NORTH TEXAS FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS: LA LA LAND WINS BEST FILM

It was all white on the night for the North Texas Film Critics Association as they voted on their favourites in film from 2016! No 10th place mention for The Birth of a Nation in Best Film could prevent them from bestowing all of their prizes upon Caucasian recipients, including La La Land scoring yet another undeserved top category victory. Their ranked picks in full below.

Best Film

1. La La Land

2. Manchester by the Sea

3. Moonlight

4. Hacksaw Ridge

5. Loving

6. Arrival

7. Captain Fantastic

8. Nocturnal Animals

9. Jackie

10. The Birth of a Nation

Best Director

1. Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

2. Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

3. Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)

4. Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

5. Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Actress

1. Natalie Portman (Jackie)

2. Emma Stone (La La Land)

3. Amy Adams (Arrival)

4. Emily Blunt (The Girl on the Train)

5. Ruth Negga (Loving)

Best Actor

1. Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

2. Ryan Gosling (La La Land)

3. Denzel Washington (Fences)

4. Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

5. Don Cheadle (Miles Ahead)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

2. Viola Davis (Fences)

3. Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

4. Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)

5. Janelle Monae (Hidden Figures)

Best Supporting Actor

1. Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

2. Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

3. Dev Patel (Lion)

4. Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)

5. Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Cinematography

1. Linus Sandgren (La La Land)

2. James Laxton (Moonlight)

3. Simon Duggan (Hacksaw Ridge)

=  Bradford Young (Arrival)

5. Stephane Fontaine (Jackie)

Best Animated Film

1. Zootopia

2. Kubo and the Two Strings

3. Sing

Best Documentary

1. Gleason

2. 13th

3. Tower

4. Wiener

5. The Eagle Huntress

Best Foreign Language Film

1. Elle

2. The Handmaiden

3. Hunt for the Wilderpeople

4. The Salesman

=  Toni Erdmann

REVIEW - THE BIRTH OF A NATION (NATE PARKER)

The low-budget directorial debut, many more times blighted by unchecked, unhoned ambition than it is enriched by it. Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation is both, in almost equal measure, but his ambition is bolstered by that which even veteran directors often lack: conviction. When this vanity project - a vanity that extends outward, encompassing a range of ideas so broad as to inspire as much as repel, and accumulating all in a disquieting inward pull - is not merely adequate, it is either enthralling or horribly inadequate. Parker's inexperience - it might not be his inexperience, but it's this trait to which I'l choose to chalk it up - yields a combination of indulgence and neglect, a careless approach whose narrow-minded determination seeks to impress through blunt force alone. Its ideological purpose succeeds, but the film suffers, not only in form and technique but also in that very purpose, the dilution of its message as a direct result of Parker's shoddiness as a director. And, yes, of his vanity too. The Birth of a Nation is a questionable biopic of, in fact, limited ambition for the most part, throttled by reverence to christian theology and by its director's unflinching self-aggrandization, until it makes manifest that purpose. The violent, grotesque, barbaric sequence that opens its third act is undercut more by what follows it than what precedes it, but its vicious power is undeniable. This is not just gratifying cruelty, this is needful cruelty, a nastiness in which we may not participate, yet which we're encouraged to support. Finally, something to show for all that ambition.

THE BIRTH OF A NATION TEASER TRAILER

Nate Parker's a homophobe, and he's got some fucking way to go to convince me that he's not a rapist too. Meanwhile, Jean McGianni Celestin totally is a rapist. Fuck the two of them. But The Birth of a Nation looks excellent, and righteous as hell. Out on the 7th of October in the US and on the 20th of January in the UK, aka a hardcore Oscar push.

THE BIRTH OF A NATION WINS BIG AT 2016 SUNDANCE AWARDS

The evening of the 30th of January 2016 could go down in history as a watershed for diversity in the American film industry. Alongside an astonishing display of support for inclusion from the Screen Actors Guild, there were wins in a similar vein at the conclusion of the Sundance Film Festival. Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation won both jury and audience awards in the U.S. Dramatic section of the fest, and there were acting awards for Craig Robinson for Morris from America and Joe Seo for Spa Night. Furthermore, both top jury awards in the World Cinema sections were presented to women. What a heartening show of support for progression in American film. Check out all the winners right here:

U.S. Dramatic Awards

Grand Jury Prize

The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker)

Special Jury Prize

As You Are (Miles Joris-Peyrafitte)

Directing Award

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Swiss Army Man)

Special Jury Award - Individual Performance

Melanie Lynskey (The Intervention)

Craig Robinson (Morris from America)

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award

Chad Hartigan (Morris from America)

Special Jury Award - Breakthrough Performance

Joe Seo (Spa Night)

Audience Award

The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker)

U.S. Documentary Awards

Grand Jury Prize

Weiner (Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg)

Directing Award

Roger Ross Williams (Life, Animated)

Special Jury Award - Writing

Robert Greene (Kate Plays Christine)

Special Jury Award - Editing

Penny Lane and Thom Stylinski (Nuts!)

Special Jury Award - Social Impact Filmmaking

Trapped (Dawn Porter)

Special Jury Award - Verite Filmmaking

The Bad Kids (Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe)

Audience Award

Jim: The James Foley (Brian Oakes)

World Cinema Dramatic Awards

Grand Jury Prize

Sand Storm (Elite Zexer)

Directing Award

Felix van Groeningen (Belgica)

Special Jury Award - Acting

Manolo Cruz and Vicky Hernandez (Between Sea and Land)

Special Jury Award - Screenwriting

Ines Bortagaray and Ana Katz (My Friend from the Park)

Special Jury Award - Unique Vision and Design

The Lure (Agnieszka Smoczynska)

Audience Award

Between Sea and Land (Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo)

World Cinema Documentary Awards

Grand Jury Prize

Sonita (Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami)

Directing Award

Michal Marczak (All These Sleepless Nights)

Special Jury Award - Cinematography

Pieter-Jan de Pue (The Land of the Enlightened)

Special Jury Award - Editing

Kamitsuna Mako and John Maringouin (We Are X)

Special Jury Award for Debut Feature

Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel (When Two Worlds Collide)

Audience Award

Sonita (Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami)

Other Awards

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize

Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra)

Best of Next Audience Award

First Girl I Loved (Kerem Sanga)