WALL-E. The Best Picture winner at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, Disney/Pixar’s Andrew Stanton-directed WALL-E became the first feature-length animated film to top that particular category. Curiously, the L.A. Film Critics selected Ari Folman’s Israeli-made Waltz with Bashir as the year’s Best Animated Feature. WALL-E depicts the passionate love a lonely robot feels for the probe visiting his deserted planet. Waltz with Bashir chronicles the personal experiences of filmmaker Folman as a soldier during the Israel-Lebanon War in the early 1980s.
Los Angeles Film Critics Awards: 1st animated feature to win Best Picture
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, Disney/Pixar’s Andrew Stanton-directed WALL-E.
Somewhat incongruously spreading the wealth, Ari Folman’s animated Israeli documentary Waltz with Bashir was selected as the year’s Best Animated Film. Folman’s anti-war effort was also the runner-up in the Best Documentary category.
In case you’re wondering, there’s at least one Los Angeles Film Critics precedent for this sort of split: in 2000, Ang Lee’s Mandarin-language Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was voted Best Film while Edward Yang’s Taipei-set Yi Yi / A One and a Two was chosen Best Foreign Language Film.
Sally Hawkins for the Oscars?
Other surprises among the Los Angeles Film Critics choices included:
- Berlin Film Festival winner Sally Hawkins as Best Actress for Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky – which means that Hawkins is now a potential Oscar contender. Additionally, Leigh was the surprise winner in the Best Screenplay category.
- Jia Zhangke’s 2006 Venice Film Festival-winning Chinese drama Still Life as Best Foreign Language Film. Besides, Lik Wai Yu was the equally surprising winner in the Best Cinematography category.
Heath Ledger among L.A. Film Critics’ non-surprises
Among the Los Angeles Film Critics’ non-surprises were the following:
- The recently deceased Heath Ledger as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s superhero actioner The Dark Knight – the runner-up in the Hollywood-blockbuster-friendly Best Picture category.
- James Marsh’s widely acclaimed Man on Wire as Best Documentary.
- This year’s National Board of Review winner Penélope Cruz as Best Supporting Actress for her fiery, Anna Magnani-inspired Señorita in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ wins two + Manoel de Oliveira homage
Critics’ fave Slumdog Millionaire won two awards: Best Director for Danny Boyle and Best Score for A.R. Rahman.
The 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards were dedicated to still-active centenarian Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, whose credits include The Convent, Magic Mirror, and Belle toujours.
Further below are listed the 2008 New York Film Critics Circle and the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association winners.
Los Angeles Film Critics winners: Eclectic, international list
2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association winners: Dec. 9.
Best Film: WALL-E.
Runner-up: The Dark Knight.
Best Foreign Language Film: Still Life.
Runner-up: The Class / Entre les murs, dir.: Laurent Cantet.
Best Animated Film: Waltz with Bashir.
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 Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire.
Runner-up: David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Best Screenplay: Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky.
Runner-up: Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York.
Best Documentary: Man on Wire.
Runner-up: Waltz with Bashir.
Best Cinematography: Lik Wai Yu, Still Life.
Runner-up: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire.
Best Production Design: Mark Friedberg, Synecdoche, New York.
Runner-up: Nathan Crowley, The Dark Knight.
Best Score: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire.
Runner-up: Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Career Achievement: John Calley.
New Generation Award: Steve McQueen, Hunger.
Douglas E. Edwards Award (for experimental films): James Benning, RR & Casting a Glance.
Milk with Sean Penn. The Best Film winner at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, Gus Van Sant’s biopic of San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Harvey Milk – who was openly gay and was eventually murdered by a psychopath – stars Best Actor winner Sean Penn in the title role. Best Supporting Actor winner Josh Brolin plays the murderer. Brolin, by the way, was seen earlier this year as another controversial real-life figure, (soon-to-be-former) U.S. President George W. Bush in Oliver Stone’s W.
New York Film Critics winners: No major surprises
Dec. 10: There were no major surprises among the New York Film Critics Circle’s 2008 winners – unless you count last year’s Romanian abortion drama 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, directed by Cristian Mungiu and starring Anamaria Marinca, being chosen this year’s Best Foreign Language Film.
In fact, that shouldn’t be a surprise at all. Last year, the New York Film Critics picked Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Stasi drama The Lives of Others – an Oscar winner several months earlier – as their Best Foreign Language Film. The previous year, their choice was Jean-Pierre Melville’s French underground drama Army of Shadows, a 1969 release in its country of origin.
Gay politician biopic voted Best Film
Admittedly, the New York Film Critics also honored more recent releases. Gus Van Sant’s Milk was voted Best Film while its star, Sean Penn, was the Best Actor for his portrayal of slain San Francisco-based gay leader Harvey Milk, and Josh Brolin was Best Supporting Actor for playing the psychopath who murdered Milk.
Heath Ledger – The Joker in The Dark Knight – would have been a more likely choice in that particular category, but Brolin has been getting lots of praise as well.
Middling & minor surprises
A middling surprise was Mike Leigh being named Best Director for the British-made indie Happy-Go-Lucky, which also earned him the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s Best Screenplay award. This is Leigh’s second Best Director win in New York, following his 1999 Best Director/Best Film combo for Topsy-Turvy.
In addition, Jenny Lumet’s Best Screenplay win for the Jonathan Demme-directed Rachel Getting Married, the New York Film Critics’ Best Picture runner-up, could be considered a minor surprise. The same might have been said about Sally Hawkins being voted Best Actress – if it weren’t for the fact that only yesterday she received Best Actress honors from the Los Angeles critics.
Oscar connection
Following the announcement of the Los Angeles and New York Film Critics’ winners, it’s become crystal clear that:
- WALL-E will win the Best Animated Feature Oscar.
- Penélope Cruz is the most likely winner in the Best Supporting Actress category for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
- Happy-Go-Lucky should be taken seriously as a potential nominee in the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay categories, while Sally Hawkins is now a strong Best Actress contender.
Happy-Go-Lucky with Sally Hawkins. The Los Angeles Film Critics’ surprise Best Actress choice was the – by then – less surprising New York Film Critics Best Actress choice: Sally Hawkins, who plays a cheerful primary-school teacher in Mike Leigh’s British-made indie Happy-Go-Lucky. Hawkins is now a top Best Actress Academy Award contender. (Update: Somehow or other, that wasn’t meant to be. Sally Hawkins thus made history by becoming the first Best Actress winner in both Los Angeles and New York without landing a matching Academy Award nomination.)
New York Film Critics winners: Gay-themed drama tops while Sally Hawkins a ‘minor’ surprise
The 2008 New York Film Critics Circle winners were announced on Dec. 10.
Best Picture: Milk.
Runners-up: Rachel Getting Married. Happy-Go-Lucky & Slumdog Millionaire (tie).
Best Foreign Language Film: 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
Runners-up: A Christmas Tale. The Class.
Best Director: Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky.
Runners-up: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire. David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk.
Runners-up: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler. Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino.
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky.
Runners-up: Melissa Leo, Frozen River. Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road, & Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married (tie).
Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, Milk.
Runners-up: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight. Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder. Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky.
Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Runners-up: Viola Davis, Doubt. Rosemarie DeWitt & Debra Winger for Rachel Getting Married (tie).
Best Screenwriter: Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married.
Runners-up: Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky. Robert D. Siegel, The Wrestler.
Best First Film: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River.
Runners-up: Ballast. Reprise.
Best Documentary: Man on Wire.
Runners-up: Waltz with Bashir. Trouble the Water.
Best Animated Film: WALL-E.
Runner-up: Waltz with Bashir.
Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire.
Runners-up: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The Dark Knight.
Washington Film Critics winners
2008 Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association winners: Dec. 7.
Slumdog Millionaire was the clear favorite, winning three of the top awards: Best Film, Best Director (Danny Boyle), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy), in addition to Best Breakthrough Performance winner Dev Patel.
Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire.
Best Foreign Language Film: Let the Right One In.
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, Doubt.
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler.
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight.
Best Supporting Actress: Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married.
Best Ensemble: Doubt.
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire.
Best Original Screenplay: Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married.
Best Documentary: Man on Wire.
Best Animated Feature: WALL-E.
Best Breakthrough Performance: Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire.
Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Los Angeles Film Critics Association website.
New York Film Critics Circle website.
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association website.
WALL-E image: Walt Disney Studios / Pixar Animation.
Sally Hawkins Happy-Go-Lucky image: Miramax.
Sean Penn Milk image: Focus Features.
“Los Angeles & New York Winners: 1st Animated Film & Slain Gay Politician Drama Tops” last updated in March 2018.
Slumdog Millionaire with Dev Patel and Freida Pinto. On its way to becoming 2008’s most notable sleeper hit, Slumdog Millionaire has been announced as the National Board of Review’s Best Film winner. Danny Boyle’s Bollywood-inspired mix of drama, music, romance, and social commentary is already being touted as a likely 2009 Best Picture Oscar contender. The National Board of Review’s Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actor recipient Dev Patel stars as a former Mumbai slum dweller who may (or may not) become a millionaire and (sure he will) get the girl (Freida Pinto).
National Board of Review Awards offers indie & studio mix: From ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ to ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Near the start of the 2008/2009 awards season, the National Board of Review has given a boost to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, which has been selected as the year’s Best Film. Additionally, the Bollywood-inspired socially conscious drama written by Simon Beaufoy shared the Best Adapted Screenplay award while its star, Dev Patel, topped the Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actor category.
The National Board of Review’s other major winner was David Fincher’s reverse-aging drama The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which shared Best Adapted Screenplay (Eric Roth) with Slumdog Millionaire while Fincher was named Best Director.
Clint Eastwood’s box office hit with a message, Gran Torino, also topped two categories: Best Actor (Eastwood) and Best Original Screenplay (Nick Schenk). Anne Hathaway was the Best Actress for Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married.
In the supporting categories, the winners were Penélope Cruz, who shines as an Anna Magnani type in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Josh Brolin, as San Francisco openly gay politician Harvey Milk’s unbalanced murderer in Gus Van Sant’s Milk.
Sergei Bodrov’s Mongol, about the rise of Genghis Khan, was the Best Foreign Language Film.
National Board of Review Awards
2008 National Board of Review winners: Dec. 4.
Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire.
Top Ten Films (in alphabetical order):
Burn After Reading.
Changeling.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
The Dark Knight.
Defiance.
Frost/Nixon.
Gran Torino.
Milk.
WALL-E.
The Wrestler.Best Foreign Language Film: Mongol.
Top Five Foreign Films (in alphabetical order):
The Edge of Heaven.
Let the Right One In.
Roman de Gare.
A Secret.
Waltz with Bashir.Best Actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married.
Best Actor: Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino.
Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, Milk.
Best Ensemble: Doubt.
Best Director: David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Best Original Screenplay: Nick Schenk, Gran Torino.
Best Adapted Screenplay (tie): Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire, and Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Best Animated Feature: WALL-E.
Best Documentary: Man on Wire.
Top Five Documentaries (in alphabetical order):
American Teen.
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon).
Dear Zachary.
Encounters at the End of the World.
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.Top 10 Independent Films of the Year:
Frozen River.
In Bruges.
In Search of a Midnight Kiss.
Mr. Foe.
Rachel Getting Married.
Snow Angels.
Son of Rambow.
Wendy and Lucy.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
The Visitor.Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire.
Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Viola Davis, Doubt.
Best Directorial Debut: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River.
Spotlight Award (tie): Melissa Leo, Frozen River, and Richard Jenkins, The Visitor.
NBR Freedom of Expression: Trumbo.
William K. Everson Award For Film History: Molly Haskell & Andrew Sarris.
Gotham Awards: ‘Frozen River’ tops indie universe
The New York City-based Gotham Awards, aimed to promote U.S.-made smaller, independent films (despite past missteps such as The Departed), were announced on Dec. 2.
The Best Feature winner was Courtney Hunt’s human trafficking drama Frozen River, starring Breakthrough Actor winner Melissa Leo and Misty Upham.
Lance Hammer was the Breakthrough Director for the Mississippi Delta-set drama Ballast, which had earned him Best Director honors at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, while (Fahrenheit 9/11 producers) Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s Hurricane Katrina-related Trouble the Water was the Best Documentary.
Notably, Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York and Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona shared the Best Ensemble Performance award. Making the tie doubly notable is the fact that Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a Spanish co-production, one that was partly funded with public money.
Frozen River with Melissa Leo. In Courtney Hunt’s Best Feature Gotham Award winner Frozen River, Melissa Leo and Misty Upham find a good way to make a quick buck: a bit of human smuggling from Canada into the United States. A veteran with dozens of film credits, Leo was one of the National Board of Review Spotlight Award recipients (the other one was Richard Jenkins for The Visitor) and the Gotham Awards’ Breakthrough Actor winner; besides, she is a contender for the 2009 Best Actress Spirit Award. Update: More than a contender, Melissa Leo was the Spirit Awards’ Best Actress winner.
Gotham Awards vs. Academy Awards
Don’t expect many of the Gotham Award winners to pop up on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 2009 Oscar roster. Having said that, it should be noted that the Academy has been giving big nods to small films for at least a couple of decades – a trend that actually began, however intermittently, as early as the 1970s.
As an example, among the 1975 Best Actress and Best Actor nominees were Carol Kane in Hester Street, Maximilian Schell in The Man in the Glass Booth, James Whitmore in Give ’em Hell, Harry!, Glenda Jackson in Hedda, and Isabelle Adjani in The Story of Adele H.
The Oscar’s shift away from studio fare has taken place chiefly because big studios have all but stopped making movies for “Academy consideration.” Additionally, the wide availability of screeners/DVDs makes small-budget productions more accessible, and so do cable television/VOD options.
So, Frozen River actress Melissa Leo, for one, does have a not insignificant chance of landing a Best Actress Academy Award nomination early next year.
Gotham Awards
2008 Gotham Award nominations: Oct. 20. Gotham Award winners: Dec. 2, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.
Best Feature
Ballast.
Lance Hammer, director; Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh, producers.* Frozen River.
Courtney Hunt, director; Heather Rae, Chip Hourihan, producers.Synecdoche, New York.
Charlie Kaufman, director; Anthony Bregman, Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze, Sidney Kimmel, producers.The Visitor.
Tom McCarthy, director; Mary Jane Skalski, Michael London, producers.The Wrestler.
Darren Aronofsky, director; Scott Franklin, Darren Aronofsky, producers.Best Documentary
Chris & Don: A Love Story.
Guido Santi & Tina Mascara, directors; Julia Scott, Tina Mascara, Guido Santi, James White, producers.Encounters at the End of the World.
Werner Herzog, director; Henry Kaiser, producer.Man on Wire.
James Marsh, director; Simon Chinn, producer.Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.
Maria Zenovich, director; Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Lila Yacoub, Marina Zenovich, producers.* Trouble the Water.
Tia Lessin & Carl Deal, producers / directors.Best Ensemble Performance (tie)
Ballast.
Micheal J. Smith, Sr., JimMyron Ross, Tarra Riggs, Johnny McPhail.Rachel Getting Married.
Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe, Mather Zickel, Anna Deavere Smith, Anisa George, Debra Winger.* Synecdoche, New York.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis, Tom Noonan.* Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz.The Visitor.
Richard Jenkins, Hiam Abbas, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira.Breakthrough Director
Antonio Campos, Afterschool.
Dennis Dortch, A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy.
* Lance Hammer, Ballast.
Barry Jenkins, Medicine for Melancholy.
Alex Rivera, Sleep Dealer.Breakthrough Actor
Pedro Castaneda, August Evening.
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married.
Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
* Melissa Leo, Frozen River.
Alejandro Polanco, Chop Shop.
Micheal J. Smith Sr., Ballast.Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
Afterschool.
Antonio Campos, director; Josh Mond, Sean Durkin, producers.Meadowlark.
Taylor Greeson, producer/director.The New Year Parade.
Tom Quinn, director; Steve Beal, Tom Quinn, producers.* Sita Sings the Blues.
Nina Paley, producer/director.Wellness.
Jake Mahaffy, director; Jake Mahaffy, Jeff Clark, producers.Tributes
Penélope Cruz.
Gus Van Sant.
Sheila Nevins.
Melvin Van Peebles.
Rachel Getting Married with Anne Hathaway. Geared to the American independent – or at least independentish – film industry, the Spirit Awards, much like the Golden Globes, just loves movie stars. One of them this year is Anne Hathaway, who plays a drug rehab patient attending her sister’s wedding in Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married. Demme’s drama, in fact, was quite popular among the Spirit Award voters, earning six nominations, including Best Film. Additionally, the Rachel Getting Married cast was shortlisted for the Gotham Awards, while Hathaway, a shoo-in Oscar contender, was the National Board of Review’s Best Actress winner.
Star-studded Spirit Award nominations include ‘Rachel Getting Married’ & ‘Milk’
The Southern California-based Spirit Awards announced its list of nominees on Dec. 2, the same day the New York City-based Gotham Awards announced their winners.
As so often happens, the Spirit Awards are once again dominated by small (or at the very least smaller) movies featuring big (or at the very least bigger) names.
Examples range from Gus Van Sant’s Milk – in the running for Best Actor (Sean Penn), Best Supporting Actor (James Franco), Best First Screenplay (Dustin Lance Black), and Best Cinematography (Harris Savides) – to Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married – in the running for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Anne Hathaway), Best Supporting Actress (Rosemarie DeWitt and Debra Winger), and Best First Screenplay (veteran Sidney Lumet’s daughter and Lena Horne’s granddaughter, Jenny Lumet).
Curiously, U.S. critics’ fave Milk was not shortlisted in the Best Film category. Equally curious, The Wrestler is up for Best Film but Darren Aronofsky is nowhere to be found among the Best Director contenders.
Spirit Awards vs. Gotham Awards
Three of the Spirit Award nominees for Best Film were also shortlisted in the Gotham Awards’ Best Feature category: Ballast, Frozen River, and The Wrestler.
Among the Gothams’ Breakthrough Actor contenders, only Rosemarie DeWitt and eventual winner Melissa Leo (Frozen River) are in the running for the Spirit Awards. Leo has been shortlisted in the latter’s Best Actress (or Best Female Lead) category.
The Gothams’ only Breakthrough Director in contention for a Best Director Spirit Award is Lance Hammer for Ballast.
And here’s something else the Gotham and the Spirit Awards have in common: the absence of National Board of Review winner Slumdog Millionaire from their nominations roster.
This awards season’s Cinderella story in-the-making, Slumdog Millionaire is a mostly Anglo-Indian production. As such, it seems to have been ineligible for both the Gothams and the Spirits. Curiously, Danny Boyle’s sleeper hit also failed to be shortlisted in the Spirit Awards’ Best Foreign Film category.
Spirit Awards: Winners & nominations
2009 Spirit Award nominations: Dec. 2.
Update: Spirit Award winners: Feb. 21 ’09.
BEST FILM (award given to the producer)
Ballast. Prod.: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh.
Frozen River. Prod.: Chip Hourihan, Heather Rae.
Rachel Getting Married. Prod.: Jonathan Demme, Neda Armin, Marc Platt.
Wendy and Lucy. Prod.: Larry Fessenden, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani.
* The Wrestler. Prod.: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin.BEST FOREIGN FILM
* The Class (France). Dir.: Laurent Cantet.
Gomorrah (Italy). Dir.: Matteo Garrone.
Hunger (U.K. / Ireland). Dir.: Steve McQueen.
Secret of the Grain (France). Dir.: Abdellatif Kechiche.
Silent Light (Mexico / France / The Netherlands / Germany). Dir.: Carlos Reygadas.BEST DIRECTOR
Ramin Bahrani, Chop Shop.
Jonathan Demme, Rachel Getting Married.
Lance Hammer, Ballast.
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River.
* Tom McCarthy, The Visitor.BEST ACTRESS
Summer Bishil, Towelhead.
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married.
* Melissa Leo, Frozen River.
Tarra Riggs, Ballast.
Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy.BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor.
Sean Penn, Milk.
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker.
* Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler.BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
* James Franco, Milk.
Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker.
Charlie McDermott, Frozen River.
Jim Myron Ross, Ballast.
Haaz Sleiman, The Visitor.BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
* Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married.
Rosie Perez, The Take.
Misty Upham, Frozen River.
Debra Winger, Rachel Getting Married.BEST SCREENPLAY
* Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, Sugar.
Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York.
Howard A. Rodman, Savage Grace.
Christopher Zalla, Sangre de Mi Sangre.BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
* Dustin Lance Black, Milk.
Lance Hammer, Ballast.
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River.
Jonathan Levine, The Wackness.
Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married.BEST DOCUMENTARY (award given to the director)
The Betrayal, Dir.: Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath.
Encounters at the End of the World, Dir.: Werner Herzog.
* Man on Wire, Dir.: James Marsh.
The Order of Myths, Dir.: Margaret Brown.
Up the Yangtze, Dir.: Yung Chang.BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
* Maryse Alberti, The Wrestler.
Lol Crawley, Ballast.
James Laxton, Medicine for Melancholy.
Harris Savides, Milk.
Michael Simmonds, Chop Shop.BEST FIRST FEATURE (award given to the director and producer)
Afterschool.
Director: Antonio Campos.
Producers: Sean Durkin, Josh Mond.Medicine for Melancholy.
Director: Barry Jenkins.
Producer: Justin Barber.Sangre de Mi Sangre.
Director: Christopher Zalla.
Producers: Per Melita, Benjamin Odell.Sleep Dealer.
Director: Alex Rivera.
Producer: Anthony Bregman.* Synecdoche, New York.
Director: Charlie Kaufman.
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Sidney Kimmel.JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
* In Search of a Midnight Kiss.
Writer / Director: Alex Holdridge.
Producers: Seth Caplan, Scoot McNairy.Prince of Broadway.
Director: Sean Baker.
Writers: Sean Baker, Darren Dean.
Producer: Darren Dean.The Signal.
Writer / Directors: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry.
Producers: Jacob Gentry, Alexander Motlagh.Take Out.
Writer / Director / Producers: Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou.Turn the River.
Writer / Director: Chris Eigeman.
Producer: Ami Armstrong.ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
* Synecdoche, New York.
Director: Charlie Kaufman.
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy.
Ensemble Cast: Hope Davis. Philip Seymour Hoffman. Jennifer Jason Leigh. Catherine Keener. Samantha Morton. Tom Noonan. Emily Watson. Dianne Wiest. Michelle Williams.IFC / ACURA SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Barry Jenkins, director of Medicine for Melancholy.
Nina Paley, director of Sita Sings the Blues.
* Lynn Shelton, director of My Effortless Brilliance.TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
* Margaret Brown, director of The Order of Myths.
Sacha Gervasi, director of Anvil! The Story of Anvil.
Darius Marder, director of Loot.PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy, producers of Treeless Mountain & I’ll Come Running.
Jason Orans, producer of Goodbye Solo & Year of the Fish.
* Heather Rae, producer of Frozen River & Ibid.
National Board of Review website.
Gotham Awards website.
Spirit Awards website.
Freida Pinto and Dev Patel Slumdog Millionaire image: Celador Films / Film4 / Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Melissa Leo Frozen River image: Sony Pictures Classics.
Anne Hathaway Rachel Getting Married image: Sony Pictures Classics.
“National Board of Review & Gotham Awards Mix Big & Small Movies + Star-Studded Spirit Award Nominations” last updated in March 2018.