Film Awards 2009 Schedule

George Clooney in Up in the Air (top); Sam Worthington in Avatar (middle); Carey Mulligan in An Education (bottom)

Below is a list of several groups that will be announcing their award winners or nominees in the next few days. The field will likely get even more crowded, what with about a dozen other US-based critics' groups that should be announcing their winners during that time (or a few days later).

Among those are the African-American, Austin, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Houston, Las Vegas, New York Online, Oklahoma, Phoenix, San Diego, Southeastern, Toronto, and Utah film critics, plus the Women Journalists.

Internationally, there will be nomination announcements for Sweden's Golden Beetles (Guldbagge) and the Spanish Academy's Goyas in the next couple of weeks. The Dubai and Metro Manila film festivals should also announce their winners before the year is over.

As far as US critics are concerned, expect to hear Jason Reitman's Up in the Air, Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, Lone Scherfig's An Education, Clint Eastwood's Invictus, and Lee Daniels' Precious mentioned time and again in various categories. And perhaps Joel and Ethan Coen's A Serious Man, Tom Ford's A Single Man, Sebastian Silva's The Maid, and Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon, and Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre here and there as well.

But don't be surprised if Avatar, which has been garnering some positive buzz since its London premiere earlier this evening, pops up in some unexpected categories, e.g., best picture or best director, as well. (The San Diego critics, for instance, did choose King Kong as their picture of 2005.) Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones and Rob Marshall's Nine, however, the two films to beat before their first reviews came out, may not do as well as expected in the awards races.

We'll be posting the lists of winners/nominees as they come out. Keep checking back.

Dec. 11 – Australian Film Institute Winners (technical categories)

Dec 12 – Australian Film Institute Winners (top categories)

Dec. 12 – European Film Award Winners

Dec. 13 – Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. Awards

Dec 13 – American Film Institute Best of the Year List

Dec. 13 – Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

Dec. 14 – San Francisco Film Critics Awards

Dec. 14 – Chicago Film Critics Awards (nominations – winners on Dec. 21)

Dec. 14 – St. Louis Film Critics Awards (nominations – winners on Dec. 21)

Dec. 14 – New York Film Critics Awards

Dec. 14 – Broadcast Film Critics Nominations

Dec. 15 - Golden Globes Nominations

Dec. 17 - Screen Actors Guild Nominations