The Constant Gardener with Ralph Fiennes. All but ignored this awards season in the U.S., two-time Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes (as Best Supporting Actor for Schindler’s List, 1993; as Best Actor for The English Patient, 1996) is a Best Actor British Academy Award contender for his Kenya-based British diplomat investigating the brutal murder of his activist wife (Best Actress nominee Rachel Weisz) in Fernando Meirelles’ The Constant Gardener. The British Academy Award winners will be announced on Feb. 19.
Pharmaceutical industry corruption & doomed gay love + sunny L.A. racism top British Academy Award nominations
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ favorite movies of 2005 mostly consist of dead serious titles. Themes range from corruption, racism, and murder to political oppression, doomed (gay) love, and Jane Austen.
With ten nominations, leading the pack for the British Academy Awards is Fernando Meirelles’ mostly British-produced, Kenya-set film version of John le Carré’s political thriller The Constant Gardener, which pits Best Actor nominee Ralph Fiennes and Best Actress nominee Rachel Weisz against greedy multinational pharmaceutical companies.
For his portrayal of a low-level British diplomat investigating the brutal murder of his activist wife, Fiennes has deservedly been well remembered this awards season – but only in the U.K.; on the other side of the Atlantic, he has been all but ignored. Weisz has been luckier in the U.S., but as a “supporting” actress. In fact, she has just won a Golden Globe in that category.
‘Crash’ & ‘Brokeback Mountain’
In the British Academy Awards’ no. 2 slot are two U.S.-made dramas, each with nine nominations: Ang Lee’s tragic gay cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain and Paul Haggis’ Los Angeles-set, race-conscious drama Crash. Heath Ledger is up for the Best Actor British Academy Award, but, absurdly, his sheep-poking lover Jake Gyllenhaal has been shortlisted in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Two of Gyllenhaal’s competitors are Crash actors Matt Dillon and Don Cheadle. Michelle Williams and Thandie Newton are Best Supporting Actress nominees for playing, respectively, Heath Ledger’s cuckolded wife in Brokeback Mountain and a woman who almost dies in a fiery car accident in Crash.
The Constant Gardener, Brokeback Mountain, and Crash are all Best Picture British Academy Award nominees, while The Constant Gardener is also in the running for Best British Film.
Truman Capote & Edward R. Murrow + Jane Austen
The other two nominees for the British Academy Awards’ Best Picture are:
- Bennett Miller’s Capote, about flamboyant gay author Truman Capote’s emotional involvement with one of the two subjects – both convicted murderers sentenced to death – of his book In Cold Blood. Best Actor awards season favorite Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Capote.
- Actor-director-co-screenwriter George Clooney’s black-and-white drama Good Night and Good Luck., which focuses on the professional life of 1950s broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow (Best Actor nominee David Strathairn) and his spat with opportunistic right-wing senator Joseph McCarthy.
Mirroring the 2005–2006 awards season trend seen on the western side of the North Atlantic, the British Academy Awards’ Best Picture contenders are all relatively “small” productions, four of which are American-financed.
Considering how the British Academy tends to favor British talent whenever possible, it’s surprising not to find Jane Austen heroine Keira Knightley in the Best Actress race, even though Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice did garner six nominations, including Best British Film and Best Supporting Actress for Brenda Blethyn.
Besides Keira Knightley, also missing in action is Woody Allen’s British-made crime drama Match Point.
Unloved King Kong & Steven Spielberg + idolized George Clooney
Starring Naomi Watts in the old Fay Wray role, Peter Jackson’s mammoth King Kong managed only three British Academy Award nominations, all in the technical categories. Faring even worse was Steven Spielberg’s Munich; probably as a result of a screener snafu, the political thriller starring Eric Bana as a Mossad agent was completely shut out.
Hollywood star turned serious director George Clooney had no such issues. In addition to Best Director and Best Original Screenplay (with Grant Heslov) nods for Good Night and Good Luck., Clooney is competing against himself as Best Supporting Actor: he’s up for both Good Night and Good Luck. and Stephen Gaghan’s West Asia-set political thriller Syriana. (Academy Award rules prevent such double nominations from taking place in the acting categories.)
Lastly, Ismaël Ferroukhi’s The Great Journey / Le Grand Voyage was a major surprise in the Best Foreign Language Film shortlist. The relatively little-seen drama depicts the troubled relationship between a reactionary, middle-aged Moroccan Muslim (Mohamed Majd) and his wayward, French-raised son (Nicolas Cazalé) while on a long road pilgrimage from Provence to Mecca.
See list of BAFTA Award nominees & winners.
Jewish ghetto refugee tale is Guldbagge Awards’ surprise Best Film
From the British Academy Awards to its Swedish equivalent: writer-director Lena Einhorn’s Nina’s Journey / Ninas resa was the surprise winner in the Best Film and Best Screenplay categories – its only two nominations – at the 2006 Guldbagge Awards, Sweden’s Oscars. (Guldbagge is translated as “Golden Scarab.”)
Shot on digital video, the low-budget World War II-set drama follows a young Jewish woman (Agnieszka Grochowska) as she leaves Warsaw’s Jewish ghetto for a new life in Sweden. Nina’s Journey was adapted from Einhorn’s own book, itself based on her mother’s life story.
Björn Runge’s Mouth to Mouth / Mun mot mun, which received seven Guldbagge nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor (Peter Andersson), ended up winning only one award, for Best Supporting Actor Magnus Krepper. Mouth to Mouth chronicles the difficult life of a runaway teenager (Sofia Westberg) enmeshed with a middle-aged drug addict (Krepper) who hires her out as a sex worker.
Anita Björk. Curiously, this year’s Honorary Guldbagge Award recipient Anita Björk, a major Swedish stage and film star since the mid-1940s, has collaborated on only one film with Ingmar Bergman (as director): Waiting Women (1952), in which she, Eva Dahlbeck, Maj-Britt Nilsson, and Aino Taube are four women reminiscing about their marriages while waiting for their husbands to return to their summer cottage. Björk and Bergman have, however, also worked together on stage and TV, e.g., Madame de Sade (1992), The Image Makers (2000). Anita Björk’s three husbands were actor Olof Bergström, journalist/author Stig Dagerman, and artist Lasse Lindqvist.Anita Björk
Another notable 2006 Guldbagge Award recipient is veteran Anita Björk, best remembered as the heroine in Alf Sjöberg’s 1951 Palme d’Or co-winning* film adaption of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie / Fröken Julie, opposite Ulf Palme.
Beginning in 1942, Björk was seen in three dozen features, among them:
- Gustaf Molander’s Woman Without a Face / Kvinna utan ansikte (1947), from a screenplay by Molander and Ingmar Bergman, and featuring Alf Kjellin and Gunn Wållgren.
- Ingmar Bergman’s Waiting Women / Kvinnors väntan (1952), with Eva Dahlbeck, Maj-Britt Nilsson, and Aino Taube.
- In a supporting role, Bo Widerberg’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar-nominated political drama Adalen 31 / Ådalen 31 (1969), toplining Peter Schildt.
- In another supporting role, Bille August’s The Best Intentions / Den goda viljan (1992), from a screenplay by Ingmar Bergman, and featuring Pernilla August and Max von Sydow.
A major name in Swedish cinema, Anita Björk might also have enjoyed a Hollywood career had she been cast in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1953 suspense drama I Confess; against the director’s will, the role ultimately went to Anne Baxter.
Björk’s sole U.S.-produced movie turned out to be Nunnally Johnson’s post-war-Berlin-set political/spy drama Night People (1954), a largely forgotten effort starring Gregory Peck and Broderick Crawford.
* Miss Julie shared the Cannes Film Festival’s 1951 Palme d’Or with Vittorio De Sica’s Miracle in Milan.
Veteran Marthe Keller among Swiss Film Award winners
Michael Steiner’s Swiss-German comedy Rascals on the Road / My Name is Eugen / Mein Name ist Eugen, adapted by Steiner, Christopher Frey, and Michael Sauter from pastor and politician Klaus Schädelin’s 1955 children’s novel, was named Best Film at the 2006 Swiss Film Awards, announced at the Solothurn Film Festival. (Solothurn is located about halfway between Bern and Basel, in northwestern Switzerland.)
Starring Manuel Häberli as the titular character, Rascals on the Road follows four teenagers in their quest for mythical hidden treasures in the Swiss countryside’s Alpine mountains and lakes. The movie has been a major box office hit in Switzerland’s German-speaking cantons.
Carlos Leal was chosen Best Lead Performer for Iraqi-born director Samir’s Snow White, which features lots of drugs and rap music but no sneezing dwarves, while veteran Marthe Keller (And Now My Love, Marathon Man) topped the Best Supporting Performance category for her suicidal, Alzheimer’s-stricken mother in Laurent Nègre’s feature film debut Fragile.
King Kong 2005: Will the reclusive giant ape allow his beloved blonde (Naomi Watts) to become a hungry tyrannosaur’s next meal? Peter Jackson’s remake of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s 1933 classic isn’t exactly a critical favorite; even so, the film boasts first-rate production values, including those in the special effects (both sound & visual) area. Hence it’s no surprise that some of the members of King Kong‘s visual effects team(s) responsible for the reconstruction of 1930s New York City, a couple of T-Rexes, and Kong himself (“played” by Andy Serkis) have been shortlisted in four of the Visual Effects Society Awards’ various “Best Visual Effects” categories.Jumbo King Kong & War of the Worlds remakes + latest Star Wars & Harry Potter flicks among Best Visual Effects nominees
Peter Jackson’s King Kong, an oversized remake of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s 1933 classic starring Fay Wray; Steven Spielberg’s bombastic horror sci-fier War of the Worlds, starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning as post-alien-attack refugees; George Lucas’ most recent entry in the seemingly never-ending Star Wars franchise, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith; and Mike Newell’s entry in the seemingly never-ending Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire are four top contenders for the 2006 Visual Effects Society Awards in various “Best Visual Effects” categories.
Among the other big-screen titles also in the running for Best Visual Effects of some kind or other are Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale as the latest Batman incarnation; North American critics’ favorite animated feature, Nick Park and Steve Box’s Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit; and another remake, Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, a role previously played by Gene Wilder in Mel Stuart’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory back in 1971.
Best Visual Effects surprise: Memoirs of a Geisha
The only real surprise among the Visual Effects Society’s “Best Visual Effects” nominees is Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha, toplining Zhang Ziyi as the memoirist. The period drama boasts great production values, but it’s not in any way a movie that relies on visual effects to tell its story. Admittedly, that’s why it has been shortlisted in the Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects category.
Sam Mendes’ Jarhead, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a U.S. Army sniper during the first U.S.-led Iraq War, and Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven, starring Orlando Bloom as a highly fictionalized version of 12th-century crusader Balian of Ibelin, aren’t “special effects movies” either. However, both flicks do rely on action sequences, which almost invariably means the use of special visual and sound effects. Hence, their nominations in the supporting “Best Visual Effects” category isn’t all that surprising.
Update: See below the Visual Effects Society Awards’ 2006 winners and nominees in the various motion picture categories. The Best Visual Effects picks were announced at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on Feb. 15.
Best Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe – Dean Wright, Randy Starr, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – Jim Mitchell, Theresa Corrao, Tim Alexander, Tim Webber.
* King Kong – Eileen Moran, Joe Letteri, Christian Rivers, Eric Saindon.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith – John Knoll, Roger Guyett, Rob Coleman, Denise Ream.Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture
Jarhead – Pablo Helman, Jeanie King, Grady Cofer, Brett Northcutt.
* Kingdom of Heaven – Wes Sewell, Victoria Alonso, Tom Wood, Gary Brozenich.
Memoirs of a Geisha – Robert Stromberg, Julia Frey, Paul Graff, Adam Watkins.Best Single Visual Effect of the Year
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – “Nut Room” – Nick Davis, Nikki Penny, Jon Thum, Ben Morris.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith – “Opening Space Battle” – John Knoll, Jill Brooks, David Weitzberg, Jeff Sutherland.
* War of the Worlds – “Fleeing the Neighborhood” – Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Sandra Scott, Marshall Krasser.Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – “Aslan” – Richie Baneham, Erik De Boer, Matt Logue, Joe Ksander.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – “Dragon” – Steve Rawlins, Eric Wong, Robert Weaver, Steve Nichols.
* King Kong – “Kong” – Andy Serkis, Atsushi Sato, Guy Williams, Eric Saindon.Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture
Madagascar – “King Julian” – Rex Grignon, Denis Couchon.
Robots – “Fender” – Robin Williams, David Torres, Mark Piretti, Ben Williams.
* Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – “Gromit” – Loyd Price.Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture
Batman Begins – “Gotham City Monorail Chase” – Alex Wuttke, Pete Bebb, Dayne Cowan, Imery Watson.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – “Black Lake Environment” – Andy Kind, Ivan Moran, Rob Allman, Justin Martin.
* King Kong – “New York Dawn Attack” – Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Matt Aitken, Charles Tait.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith – Jonathan Harb, Hilmar Koch, Yanick Dusseault, Brett Northcutt.Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – “Hogwarts School” – Jose Granell, Nigel Stone.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith – Brian Gernand, Pamela Choy, Ron Woodall, Kevin Reuter.
* War of the Worlds – Ed Hirsh, Steve Gawley, Joshua Ong, Russell Paul.Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – “Voldemort’s Nose” – Ben Shepherd, Uel Horman, Charley Henley, Nicolas Aithadi.
King Kong – “T-Rex Fight” – Erik Winquist, Michaell Pangrazio, Steve Cronin, Suzanne Jandu.
* War of the Worlds – Marshall Krasser, Michael Jamieson, Jeff Saltzman, Regan McGee.George Méliès Award for Artistic Excellence: John Lasseter.
Visual Effects Society Board of Directors Award: Jim Morris.
War of the Worlds: Earth in peril. Steven Spielberg’s alien invasion movie War of the Worlds may not be the greatest horror, sci-fi, or horror/sci-fi movie ever made, but most people who’ve seen it would likely agree that it does look and sound impressive. So no wonder this special effects fest is a favorite for various Best Visual Effects awards this season. Also unsurprising is the news that this latest movie version of H.G. Wells’ 1897 classic novel The War of the Worlds (notice the added article) happens to be a potential contender for an Academy Award in the Best Sound Editing category.Best Sound Editing Oscar contenders: From aliens to wizards
From Best Visual Effects to Best Sound Editing: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the list of seven semifinalists for the 2006 Academy Award in the Best Sound Editing category.
The list is a diverse one, ranging from Steven Spielberg’s mind-numbingly loud War of the Worlds remake to, (again) somewhat surprisingly, Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha; from Peter Jackson’s deafening King Kong remake to James Mangold’s musical biopic Walk the Line, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon as, respectively, American folk/country singers Johnny Cash and June Carter.
Giant Ape & memoirist Geisha + Johnny Cash & June Carter
Still up for the 2006 Best Sound Editing Oscar are, in alphabetical order and with the director in parentheses:
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Andrew Adamson).
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mike Newell).
- King Kong (Peter Jackson).
- Memoirs of a Geisha (Rob Marshall).
- Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas).
- Walk the Line (James Mangold).
- War of the Worlds (Steven Spielberg).
Ten-minute clips from each of the seven films will be screened for the Academy’s Sound Editing Award Committee on Jan. 24. Committee members will then vote to nominate three films for Oscar consideration.
The 2006 Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 31, at 5:30 a.m. PT. The Oscarcast will be held on Sunday, March 5, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland.
Best Make-Up Oscar contenders: From aliens to gangsters
From Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing to Best Make-Up: the Academy has also announced the titles of the seven films still in contention for the Best Make-Up Oscar.
Among the semifinalists are George Lucas’ Star Wars prequel Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith; the period drama The Libertine, starring Johnny Depp; and Ron Howard’s boxing drama Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe in the title role (not made up to look like Cinderella).
Less obvious Best Make-Up contenders are Stephen Frears’ World War II-set “sex comedy” Mrs Henderson Presents, which offers little sex or comedy, but features potential Best Actress Oscar nominee Judi Dench as the woman behind a risqué variety theater; and David Cronenberg’s hard-hitting crime family drama A History of Violence, in which a scar-faced Ed Harris plays a deadly gangster.
Narnia & latest Star Wars + Judi Dench ‘sex comedy’
The seven movies in consideration for a Best Make-Up Oscar nomination are listed below in alphabetical order (once again, directors in parentheses):
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Andrew Adamson).
- Cinderella Man (Ron Howard).
- A History of Violence (David Cronenberg).
- The Libertine (Laurence Dunmore).
- Mrs Henderson Presents (Stephen Frears).
- The New World (Terrence Malick).
- Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas).
Ten-minute clips from each of the seven films will be screened for the Academy’s Make-Up Award Nominating Committee on Jan. 28. Only three of the seven films will end up getting a nomination.
And see below the list of this year’s Chicago Film Critics Association Award winners, in addition to the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s Critics’ Choice Award winners and nominees, and a partial list of the Producers Guild of America Award winners and nominees.
Joan Allen in The Upside of Anger. In Mike Binder’s modestly budgeted romantic comedy-drama The Upside of Anger, Chicago Film Critics Best Actress winner and three-time Oscar nominee Joan Allen (as Best Supporting Actress for Nixon, 1995, and The Crucible, 1996; as Best Actress for The Contender, 2000) stars as a wife and mother whose husband has left home to set up house with his former secretary. She finds solace in the company of her good-looking, middle-aged neighbor (Kevin Costner), but then starts wondering whether their relationship is headed in the right direction. Also in the cast: Evan Rachel Wood and Keri Russell.Chicago Film Critics winners
Best Film: Crash, dir.: Paul Haggis.
Best Foreign Language Film: Hidden, dir.: Michael Haneke.
Best Director: David Cronenberg, A History of Violence.
Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote.
Best Actress: Joan Allen, The Upside of Anger.
Best Supporting Actor: Mickey Rourke, Sin City.
Best Supporting Actress: Maria Bello, A History of Violence.
Best Screenplay: Crash, Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco.
Best Cinematography: Brokeback Mountain, Rodrigo Prieto.
Best Original Score: Brokeback Mountain, Gustavo Santaolalla.
Best Documentary: Grizzly Man, dir.: Werner Herzog.
Most Promising Performer: Miranda July, Me and You and Everyone We Know.
Most Promising Director: Bennett Miller, Capote.
Critics’ Choice Awards: Winners & nominations
Best Film
* Brokeback Mountain.
Capote.
Cinderella Man.
The Constant Gardener.
Crash.
Good Night and Good Luck.
King Kong.
Memoirs of a Geisha.
Munich.
Walk the Line.Best Foreign Language Film
2046.
Caché / Hidden.
* Kung Fu Hustle.
Oldboy.
Paradise Now.Best Director
George Clooney – Good Night, and Good Luck.
Paul Haggis – Crash.
Ron Howard – Cinderella Man.
Peter Jackson – King Kong.
* Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain.
Steven Spielberg – Munich.Best Actress
Joan Allen – The Upside of Anger.
Judi Dench – Mrs Henderson Presents.
Felicity Huffman – Transamerica.
Keira Knightley – Pride & Prejudice.
Charlize Theron – North Country.
* Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line.Best Actor
Russell Crowe – Cinderella Man.
* Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote.
Terrence Howard – Hustle & Flow.
Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain.
Joaquin Phoenix – Walk the Line.
David Strathairn – Good Night, and Good Luck.Best Supporting Actress (tie)
* Amy Adams – Junebug.
Maria Bello – A History of Violence.
Catherine Keener – Capote.
Frances McDormand – North Country.
Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener.
* Michelle Williams – Brokeback Mountain.Best Supporting Actor
George Clooney – Syriana.
Kevin Costner – The Upside of Anger.
Matt Dillon – Crash.
* Paul Giamatti – Cinderella Man.
Jake Gyllenhaal – Brokeback Mountain.
Terrence Howard – Crash.Best Acting Ensemble
* Crash.
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Rent.
Sin City.
Syriana.Best Writer
Noah Baumbach – The Squid and the Whale.
George Clooney, Grant Heslov – Good Night, and Good Luck.
Dan Futterman – Capote.
* Paul Haggis, Bobby Moresco – Crash.
Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana – Brokeback Mountain.Best Documentary Feature
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
Grizzly Man.
Mad Hot Ballroom.
* March of the Penguins / La Marche de l’empereur.
Murderball.Best Animated Feature
Chicken Little.
Corpse Bride.
Howl’s Moving Castle.
Madagascar.
* Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.Best Picture Made for Television
* Into the West.
No Direction Home.
Rome.
Warm Springs.Best Composer
James Horner – The New World.
Gustavo Santaolalla – Brokeback Mountain.
* John Williams – Memoirs of a Geisha.
Nancy Wilson – Elizabethtown.Best Song†
“A Love That Will Never Grow Old”, Emmylou Harris – Brokeback Mountain.
* “Hustle & Flow”, Terrence Howard – Hustle & Flow.
“Same In Any Language”, I Nine – Elizabethtown.
“Seasons of Love”, Tracie Thoms, Jesse L. Martin & Cast – Rent.
“Travelin’ Thru”, Dolly Parton – Transamerica.Best Young Actor
Jesse Eisenberg – The Squid and the Whale.
Axel Etel – Millions.
* Freddie Highmore – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Owen Kline – The Squid and the Whale.
Daniel Radcliffe – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.Best Young Actress
Flora Cross – Bee Season.
* Dakota Fanning – War of the Worlds.
Georgie Henley – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Q’Orianka Kilcher – The New World.
Emma Watson – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.Best Comedy Movie
* The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Mrs Henderson Presents.
The Producers: The Movie Musical.
Wedding Crashers.Best Family Film (Live Action)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
* The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.Best Soundtrack
Elizabethtown.
Memoirs of a Geisha.
The Producers: The Movie Musical.
Rent.
* Walk the Line.Freedom Award: George Clooney (“for illuminating our shared values of freedom, tolerance, and democracy”).
Distinguished Achievement in Performing Arts: King Kong for its “revolutionary cinematic achievement in synthesizing visual effects with an actor’s performance to create the character.” The award was given to actor Andy Serkis, animation director Christian Rivers, and animation supervisor Joe Letteri.
† The names next to the Best Song nominees are those of the songs’ performers (though in some cases they may also have been the actual composers).
Producers Guild of America (PGA) Awards: Partial list of winners & nominees
Theatrical Motion Pictures
Feature Films
* Brokeback Mountain, Diana Ossana & James Schamus.
Capote, Caroline Baron, William Vince & Michael Ohoven.
Crash, Paul Haggis & Cathy Schulman.
Good Night and Good Luck., Grant Heslov.
Walk the Line, James Keach & Cathy Konrad.Animated Motion Picture
Chicken Little, Randy Fullmer.
Madagascar, Mireille Soria.
Robots, Jerry Davis, John C. Donkin & William Joyce.
Corpse Bride, Tim Burton & Allison Abbate.
* Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Claire Jennings & Nick Park.Television
Long-Form
Empire Falls.
Into the West.
Lackawanna Blues.
* The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
Warm Springs.Comedy Series
Arrested Development.
Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Desperate Housewives.
* Entourage.
Two and a Half Men.Drama Series
24.
Boston Legal.
Grey’s Anatomy.
* Lost.
Six Feet Under.
Visual Effects Society website.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website.
Image of Naomi Watts, T-Rex, and King Kong in Peter Jackson’s Best Visual Effects contender King Kong: Universal Pictures.
Image from Steven Spielberg’s Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing contender War of the Worlds: DreamWorks / Paramount Pictures.
Joan Allen The Upside of Anger image: New Line Cinema.
“Best Visual Effects & Make-Up from Aliens to Gangsters + Surprise Best Actress Joan Allen” last updated in August 2018.
Bavarian + Hong Kong film awards
At the 2006 Bavarian Film Awards, bestowed by the state government of Bavaria at a ceremony held in Munich, the top winner was Marc Rothemund’s Nazi Germany-set drama Sophie Scholl: The Final Days / Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage, starring Julia Jentsch as the titular anti-Nazi fighter who was executed at age 21 in 1943.
Best Actor Oscar winner Maximilian Schell (Judgment at Nuremberg, 1961) was the recipient of the Honorary Award. Schell’s extensive list of movie credits includes Jules Dassin’s heist comedy Topkapi (1964); Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee The Pedestrian (1973), which he also directed; and Norbert Kückelmann’s political thriller Morgen in Alabama (1984).
From Central Europe to East Asia: the Hong Kong Film Critics Society selected Johnnie To’s Election as the best film of 2005, calling it “a ripe masterpiece in the Hong Kong-style mobster film genre.” To was named Best Director.
Tony Leung Ka-fai was Best Actor for conveying “the tirelessness of an obsessional crush” in Everlasting Regret, while Zhou Xun was Best Actress for her “fine eye expressions and rich body language” in Perhaps Love.
Andrzej Wajda & Ian McKellen Honorary Golden Bears
And finally, the 2006 Berlin Film Festival will present Honorary Golden Bears to Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda and British actor Ian McKellen.
One of Poland’s best-known filmmakers, Andrzej Wajda has had several of his films in competition in Berlin, including Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania, Miss Nobody, and Holy Week. Among his 40 or so features, most of which are highly politicized, are A Generation, Kanal, Ashes and Diamonds, Man of Marble, and Man of Iron. In 2000, Jane Fonda handed Wajda an Honorary Oscar.
Wajda will receive his Honorary Golden Bear on Feb. 15. At the director’s request, following the ceremony his film Pilate and Others (1972) will be screened in the original German version.
Among stage and screen star Ian McKellen’s movie credits are Bill Condon’s Gods and Monsters, which earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination; the X-Men films, as Magneto; Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, as Gandalf; and David MacKenzie’s Asylum, screened at last year’s Berlinale.
One of the rare openly gay film stars around, Ian McKellen will be given his Honorary Golden Bear on Feb. 11. Richard Loncraine’s 1995 film version of Richard III, with McKellen in the title role, will be screened after the ceremony.
See below the list of winners of the Guldbagge Awards, Swiss Film Awards, Bavarian Film Awards, and the Hong Kong Film Critics Society, plus the Evening Standard British Film Awards and the Online Film Critics Society’s top picks.
Nina’s Journey with Agnieszka Grochowska. A Polish-Swedish co-production, screenwriter-director Lena Einhorn’s Nina’s Journey was the surprise Best Film winner at the Guldbagge Awards. Polish actress Agnieszka Grochowska stars as Nina, a young woman from Warsaw’s Jewish ghetto who eventually finds a new life after emigrating to Sweden. Based on the experiences of the filmmaker’s grandmother – who serves as the film’s narrator – Nina’s Journey is unrelated to Nina Markovna’s 1989 book Nina’s Journey: A Memoir of Stalin’s Russia & the Second World War.Guldbagge Award winners
Best Film: Nina’s Journey / Ninas resa, prod.: Kaska Krosny.
Best Foreign Language Film: The Child / L’Enfant, dir.: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium).
Best Director: Ulf Malmros, God Save the King / Tjenare Kungen.
Best Actor: Krister Henriksson, Sex, Hope & Love / Sex, hopp och kärlek.
Best Actress: Maria Lundqvist, Mother of Mine / Den bästa av mödrar.
Best Supporting Actor: Magnus Krepper, Mouth to Mouth / Mun mot mun.
Best Supporting Actress: Ghita Nørby, Four Weeks in June / Fyra veckor i juni.
Best Screenplay: Lena Einhorn, Nina’s Journey.
Best Cinematography: Aril Wretblad, Zozo.
Best Documentary Film: Prostitution Behind the Veil / Prostitution bakom slöjan, dir.: Nahid Persson.
Best Short Film: A Night Story / En nattsaga, dir.: Maja Lindström.
Best Achievement in Editing, Set Design, Costume Design, Make-Up, Special Effects, or Animation: Costume Designer Jaana Fomin, God Save the King.
Best Achievement in Sound Design, Sound Mix, or Musical Score: Adam Nordén for the music in Zozo.
Honorary Guldbagge: Anita Björk.
Ingmar Bergman Award: Åse Kleveland.
Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Films: Director of animation Per Åhlin.
Swiss Film Award winners
Best Film: Rascals on the Road / Mein Name ist Eugen.
Best Lead Performer: Carlos Leal, Snow White.
Best Supporting Performer: Marthe Keller, Fragile.
Best Documentary: Exit, the Right to Die, dir.: Fernand Melgar.
Best Short Film: Terra Incognita, dir.: Peter Volkhart.
Special Jury Prize: Filmkollectiv Zürich, for producing Beatrice Michel Leuthold & Hans Stürms documentary Klingenhof.
Bavarian Film Award winners
Best Production: Sophie Scholl: The Final Days / Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage, prod.: Sven Burgemeister, Christoph Müller, Marc Rothemund & Fred Breinersdorfer.
Best Director: Andreas Dresen, Summer in Berlin / Sommer vorm Balkon.
Best Actor: Ulrich Mühe, The Lives of Others / Das Leben der Anderen.
Best Actress: Nina Hoss, The White Massai / Die Weiße Massai.
Best Young Actor: Max Riemelt, The Red Cockatoo / Der Rote Kakadu.
Best Young Actress: Sandra Hüller, Requiem.
Best Young Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, The Lives of Others.
Best Screenplay: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, The Lives of Others.
Best Cinematography: Hans-Günther Bücking, Snowland / Schneeland.
Best Documentary: Into Great Silence / Die Große Stille, dir.: Philip Gröning.
Best Family Film:A Christmoose Carol / Es ist ein Elch entsprungen, dir.: Ben Verbong.
Special Award: Warchild, dir.: Christian Wagner.
Best New Producer: The Lives of Others, Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion.
Honorary Award: Maximilian Schell.
Hong Kong Film Critics winners
Best Film: Election.
Best Director: Johnnie To, Election.
Best Actor: Tony Leung Ka-fai, Everlasting Regret.
Best Actress: Zhou Xun, Perhaps Love.
Best Screenwriter: Wong Jing, Color of the Loyalty.
London ‘Evening Standard’ British Film Award winners
Best Film: The Constant Gardener.
Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes, The Constant Gardener.
Best Actress: Natasha Richardson, Asylum.
Best Screenplay: Mark O’Halloran, Adam and Paul.
Technical Achievement: Director Neil Marshall, The Descent.
Most Promising Newcomer: Director Saul Dibb, Bullet Boy.
Comedy Performance: Tom Hollander, Pride & Prejudice.
Contribution to British Film: Nick Park, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Online Film Critics winners
Best Film: A History of Violence.
Best Foreign Language Film: Downfall, dir.: Oliver Hirschbiegel.
Best Director: David Cronenberg, A History of Violence.
Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line.
Best Supporting Actress: Maria Bello, A History of Violence.
Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote.
Best Supporting Actor: Mickey Rourke, Sin City.
Best Original Screenplay: George Clooney & Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain.
Best Documentary: Grizzly Man, dir.: Werner Herzog.
Best Animated Feature: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Best Cinematography: Robert Rodriguez, Sin City.
Best Editing: Robert Rodriguez, Sin City.
Best Score: Gustavo Santaolalla, Brokeback Mountain.
Breakthrough Filmmaker: Paul Haggis, Crash.
Breakthrough Performer: Owen Kline, The Squid and the Whale.
British Academy Awards website.
Swedish Film Institute website.
Image of Ralph Fiennes in the British Academy Award nominee The Constant Gardener: Focus Features.
Agnieszka Grochowska Nina’s Journey image: Svensk Filmindustri.
“British Academy: Corruption & Racism + Doomed Gay Love Top Nominations” last updated in December 2018.