David di Donatello 2009

2009 David di Donatello Awards
2009 David di Donatello Award nominations: April 9, 2009
2009 David di Donatello Award winners: May 8, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah (top photo); Toni Servillo in Il Divo (lower photo)
 

Best Film / miglior film
Il divo
produced by Andrea Occhipinti, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Maurizio Coppolecchia
directed by Paolo Sorrentino
Ex
produced by Fulvio Lucisano, Federica Lucisano
directed by Fausto Brizzi
* Gomorra
produced by Domenico Procacci
directed by Matteo Garrone
Si può fare
produced by Angelo Rizzoli
directed by Giulio Manfredonia
Tutta la vita davanti
produced by Motorino Amaranto – Medusa
directed by Paolo Virzì
Best Film from the European Union / miglior film dell’Unione Europea
Entre les murs, by Laurent [...]

DGA Awards 2009

2009 Directors Guild Awards
2009 DGA feature film nominations: January 8, 2009. Documentary and television nominations: January 9, 2009
2009 DGA award winners: Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, January 31, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Following his DGA win, Danny Boyle is the odds-on favorite to win the best director Academy Award. In fact, Boyle has been the odds-on favorite for quite some time. In any case, since the DGA Awards’ inception in 1949 only eight times has the DGA winner failed to win the best director Oscar. (Actually, more like six times as there was some overlapping in the 1948-49 selections. Check out the DGA Awards/the Oscars.) Slumdog Millionaire has also won the Producers Guild Award.
 

FEATURE [...]

Annie Awards 2009

2009 Annie Awards
2009 International Animated Film Society’s Annie Award nominations: December 1, 2008
2009 Annie Award winners: January 30, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Kung Fu Panda was the surprising — shocking? — big winner at the 2009 Annie Awards. The animated feature won 10 Annies — in every single feature category — including best animated feature, best direction (John Stevenson and Mark Osborne), best screenplay (Jon Aibel and Glenn Berger), and best voice acting (Dustin Hoffman). Odds-on favorite WALL-E failed to win a single award. It should be noted that since 2001, when the Academy instituted the best animated feature category, only once has the Annie winner failed to nab the Academy Award. (Cars won the Annie; Happy Feet [...]

Golden Globes 2009

2009 Golden Globes
Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s 2009 Golden Globe nominations: December 11, 2008
2009 Golden Globe winners: January 11, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire
 
MOTION PICTURES
Best Motion Picture, Drama
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
* Slumdog Millionaire
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Burn After Reading
In Bruges
Happy-Go-Lucky
Mamma Mia!
* Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Ari Folman – © HFPA / 66th Golden Globe® Awards
Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex, Germany
Everlasting Moments, Sweden / Denmark
Gomorrah, Italy
I’ve Loved You So Long, France
* Waltz with Bashir, Israel
Best Animated Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
* WALL-E
Best Director
* Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Steven Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes – Revolutionary Road
Best Actor, Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary [...]

Broadcast Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 Critics’ Choice Awards
2009 Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics’ Choice Award nominations: December 9, 2008
2009 Critics’ Choice winners: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on January 8, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire
 

BEST PICTURE
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
* Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
The Wrestler
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Christmas Tale
Gomorrah
I’ve Loved You So Long
Let the Right One In
Mongol
* Waltz With Bashir
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
I.O.U.S.A.
* Man on Wire
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Standard Operating Procedure
Young at Heart
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
[...]

Golden Globes 2009: Foreign-Language Nominees Screenings

The American Cinematheque and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will be screening all five Golden Globe nominees in the best foreign-language film category from Jan. 7-9 at the Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.
The nominated films are: The Baader-Meinhof Complex (Germany), National Society of Film Critics‘ winner Waltz with Bashir (Israel), European Film Academy Award winner Gomorrah (Italy), Swedish Film Institute’s Guldbagge nominee Everlasting Moments (Sweden), and I’ve Loved You So Long (France), starring European Academy Award best actress winner Kristin Scott Thomas.
On Sunday, Jan. 10, the Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood will present a panel discussion featuring the directors of the five nominated films. Screen International’s Mike Goodridge’s will act as moderator for Uli Edel, Jan Troell, Ari [...]

National Society of Film Critics 2009 Winners

An animated film has won the National Society of Film Critics 2009 Awards. No, not WALL-E, but Ari Folman’s anti-war documentary-ish Waltz with Bashir, about Israel’s disastrous 1982 invasion of Lebanon. It’s hard not to believe that current events — the Gaza conflict has been going on since late December — influenced the vote, though war or no war in the Middle East, Waltz with Bashir has been garnering nearly universal praise.
Waltz with Bashir, which had previously won the Los Angeles Film Critics‘ best animated film award (a sort of consolation prize for having lost to WALL-E in the best film category), is Israel’s entry for the 2009 best foreign-language film Oscar; the film is also one of [...]

National Society of Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 National Society of Film Critics Awards
2009 National Society of Film Critics award winners: January 3, 2009
 

Waltz with Bashir by Ari Folman

 
BEST PICTURE
1. Waltz with Bashir, directed by Ari Folman (26)
2. Happy-Go-Lucky (20)
3. WALL-E (20)
BEST NON-FICTION FILM
1. Man on Wire, directed by James Marsh (55)
2. Trouble the Water (34)
3. Encounters at the End of the World (26)
BEST DIRECTOR
1. Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky (36)
2. Gus Van Sant, Milk & Paranoid Park (20)
3. Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire (16)
BEST ACTOR
1. Sean Penn, Milk (87)
2. Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler (40)
3. Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino (38)
BEST ACTRESS
1. Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky (65)
2. Melissa Leo, Frozen River (33)
3. Michelle Williams, Wendy [...]

Oscar 2009 Predictions: Best Documentary, Animated Film

Encounters at the End of the World

BEST DOCUMENTARY, FEATURE
Encounters at the End of the World
I.O.U.S.A.
Man on Wire
Standard Operating Procedure
Trouble the Water
This is another specialty category that’s hard to hazard a guess.

The critically acclaimed Sundance winner Man on Wire is the only shoo-in, unless there’s another Hoop Dreams or The Thin Blue Line upset.
I.O.U.S.A. is quite relevant — the title says it all;
Standard Operating Procedure comes from the hands of Errol Morris, whose The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara won the 2003 Oscar in this category;
Trouble the Water is another doc that has been greeted by solid reviews and that has been [...]

2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Winners

For the first time in its 34-year history, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association has bestowed its best picture award on an animated film, the Disney/Pixar production Wall-E.

Other surprises included Berlin Film Festival winner Sally Hawkins (above) as best actress for Happy-Go-Lucky, which means that Hawkins is now a potential Oscar contender; Jia Zhangke’s 2006 Venice Film Festival-winning Chinese drama Still Life as best foreign-language film and for the year’s best cinematography, for Lik Wai Yu; and Happy-Go-Lucky for best screenplay (Mike Leigh, who also directed the film).

Non-surprises were Heath Ledger (above) as best supporting actor for The Dark Knight; James Marsh’s widely acclaimed Man on Wire as best documentary; and National Board of Review winner Penélope [...]

Los Angeles Film Critics Awards 2008

2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award winners: Dec. 9, 2008
 

 

Best Film: Wall-E directed by Andrew Stanton
Runner-up: The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan
Best Foreign-Language Film: Still Life directed by Jia Zhangke
Runner-up: The Class directed by Laurent Cantet
Best Documentary: Man on Wire directed by James Marsh
Runner-up: Waltz with Bashir directed by Ari Folman
Best Animated Film: Waltz with Bashir
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Runner-up: David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Runner-up: Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk
Runner-up: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Elegy
Runner-up: Viola Davis, Doubt
Best supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Runner-up: Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky
Best Screenplay: Mike Leigh, [...]

International Documentary Association Awards 2008

2008 International Documentary Association Awards
2008 International Documentary Association winners: December 06, 2008
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

 

Feature Documentary (tie)
Kassim The Dream
Director/Producer: Kief Davidson
Producer: Liz Silver
Executive Producers: Forest Whitaker, Keisha Whitaker, Joshua Green
Believe Media, Urban Landscapes, Monaco Film Hamburg, ARTE/ZDF Enterprises
* Man on Wire
Director: James Marsh
Producer: Simon Chinn
Red Box Films, Wall to Wall, Discovery Films, BBC, UK Film Council, Magnolia Pictures
Stranded: I’ve come from a plane that crashed in the mountains
Director: Gonzalo Arijón
Producer: Mark Silvera
Ethan Productions, La Realidad, ARTE France, ITVS International, Zeitgeist Films 
* Waltz with Bashir
Director/Producer: Ari Folman
Producers: Yael Nahlieli, Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, [...]