'Hugo' Named Best Film of 2011 by the National Board of Review

 

 Paramount’s Martin Scorsese film Hugo received a major shot in the arm for its Oscar hopes when the National Board of Review named it the 2011 Best Film of The Year and tapped Scorsese as Best Director.       
  Today’s vote comes two days after the New York critics voted the Weinstein Co’s black-and-white silent pic The Artist as its top film and shut out Hugo altogether. “Hugo is such a personal film by Martin Scorsese,” said National Board president Annie Schulhof in a release announcing the winners. “It is a tribute to the early years of cinema that uses today’s cutting-edge technology to bring the audience into a completely unique and magical world. It is visually stunning and emotionally engaging.” The National Board also went with George Clooney (The Descendants) as Best Actor and Tilda Swinton (We Need To Talk About Kevin) as Best Actress, also different from the NYFCC, which went with Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep.
 Here’s the National Board’s full list:

Best Film

• Hugo

Best Director

• Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

Best Actor

• George Clooney (The Descendants)

Best Actress

• Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

Best Supporting Actor

• Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Best Supporting Actress

• Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

Best Original Screenplay

• Will Reiser (50/50)

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash (The Descendants)

Best Animated Feature

• Rango

Breakthrough Performance

• Felicity Jones (Like Crazy)
• Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

Debut Director

• J.C. Chandor (Margin Call)

Best Ensemble

• The Help

Spotlight Award

• Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class)

NBR Freedom of Expression

• Crime After Crime
• Pariah

Best Foreign Language Film

• A Separation

Best Documentary

• Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Special Achievement in Filmmaking

• The Harry Potter Franchise – A Distinguished Translation from Book to Film

Top Films (in alphabetical order)

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Drive
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• The Ides of March
• J. Edgar
• Tree of Life
• War Horse

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order)

• 13 Assassins
• Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
• Footnote
• Le Havre
• Point Blank

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order)

• Born to be Wild
• Buck
• George Harrison: Living in the Material World
• Project Nim
• Senna

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order)

• 50/50
• Another Earth
• Beginners
• A Better Life
• Cedar Rapids
• Margin Call
• Shame
• Take Shelter
• We Need To Talk about Kevin
• Win Win

NYFCC Name 'The Artist' Best Film of 2011

 The award season officially began today as the New York Film Critics Circle handed out their annual accolades for excellence in filmmaking, with "The Artist" taking home the title of Best Picture, Meryl Streep earning the Best Actress award for her turn in the Margaret Thatcher biopic "The Iron Lady" and Brad Pitt winning Best Actor for his roles in "Moneyball" and "Tree of Life."
 In other top categories, "The Artist's" Michel Hazanavicius won Best Director, with the Best Supporting Actor award going to Albert Brooks for "Drive" and Best Supporting Actress going to Jessica Chastain for a body of work that included roles in "The Help," "Tree of Life" and "Take Shelter" among other films.
Handed out annually since 1935, the New York Film Critics Circle Awards are among the most prestigious honors in American filmmaking. Whether or not they have any bearing on the Oscar race, of course, is another matter, as the individual acting awards are given for the sum totality of the individual's year-long efforts rather than for a specific performance. Plus, the awards are voted on by professional critics rather than by the various industry insiders and unions that make up Academy Award membership.
 Still, the NYFCC Awards are a significant honor for any film, director or actor. Here are the complete results in all 14 categories for the 2011 New York Film Critics Circle Awards:
Best Picture -- "The Artist"
Best Director -- Michel Hazanavicius ("The Artist")
Best Actor -- Brad Pitt ("Moneyball," "Tree of Life")
Best Actress -- Meryl Streep ("The Iron Lady")
Best Supporting Actor -- Albert Brooks ("Drive")
Best Supporting Actress -- Jessica Chastain ("The Help," "Tree of Life," "Take Shelter")
Best Cinematographer -- Emmanuel Lubezki ("Tree of Life")
Best First Film -- "Margin Call"
Best Foreign Film -- "A Separation"
Best Non-Fiction Film -- "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"
Best Screenplay -- Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin ("Moneyball")
Special Award - Raoul Ruiz

'The Artist' and 'Take Shelter' Lead the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations

 Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced nominations for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards this morning.  Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale served as presenters.
 Winners will be announced at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, February 25, 2012. .

The full list of nominees:

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)

• 50/50
• Beginners
• Drive
• Take Shelter
• The Artist
• The Descendants

BEST DIRECTOR

• Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
• Mike Mills (Beginners)
• Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter)
• Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
• Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive)

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Joseph Cedar (Footnote)
• Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
• Tom McCarthy (Win Win)
• Mike Mills (Beginners)
• Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash (The Descendants)

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)

• Another Earth
• In the Family
• Margin Call
• Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Natural Selection

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

• Mike Cahill, Brit Marling (Another Earth)
• J.C. Chandor (Margin Call)
• Patrick deWitt (Terri)
• Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids)
• Will Reiser (50/50)

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to the writer, director, and producer.

• Bellflower
• Circumstance
• Hello Lonesome
• Pariah
• The Dynamiter

BEST MALE LEAD

• Demian Bichir (A Better Life)
• Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
• Ryan Gosling (Drive)
• Woody Harrelson (Rampart)
• Michael Shannon (Take Shelter)

BEST FEMALE LEAD

• Lauren Ambrose (Think of Me)
• Rachael Harris (Natural Selection)
• Adepero Oduye (Pariah)
• Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
• Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

• Jessica Chastain (Take Shelter)
• Anjelica Huston (50/50)
• Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
• Harmony Santana (Gun Hill Road)
• Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

• Albert Brooks (Drive)
• John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
• Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
• John C. Reilly (Cedar Rapids)
• Corey Stoll (Midnight in Paris)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Joel Hodge (Bellflower)
• Benjamin Kasulke (The Off Hours)
• Darius Khondji (Midnight in Paris)
• Guillaume Schiffman (The Artist)
• Jeffrey Waldron (The Dynamiter)

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)

• An African Election
• Bill Cunningham
• The Interrupters
• The Redemption of General Butt Naked
• We Were Here

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)

• A Separation (Iran)
• Melancholia (Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany)
• Shame (UK)
• The Kid With a Bike (Belgium/France/Italy)
• Tyrannosaur (UK)

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD – The 15th annual Piaget Producers Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.

• Chad Burris (Mosquita y Mari)
• Sophia Lin (Take Shelter)
• Josh Mond (Martha Marcy May Marlene)

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The 18th annual Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

• Simon Arthur (Silver Tongues)
• Mark Jackson (Without)
• Nicholas Ozeki (Mamitas)

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The 17th annual Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

• Heather Courtney (Where Soldiers Come From)
• Danfung Dennis (Hell and Back Again)
• Alma Har'el (Bombay Beach)

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – (Given to one film's director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)

• Margin Call Director: J.C. Chandor
  Casting Director: Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey
  Ensemble Cast: Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci

Focus Features has a big night at the Gothams 2012

 IFP handed out its 21st annual Gotham Awards in New York, honoring Mike Mills’s Beginners and Terrence Malick’s The Tree of LIfe among the laureled Class of 2011. Like Crazy actress Felicity Jones and Pariah director Dee Rees showed strongly as well; read on for the complete list of winners:


Best Feature presented
A Tie between:
BEGINNERS
Directed by Mike Mills
Produced by Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Miranda de Pencier, Jay Van Hoy, Lars
Knudsen
Released by Focus Features


TREE OF LIFE
Directed by Terrence Malick
Produced by Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Grant Hill
Released by Fox Searchlight


Best Documentary
BETTER THIS WORLD
Directed and produced by Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega
Produced by Mike Nicholson


Breakthrough Director Award
DEE REES
Writer and director of Pariah
Released by Focus Features


Breakthrough Actor Award
FELICITY JONES
Actor in Like Crazy
Released by Paramount Vantage
The Breakthrough Actor Jury included: Chris Eyre, Melissa Leo, Anne Rosellini, Ira Sachs
and Jeffrey Wright


Best Ensemble Performance Award
Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox,
Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos
in BEGINNERS
Released by Focus Features


Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You Award
SCENES OF A CRIME
Blue Hadaegh & Grover Babcock, Directors and Producers


Gotham Independent Film Audience Award
GIRLFRIEND
Justin Lerner, Director
Produced by Jerad Anderson, Kristina Lauren Anderson, Justin Lerner, Shaun O’Banion


euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant
LUCY MULLOY
for upcoming film UNA NOCHE

24 Animated Features Advance in 2012 MHFD Awards Race

Kokuriko-zaka kara

 24 features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 4th MHFD Awards. The 24 submitted features are:

* The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

* Alois Nebel

* Arrugas

* Arthur Christmas

* Cars 2

* Le chat du rabbin

* Chico & Rita

* Les contes de la nuit

* Crulic - drumul spre dincolo

* Gnomeo & Juliet

* Happy Feet 2

* Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil

* Hoshi o ou kodomo

* Kokuriko-zaka kara

* Kung Fu Panda 2

* Mars Needs Moms!

* Un monstre à  Paris

* Puss in Boots

* Rango

* Rio

* Le tableau

* Tatsumi

* Une vie de chat

* Winnie the Pooh

2012 BAFTA Rising Star Award Longlist Announced

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) announced the long list for the Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award 2012 which recognizes the best up-and-coming actors and actresses in film.
 The Long list contains:

Adam Deacon

Chris Hemsworth

Felicity Jones

Tom Hiddleston

Jennifer Lawrence

Chris O’Dowd

Jessica Chastain 

Eddie Redmayne

 You can vote for your favorite at BAFTA.org. The final round of voting among 5 nominees will begin on January 11. The below video includes clips featuring each of the nominees.

2011 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) - winners

The Asia Pacific Screen Academy held their ceremony for the 5th annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs) in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Interestingly, these awards don't just consider films from the Pacific region but from 70 countries and areas from all of Asia including Russia and the Middle East.

The top prize Best Feature Award went to the Iranian film Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (A Separation) by Asghar Farhadi. It had led the nominations with four along with Turkey's Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia). A Separation has won numerous prizes this year including the Golden Bear at Berlin. It was one of the first recipients of APSA's film fund.

The winners for the 5th annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) are :

Best Feature

Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (A Separation) (Iran) Asghar Farhadi

Achievement in Directing

Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) (Turkey/Bosnia and Herzegovina)
High Commendation: Andrei Zviagintsev, Elena (Russia)

Best Performance by an Actress

Nadezhda Markina, Elena (Russia)

Best Performance by an Actor

Wang Baoqiang, Hello! Shu Xian Sheng (Mr Tree), (China)

Best Screenplay

Denis Osokin, Silent Souls (Russia)
High Commendation: Yoon Sung-hyun, Pa-soo-kkoon (Bleak Night) (Korea)

Achievement in Cinematography

Gökhan Tiryaki, Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) (Turkey/Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Best Children’s Feature

Buta (Azerbaijan) Khamis Muradov, Ilgar Najaf

High Commendation: Bad o Meh (Wind and Fog) (Iran) Naser Dehghani Poudeh

Best Documentary Feature

Jag Var Värd 50 Lamm (I Was Worth 50 Sheep) (Sweden/Japan/US) Maryam Ebrahimi

High Commendation: Pink Saris (India/UK) Amber Latiff, Girjashanker Vohra.

Best Animated Feature

Madangeul naon amtak (Leafie) (Korea) Lee Eun, Shim Jaemyung, Kim Sunku

Screen International Jury Grand Prize

Zeynep Özbatur Atakan, Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia)
High Commendation: Ensemble Cast (actresses) of Cairo 678 (Egypt) – Nahed El Sebai, Bushra and Nelly Karim

APSA NETPAC jury prize
Halaw (Ways Of The Sea), (The Philippines) Sheron Dayoc

International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) Award
Zhang Yimou

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Award
Ivan Sen, Toomelah