SEATTLE FILM CRITICS SOCIETY ANNOUNCES 2016 NOMINATIONS

We are always in safe hands with the Seattle Film Critics Society. Their slate of 2016 nominations is easily among the finest of awards season so far, and will undoubtedly remain that way as the industry side of the race takes over in 2017. With 13th, Elle, The Handmaiden and The Witch adding extra colour and quality to the Best Picture list, you can be sure that the SFCS will pick some highly deserving winners on the 5th of January. All the details for now are right here:

Best Picture of the Year

13th

Arrival

Elle

The Handmaiden

Hell or High Water

Jackie

La La Land

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

The Witch

Best Director

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Robert Eggers (The Witch)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Paul Verhoeven (Elle)

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Amy Adams (Arrival)

Kate Beckinsale (Love & Friendship)

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Emma Stone (La La Land)

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

Ryan Gosling (La La Land)

Logan Lerman (Indignation)

Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

Denzel Washington (Fences)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Viola Davis (Fences)

Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)

Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Kate McKinnon (Ghostbusters)

Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)

Kyle Chandler (Manchester by the Sea)

John Goodman (10 Cloverfield Lane)

Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Screenplay

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Eric Heisserer (Arrival)

Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water)

Best Cinematography

Jarin Blaschke (The Witch)

Stephane Fontaine (Jackie)

James Laxton (Moonlight)

Linus Sandgren (La La Land)

Bradford Young (Arrival)

Best Film Editing

Nels Bangerter and David Teague (Cameraperson)

Tom Cross (La La Land)

Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders (Moonlight)

Jake Roberts (Hell or High Water)

Joe Walker (Arrival)

Best Production Design

Doug Chiang, Neil Lamont and Lee Sandales (Rogue One)

Paul Hotte and Patrice Vermette (Arrival)

Veronique Melery and Jean Rabasse (Jackie)

Sandy Reynolds-Wasco and David Wasco (La La Land)

Ryu Seong Hee (The Handmaiden)

Best Costume Design

Madeline Fontaine (Jackie)

Jo Sang Gyeong (The Handmaiden)

Linda Muir (The Witch)

Eimer ni Mhaoldomhnaigh (Love & Friendship)

Mary Zophres (La La Land)

Best Visual Effects

Richard Bluff, Stephane Ceretti, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould (Doctor Strange)

Neil Corbould, Hal T. Hickel, John Knoll and Mohen Leo (Rogue One)

Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Greg Steele and Daniel Sudick (Captain America: Civil War)

Andrew R. Jones, Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon and Adam Valdez (The Jungle Book)

Louis Morin (Arrival)

Best Original Score

Nicholas Britell (Moonlight)

Andy Hull and Robert McDowell (Swiss Army Man)

Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)

Johann Johannsson (Arrival)

Mica Levi (Jackie)

Best Ensemble Cast

Captain Fantastic

Fences

Hell or High Water

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Best Animated Feature

Finding Dory (Angus MacLane and Andrew Stanton)

Kubo and the Two Strings (Travis Knight)

Moana (Ron Clements and John Musker)

Tower (Keith Maitland)

Zootopia (Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Rich Moore)

Best Documentary Feature

13th (Ava DuVernay)

Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)

O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman)

Tickled (David Farrier and Dylan Reeve)

Weiner (Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg)

Best Foreign Language Film

Elle (Paul Verhoeven)

The Handmaiden (Park Chan Wook)

The Innocents (Anne Fontaine)

Under the Shadow (Babak Anvari)

The Wailing (Na Hong Jin)

Best Youth Performance

Alex R. Hibbert (Moonlight)

Royalty Hightower (The Fits)

Sunny Pawar (Lion)

Harvey Scrimshaw (The Witch)

Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch)

Best Villain

Charlie and Wahab Chaudary (The Witch)

John Goodman (10 Cloverfield Lane)

Stephen Lang (Don't Breathe)

Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One)

Patrick Stewart (Green Room)

2016 PGA DOCUMENTARY NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

The Producers Guild of America is one of those daft institutions that likes to get in there early with its year-end nominations, at least for documentaries. They've overlooked Ava DuVernay's acclaimed 13th, which may be for distribution reasons, or it may be a surprise snub - the PGA is known for that in this category. On the 10th of January, the lists for all films and for animated films will be announced, and the award winners will be revealed for all categories at the ceremony on the 29th of January. Official nominee credits TBA.

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures

Dancer

The Eagle Huntress

Life, Animated

O.J.: Made in America

Tower

O.J.: MADE IN AMERICA IS BFCA'S BEST DOC OF 2016

So, given 13th's entry both in the Theatrical category and the TV / Streaming category in the first ever Critics' Choice Documentary Awards, it was perhaps inevitable that it'd fail to take home the former top award but succeed to take home the latter. And so it did, with a fellow race-themed doc, O.J.: Made in America, winning the big prize in the Theatrical category. This is the BFCA's first time separating its Best Documentary award out from the remainder of its many others, and indeed adding several more awards for doc filmmaking - a wise move, I believe, saving the filmmakers from the ignominy of picking up an award on the Critics' Choice red carpet or during a commercial break, and providing several more to win BFCA awards. Take a look at the nominees at this link, and the winners right here:

Best Documentary Feature
O.J.: Made in America

Best Direction of a Documentary Feature
Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America)

Best Song in a Documentary Feature
Sharon Jones - 'I'm Still Here' (Miss Sharon Jones)

Best First Documentary Feature
Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg (Weiner)

Best Music Documentary
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years

Best Political Documentary
13th

Best Sports Documentary
O.J.: Made in America

Most Innovative Documentary
Tower

Best Documentary Feature: TV / Streaming
13th

Best Ongoing Documentary Series
30 for 30

Best Limited Documentary Series
O.J.: Made in America

Best Director: TV / Streaming
Ava DuVernay (13th)

Best First Feature: TV / Streaming
Jacob Bernstein and Nick Hooker (Everything Is Copy)
Deborah Esquenazi (Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four)

DIVERSITY RULES IN 2016 IDA NOMINATIONS

No, nothing to do with anyone named 'Ida,' at least to my awareness, these are the International Documentary Association nominations for doc filmmaking in 2016, their 32nd annual slate of awards. A whole bunch of acclaimed titles here, which include several TV categories not included in this post. Some I've seen and enjoyed already, and others to which I'm highly looking forward. Among the nominees in top categories are some award winners already announced. Pleasingly, three of the seven directors with films up for the Best Feature award are POC, and three are women. Winners will be announced on the 9th of December. You can see all the film nominees below:

Best Feature
13th (Spencer Averick, Howard Barish and Ava DuVernay)
Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson and Marilyn Ness)
Fire at Sea (Roberto Ciccutto, Paolo del Brocco, Camille Laemle, Serge Lalou, Donatella Palermo, Olivier Pere, Gianfranco Rosi and Martine Saada)
I Am Not Your Negro (Remi Grellety and Raoul Peck)
O. J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman, Deirdre Fenton, Libby Geist, Nina Krstic, Erin Leyden, Tamara Rosenberg, Connor Schell and Caroline Waterlow)
Weiner (Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg)

Best Writing
James Baldwin and Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro)

Best Cinematography
Gianfranco Rosi (Fire at Sea)

Best Editing
Nels Bangerter (Cameraperson)

Best Music
Jacaszek (The Bad Kids)

Pare Lorentz Award
Starless Dreams (Mehrdad Oskouei)

Best Short
The Above (Kirsten Johnson and Marilyn Ness)
Clinica de Migrantes: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Jenny Lim and Maxim Pozdorvkin)
Extremis (Dan Krauss)
Pickle (Amy Nicholson)
Red Lake (Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato and Billy Luther)
The White Helmets (Joanna Natasegara and Orlando von Einsiedel)

REVIEW - 13TH (AVA DUVERNAY)

The history of the United States: framed by education as an alternative, subversive history, reframed by Ava DuVernay as the country's only true history, as legitimate an experience as that of the privileged, those who concocted that education, and far more profound. 13th is a blistering dagger through the heart of blind hope, reminding the oppressed of the permanence of the threat against them and the validity of their discontent, and informing the oppressors of their victims' awareness of their malicious actions. DuVernay must hurtle through her history for the sheer size of it, thus to ever make her point as clearly and forcefully as it demands, but 13th's early sections are diligent in their detail, and necessary in establishing the foundations for the film's principal arguments, themselves already painfully apparent by this stage, and in proposing that this vile legacy be refashioned as the defining characteristic of America's past and present attitudes toward race, rather than as a debatable adjunct. Her approach is gently combative, refusing to imply that change is in effect, not insisting upon a celebration of black identity by restricting her purview to black voices but by expanding it further than expected, wilfully letting contemporary conservatives hang themselves with their own bigoted cords. And for all that they may protest those inferences drawn from 13th's unambiguous suggestion that racism lies behind even the most seemingly benign of sociopolitical policies in the U.S., DuVernay allows them to express it anew, in pathetically defensive to-camera responses that wither in comparison to the bold, unapologetic criticisms put forth by the majority of her interviewees. So, while 13th may be, in essence, a simple CliffsNotes examination of the racism at the core of American identity, it's a particularly compelling and intelligent summary.

1ST EVER CRITICS' CHOICE DOCUMENTARY AWARDS: NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

Well, well, well! Who'd have expected this? The 2016-17 awards season kicks off extra early this year, as the Broadcast Film Critics Association announces its nominees for its first ever Critics' Choice Documentary Awards. Previously, the BFCA had simply handed out one award for Best Documentary at their annual movie awards ceremony; like any organization desperate to remain relevant, several significant changes have been made to the Critics' Choice awards in recent years, mainly of questionable character, but this new development is a promising one. That's one fewer award to chuck out during the commercial breaks on their hopeless televized awards ceremony, and several more awards for documentary filmmaking, ever underappreciated by audiences. As a further sign of the blurring of the lines between film and TV, these awards feature projects from both media. Award winners will be declared at a ceremony on the 3rd of November. Check it all out below:

Best Documentary Feature

13th

Cameraperson

Fire at Sea

Gleason

Life, Animated

O.J.: Made in America

Tickled

Tower

Weiner

The Witness

Best Direction of a Documentary Feature

Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America)

Ron Howard (The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years)

Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson)

Keith Maitland (Tower)

Clay Tweel (Gleason)

Roger Ross Williams (Life, Animated)

Best Song in a Documentary Feature

Tori Amos - 'Flicker' (Audrie & Daisy)

Common, Karriem Riggins and Robert Glasper - 'Letters to the Free' (13th)

Sharon Jones - 'I'm Still Here' (Miss Sharon Jones!)

Mike McCready - 'Hoping and Healing' (Gleason)

J. Ralph and Sting - 'The Empty Chair' (Jim: The James Foley Story)

Sia - 'Angel by the Wings' (The Eagle Huntress)

Best First Documentary Feature

Otto Bell (The Eagle Huntress)

David Farrier and Dylan Reeve (Tickled)

Adam Irving (Off the Rails)

Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg (Weiner)

James D. Solomon (The Witness)

Wang Nan Fu (Hooligan Sparrow)

Best Music Documentary

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years

Gimme Danger

Miss Sharon Jones!

The Music of Strangers

Presenting Princess Shaw

We Are X

Best Political Documentary

13th

Audrie & Daisy

Newtown

O.J.: Made in America

Weiner

Zero Days

Best Sports Documentary

Dark Horse

The Eagle Huntress

Gleason

Fantastic Lies

Jackie Robinson

Keepers of the Game

O.J.: Made in America

Most Innovative Documentary

Cameraperson

Kate Plays Christine

Life, Animated

Nuts

Tower

Under the Sun

Best Documentary Feature: TV / Streaming

13th

Amanda Knox

Audrie & Daisy

Before the Flood

Fantastic Lies

Holy Hell

Into the Inferno

Jim: The James Foley Story

Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures

Rats

Best Ongoing Documentary Series

30 for 30

Frontline

Last Chance U

Morgan Spurlock Inside Man

POV

This Is Life with Lisa Ling

Best Limited Documentary Series

The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth

The Eighties

The Hunt

Jackie Robinson

O.J.: Made in America

Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music

Best Director: TV / Streaming

Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures)

Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn (Amanda Knox)

Ava DuVernay (13th)

Werner Herzog (Into the Inferno)

Morgan Spurlock (Rats)

Fisher Stevens (Before the Flood)

Best First Feature: TV / Streaming

Everything Is Copy (Jacob Bernstein and Nick Hooker)

Holy Hell (Will Allen)

Mavis! (Jessica Edwards)

My Beautiful Broken Brain (Sophie Robinson and Lotje Sodderland)

Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four (Deborah Esquenazi)

Team Foxcatcher (Jon Greenhalgh)

TRAILER FOR AVA DUVERNAY'S 13TH

The online film community was rather taken aback by the announcement of Ava DuVernay's documentary 13th as the opening night film for the 2016 New York Film Festival. Little knowledge of her new project had been disseminated, with most focused on her OWN show Queen Sugar and her upcoming Disney film A Wrinkle in Time - surely enough work for one person! But her film about the US' treatment of its black citizens in the light of the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution looks to be one of the best of the year, documentary or otherwise, particularly with this impactful trailer. Netflix will open 13th online in the US and the UK alike on the 7th of October, and will also handle its US theatrical release on the same date; the ever-reliable Dogwoof will oversee its British release, also on the 7th. It's also showing in the London Film Festival, following its NYFF world premiere.