INTERNATIONAL CINEPHILE SOCIETY AWARDS: ELLE, MOONLIGHT & SILENCE LEAD

A corrective to the tedium of the majority of other awards groups' nominations, here are the International Cinephile Society's picks for 2016. Eight mentions is the maximum, with three films claiming the lead - Paul Verhoeven's Elle, Barry Jenkins' Moonlight and Martin Scorsese's Silence. See what happens when you leave it a little longer to make your year-end choices? And see what happens when you poll the opinions of people with taste and intelligence? Winners will be announced on the 19th of February.

Best Picture

Cemetery of Splendour

Certain Women

Elle

Jackie

Julieta

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Silence

Things to Come

Toni Erdmann

Best Director

Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann)

Pedro Almodovar (Julieta)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Martin Scorsese (Silence)

Paul Verhoeven (Elle)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Cemetery of Splendour)

Best Actress

Sonia Braga (Aquarius)

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)

Sandra Huller (Toni Erdmann)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Zhao Tao (Mountains May Depart)

Best Actor

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

Adam Driver (Paterson)

Colin Farrell (The Lobster)

Andrew Garfield (Silence)

Jeong Jae Yeong (Right Now, Wrong Then)

Peter Simonischek (Toni Erdmann)

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis (Fences)

Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)

Sandrine Kiberlain (Being 17)

Nicole Kidman (Lion)

Nagasawa Masami (Our Little Sister)

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Tom Bennett (Love & Friendship)

Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!)

Andre Holland (Moonlight)

Ogata Issei (Silence)

Best Original Screenplay

Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann)

Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster)

Mia Hansen-Love (Things to Come)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Cemetery of Splendour)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Pedro Almodovar (Julieta)

David Birke (Elle)

Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese (Silence)

Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight)

Kelly Reichardt (Certain Women)

Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship)

Best Cinematography

Manuel Dacosse (Evolution)

Stephane Fontaine (Jackie)

David Gallego (Embrace of the Serpent)

James Laxton (Moonlight)

Rodrigo Prieto (Silence)

Best Editing

Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders (Moonlight)

Thelma Schoonmaker (Silence)

Sebastian Sepulveda (Jackie)

Job ter Burg (Elle)

Joe Walker (Arrival)

Best Production Design

Dante Ferretti (Silence)

Antxon Gomez (Julieta)

Jess Gonchor (Hail, Caesar!)

Ryu Seong Hee (The Handmaiden)

David Wasco (La La Land)

Best Score

Anne Dudley (Elle)

Alberto Iglesias (Julieta)

Mica Levi (Jackie)

Cliff Martinez (The Neon Demon)

Laurent Perez del Mar (The Red Turtle)

Best Ensemble

Certain Women

Elle

Julieta

The Lobster

Moonlight

Best Animated Film

Kubo and the Two Strings

My Life as a Courgette

The Red Turtle

Your Name.

Zootopia

Best Documentary

Cameraperson
Fire at Sea

Francofonia

No Home Movie

O.J.: Made in America

Best Film Not in the English Language

Aquarius

Being 17

Cemetery of Splendour

Cosmos

Elle

Embrace of the Serpent

The Handmaiden

Julieta

Mountains May Depart

Things to Come

Toni Erdmann

Best Picture Not Released in 2016

Brothers of the Night

The Death of Louis XIV

Despite the Night

Happy Times Will Come Soon

The Lost City of Z

Nocturama

The Ornithologist

Personal Shopper

A Quiet Passion

Sieranevada

Slack Bay

The Son of Joseph

Staying Vertical

Sweet Dreams

Yourself and Yours

SILENCE MAKES SOME NOISE WITH DENVER FILM CRITICS SOCIETY

See? Some people like it! Martin Scorsese's Silence irrefutably deserves better than it's getting from voters in an awards season whose mad rush to declare with haste above all else has prevented some of 2016's latest-breaking films from claiming nominations for year-end awards. The Denver Film Critics Society is here to remedy things for this most brilliant film, which takes its rightful place alongside fellow Best Picture nominees such as Arrival and Moonlight. Now this is Denver, so you know these have been announced, whether knowingly or not, in order of preference. Winners will be revealed next Monday, the 16th of January.

Best Picture

Manchester by the Sea

La La Land

Moonlight

Arrival

Silence

Best Director

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

Martin Scorsese (Silence)

Best Actress

Ruth Negga (Loving)

Annette Bening (20th Century Women)

Amy Adams (Arrival)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Emma Stone (La La Land)

Best Actor

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

Denzel Washington (Fences)

Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

Adam Driver (Paterson)

Tom Hanks (Sully)

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis (Fences)

Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)

Nicole Kidman (Lion)

Best Supporting Actor

Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals)

Timothy Spall (Denial)

John Goodman (10 Cloverfield Lane)

Best Original Screenplay

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water)

Guy Hibbert (Eye in the Sky)

Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Eric Heisserer (Arrival)

Patrick Ness (A Monster Calls)

Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)

Theodore Melfi and Allison Schroeder (Hidden Figures)

Best Visual Effects

Arrival

Rogue One

Doctor Strange

The Jungle Book

A Monster Calls

Best Score

Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)

Mica Levi (Jackie)

Nicholas Britell (Moonlight)

Benjamin Wallfisch, Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer (Hidden Figures)

Johann Johannsson (Arrival)

Best Original Song

'Drive It Like You Stole It' (Sing Street)

'Audition (The Fools Who Dream)' (La La Land)

'City of Stars' (La La Land)

'Runnin'' (Hidden Figures)

'Can't Stop The Feeling' (Trolls)

Best Animated Film

Moana

The Red Turtle

Zootopia

Kubo and the Two Strings

Finding Dory

Best Documentary

O.J.: Made in America

13th

Weiner

I Am Not Your Negro

Gleason

Best Foreign Language Film

Elle

Neruda

The Salesman

The Handmaiden

Toni Erdmann

Best Comedy

Hail, Caesar!

Deadpool

The Nice Guys

Don't Think Twice

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Best Science Fiction / Horror Film

Arrival

Rogue One

10 Cloverfield Lane

The Witch

Doctor Strange

LA LA LAND LEADS BAFTA NOMINATIONS

BAFTA chimes in on awards season 2016-17, rather unwelcomely in this writer's opinion. La La Land leads the pack, predictably, with 11 nominations, but a number of flunks across the board take a less predictable route toward spoiling the set - Aaron Taylor-Johnson once again gets into Best Supporting Actor over Michael Shannon for Nocturnal Animals, Martin Scorsese's Silence shows up not once, and Barry Jenkins misses a Best Director nod for Moonlight. Indeed, Moonlight notches up a mere four mentions. The BAFTAs are held on the 12th of February.

Best Film

Arrival (Dan Levine, Shawn Levy, David Linde and Aaron Ryder)

I, Daniel Blake (Rebecca O'Brien)

La La Land (Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt)

Manchester by the Sea (Lauren Beck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Kimberly Steward and Kevin J. Walsh)

Moonlight (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Adele Romanski)

Best Director

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)

Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

Best Leading Actress

Amy Adams (Arrival)

Emily Blunt (The Girl on the Train)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Emma Stone (La La Land)

Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Best Leading Actor

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

Ryan Gosling (La La Land)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nocturnal Animals)

Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis (Fences)

Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Nicole Kidman (Lion)

Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake)

Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)

Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Dev Patel (Lion)

Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals)

Best Original Screenplay

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Paul Laverty (I, Daniel Blake)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Luke Davies (Lion)

Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)

Eric Heisserer (Arrival)

Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan (Hacksaw Ridge)

Theodore Melfi and Allison Schroeder (Hidden Figures)

Best Cinematography

Greig Fraser (Lion)

Seamus McGarvey (Nocturnal Animals)

Giles Nuttgens (Hell or High Water)

Linus Sandgren (La La Land)

Bradford Young (Arrival)

Best Editing

Tom Cross (La La Land)

John Gilbert (Hacksaw Ridge)

Jennifer Lame (Manchester by the Sea)

Joan Sobel (Nocturnal Animals)

Joe Walker (Arrival)

Best Production Design

John Bush and Charles Wood (Doctor Strange)

Stuart Craig and Anna Pinnock (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)

Meg Everist and Shane Valentino (Nocturnal Animals)

Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh (Hail, Caesar!)

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

Best Costume Design

Colleen Atwood (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)

Consolata Boyle (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Madeline Fontaine (Jackie)

Joanna Johnston (Allied)

Mary Zophres (La La Land)

Best Sound

Niv Adiri, Glenn Freemantle, Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson and Ian Tapp (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)

Sylvain Bellemare, Bernard Gariepy Strobl and Claude la Haye (Arrival)

Peter Grace, Robert MacKenzie, Kevin O'Connell and Andy Wright (Hacksaw Ridge)

Mildred Iatrou Morgan, Lee Ai Ling, Steve A. Morrow and Andy Nelson (La La Land)

Dror Mohar, Mike Prestwood Smith, Wylie Stateman and David Wyman (Deepwater Horizon)

Best Special Visual Effects

Richard Bluff, Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould and Jonathan Fawkner (Doctor Strange)

Tim Burke, Pablo Grillo, Christian Manz and David Watkins (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)

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

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

Louis Morin (Arrival)

Best Makeup & Hair

J. Roy Helland and Daniel Phillips (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Amanda Knight, Neal Scanlan and Lisa Tomblin (Rogue One)
Donald Mowat and Yolanda Toussieng (Nocturnal Animals)

Shane Thomas (Hacksaw Ridge)

Jeremy Woodhead (Doctor Strange)

Best Original Music

Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O'Halloran (Lion)

Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)

Johann Johannsson (Arrival)

Abel Korzeniowski (Nocturnal Animals)

Mica Levi (Jackie)

Best Animated Film

Finding Dory (Andrew Stanton)

Kubo and the Two Strings (Travis Knight)

Moana (Ron Clements and John Musker)

Zootopia (Byron Howard and Rich Moore)

Best Documentary

13th (Ava DuVernay)

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

The Eagle Huntress (Otto Bell and Stacey Reiss)

Notes on Blindness (Peter Middleton and James Spinney)

Weiner (Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg)

Best Film Not in the English Language

Dheepan (Jacques Audiard and Pascal Caucheteux)

Julieta (Pedro Almodovar)

Mustang (Deniz Gamze Erguven and Charles Gillibert)

Son of Saul (Nemes Laszlo and Sipos Gabor)

Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade and Janine Jackowski)

Outstanding British Film

American Honey (Andrea Arnold, Lars Knudsen, Poiya Shahbazian and Jay van Hoy)

Denial (Gary Foster, David Hare, Mick Jackson and Russ Krasnoff)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (David Heyman, Steve Kloves, J. K. Rowling, Lionel Wigram and David Yates)

I, Daniel Blake (Paul Laverty, Ken Loach and Rebecca O'Brien)

Notes on Blindness (Mike Brett, Jo-Jo Ellison, Steve Jamison, Peter Middleton and James Spinney)

Under the Shadow (Babak Anvari, Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill and Lucan Toh)

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

George Amponsah and Dionne Walker (The Hard Stop)

Babak Anvari, Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill and Lucan Toh (Under the Shadow)

Mike Carey and Camille Gatin (The Girl with All the Gifts)

John Donnelly and Ben A. Williams (The Pass)

Jo-Jo Ellison, Peter Middleton and James Spinney (Notes on Blindness)

Best British Short Film

Consumed (Richard John Seymour)

Home (Shpat Deda, Afolabi Kuti, Daniel Mulloy and Scott O'Donnell)

Mouth of Hell (Bart Gavigan, Samir Mehanovic, Ailie Smith and Michael Wilson)

The Party (Farah Abushwesha, Emmet Fleming, Andrea Harkin and Conor MacNeill)

Standby (Jack Hannon and Charlotte Regan)

Best British Short Animation

The Alan Dimension (Jac Clinch, Jonathan Harbottle and Millie Marsh)

A Love Story (Khaled Gad, Anushka Kishani Naanayakkara and Elena Ruscombe-King)

Tough (Jennifer Zheng)

EE Rising Star Award

Laia Costa

Lucas Hedges

Tom Holland

Ruth Negga

Anya Taylor-Joy

REVIEW - SILENCE (MARTIN SCORSESE)

Not the nature of faith, but our nature analyzed in faith. Martin Scorsese's decades-long journey into the hearts and minds of members of a species so infinitely complex, a philosophical probe that ventures ever further, ever deeper within; in his downtime, he has been experimenting with an analogous yet inverse journey outward, into stylistic maximalism. Expanding his outlook, refining his concerns, and now Silence is the bold, ferocious announcement of the product of this process, a film of enormous insight and yet minuscule scope. If initially perfunctory, enlivened by the compelling substance of a team of artists collaborating on a work of resolute artistry, it develops into a film of inconceivable philosophical wealth. Scorsese's examination of the conflicting influences which faith - its potential for and/or its repulsion of interpretative variation - holds over humanity is intensely personal; his insistence upon delineating every strand of its influence upon him, engendering Silence's essential inquisitiveness and thereby its singular emotional force in its inconclusiveness, transforms a tale of inherently limited relevance to each individual viewer into one of remarkable communication. Rather than emerging as a frustratingly esoteric experience, Silence extols the value of spirituality as a personal matter, encouraging each viewer's unique response in their unique appraisal of material that's so dense as to mean vastly different things to even the most casual audience members. For faith is only the prism through which Scorsese here views his subject - the intelligent mind, and its exclusive capacity to create thoughts, to receive information, and to cultivate characters in each of us.

SCHOONMAKER SNUBBED AT 2016 ACE EDDIE NOMINATIONS

One must simply assume that voters in the American Cinema Editors were not treated - and it certainly is a treat - to screeners of Martin Scorsese's Silence, as the legendary Thelma Schoonmaker fails to make their Drama nominations this year. Otherwise, no big surprises here. ACE Eddie voters - get thee to an arthouse, and write Mrs. Powell's name in this day! Awards will be announced and presented on the 27th of January.

Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic)

John Gilbert (Hacksaw Ridge)

Jennifer Lame (Manchester by the Sea)

Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders (Moonlight)

Jake Roberts (Hell or High Water)

Joe Walker (Arrival)

Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy)

Julian Clarke (Deadpool)

Ethan Coen and Joel Coen (Hail, Caesar!)

Tom Cross (La La Land)

Mark Livolsi (The Jungle Book)

Yorgos Mavropsaridis (The Lobster)

Best Edited Animated Feature Film

Jeff Draheim (Moana)

Jeremy Milton and Fabienne Rawley (Zootopia)

Christopher Murrie (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Best Edited Documentary (Feature)

Spencer Averick (13th)

Paul Crowder (The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years)

Eli B. Despres (Weiner)

Bret Granato, Maya Mumma and Ben Sozanski (O.J.: Made in America)

Matthew Hamachek (Amanda Knox)

OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR MARTIN SCORSESE'S SILENCE

Swanning in to slay the Oscars, Martin Scorsese's long-awaited Silence finally debuts a trailer. It's as promising as promised, and sure to be an exciting way to end a year at the movies / start a year, depending on where you live. To that end, Silence opens in the US on the 23rd of December and in the UK on the 1st of January.