, 2019, and chose THE RIDER as Best Picture of the Year 2018.

As he has done each year since 2015, former President Barack Obama released his favorite movies, songs, and books of the year on Facebook and Instagram. Obama’s taste in movies ranges from the popular Black Panther to some very impressive indie films including Eighth Grade, If Beale Street Could Talk, documentary films – Minding the Gap, Won’t You Be My Neighbor; and foreign films – Roma, Shoplifters.

“The Hate U Give,” a drama that examines contemporary race relations in America through the eyes of a culturally conflicted young woman, took three prizes at the 2018 Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) awards, including Best Film.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association voted the musical drama A STAR IS BORN as the best film of 2018. Rounding out the composite list of the top 10 films of the year were ROMA (2), THE FAVOURITE (3), VICE (4), BLACKkKLANSMAN (5), BLACK PANTHER (6), GREEN BOOK (7), IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (8), EIGHTH GRADE (9), and CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (10).

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.

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.
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.
The Rider by Chloe Zhao[/caption]
Chloe Zhao’s The Rider snagged the top award for Best Feature at 2018 Gotham Independent Film Awards, but the night really belonged to Eighth Grade and First Reformed, who each won two awards, the most of the night. Eighth Grade won the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award for director Bo Burnham and Breakthrough Actor for Elsie Fisher; and First Reformed won the awards for Best Screenplay for Paul Schrader, along with Best Actor for Ethan Hawke.
Documentary films were well represented this year with Hale County This Morning, This Evening directed by RaMell Ross taking home the award for Best Documentary; and another documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? directed by Morgan Neville, won the IFP Gotham Audience Award.
The Favourite continued to dominate the early awards circuit winning the Special Jury Award For Ensemble Performance for Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz
The Favourite[/caption]
The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos’s black comedy about the 18th century court of Queen Anne, leads the list of nominations for the 2018 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) with 13 noms including Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The Favourite also sweeps the technical categories, newly introduced for the 2017 awards, with nominations for seven of the nine awards, including Best Production Design, Best Cinematography supported by Blackmagic Design, Best Make-up & Hair Design and Best Costume Design.
The Best British Independent Film nominees are American Animals – with 11 nominations, Beast – with 10 nominations, Disobedience – with 5 nominations, You Were Never Really Here – with 8 nominations, and The Favourite.
The nominations list demonstrates a record year for female representation, with over 40% of the individual nominations recognizing women in the industry across directing, writing, producing, performance and craft. Female nominees make up over 50% of the talent nominated for Best British Independent Film and dominate both Most Promising Newcomer and Breakthrough Producer supported by Creativity Media, with four out of five nominations for each award. Over 140 British films were submitted for consideration and 37 different British feature films have been nominated across the BIFA categories.