Moonlight dominates Online Film Critics Society Awards

moonlight-poster

The powerful coming-of-age drama Moonlight dominated the 2016 Online Film Critics Society Awards, winning a total of four awards out of seven nominations.

The film beat out competition from La La Land, Arrival, Jackie and Manchester by the Sea amongst others to be named Best Picture. Barry Jenkins won Best Director and Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris won Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.

The Online Film Critics Society’s Governing Committee said, “We’d like to congratulate all involved with Moonlight for the power and humanity of this extraordinary film. Topical and relevant, it is a timely reminder of that which unites us being greater than that which divides us.”

la-la-land-posterDamien Chazelle’s La La Land, which tied with Moonlight for seven nominations, won in the Best Editing and Best Cinematography categories.

Casey Affleck won Best Actor for his portrayal of a man consumed by grief in Manchester By the Sea, adding another accolade to the over 30 awards he has already garnered for the performance. Natalie Portman was named Best Actress for her portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in the days following the assassination of JFK in Pablo Larraín’s Jackie. Both actors are hotly tipped as Oscar favorites for their performances at the Academy Awards on 26th February.

Laika’s anime-flavored stop-motion fantasy Kubo and the Two Strings won Best Animated Feature. Kubo… won over three Disney nominees, Finding Dory, Moana and Zootopia, plus the dialogue free The Red Turtle, a Belgian-French-Japanese production with involvement from Studio Ghibli.

The Handmaiden, from South Korean director Park Chan-wook, won Best Film Not in the English Language, while O.J.: Made in America, Ezra Edelman’s epic dissection of celebrity and racial discord in latter 20th-century America, was awarded Best Documentary.

Best Original Screenplay went to Taylor Sheridan for his recession crime thriller Hell or High Water. Eric Heisserer won Best Adapted Screenplay for Arrival, adapting Ted Chiang’s short story, “Story of Your Life”.

the-handmaiden-posterThree Special Awards were voted for by the OFCS membership, all of them Memorials reflecting the number of cherished entertainers lost in 2016. These Memorial Awards were named for Carrie Fisher, Alan Rickman & Gene Wilder.

Alongside the films in competition, 10 films not released in the US were selected by the membership for special note. These include Hirokazu Kore-eda’s After the Storm, The Dardennes Brothers’ The Unknown Girl, Bertrand Bonello’s Nocturama, Hong Sang-soo’s Yourself and Yours and Colm McCarthy’s The Girl with All the Gifts.

Previous OFCS Best Picture winners include Mad Max: Fury Road, The Grand Budapest Hotel and 12 Years a Slave.

^ Winner ^ 

Best Picture

Arrival
The Handmaiden
Hell or High Water
Jackie
La La Land
Manchester By the Sea
^ Moonlight ^
O.J.: Made in America
Paterson
The Witch

Best Animated Feature

Finding Dory
^ Kubo and the Two Strings ^
Moana
The Red Turtle
Zootopia

Best Director

Damien Chazelle – La La Land
^ Barry Jenkins – Moonlight ^
Pablo Larraín – Jackie
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester By the Sea
Denis Villeneuve – Arrival

Best Actor

^ Casey Affleck – Manchester By the Sea ^
Adam Driver – Paterson
Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington – Fences

Best Actress

Amy Adams – Arrival
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Ruth Negga – Loving
^ Natalie Portman – Jackie ^
Emma Stone – La La Land

Best Supporting Actor

^ Mahershala Ali – Moonlight ^
Tom Bennett – Love & Friendship
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges – Manchester By the Sea
Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis – Fences
Lily Gladstone – Certain Women
^ Naomie Harris – Moonlight ^
Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams – Manchester By the Sea

Best Original Screenplay

^ Hell or High Water – Taylor Sheridan ^
Jackie – Noah Oppenheim
La La Land – Damien Chazelle
The Lobster – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
Manchester By the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan

Best Adapted Screenplay

^ Arrival – Eric Heisserer, Ted Chiang ^
Elle – David Birke, Philippe Djian
Love & Friendship – Whit Stillman
Moonlight – Barry Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney
Nocturnal Animals – Tom Ford

Best Editing

Arrival – Joe Walker
Cameraperson – Nels Bangerter
Jackie – Sebastian Sepulveda
^ La La Land – Tom Cross ^
Moonlight – Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders

Best Cinematography

Arrival – Bradford Young
Jackie – Stéphane Fontaine
^ La La Land – Linus Sandgren ^
Moonlight – James Laxton
The Neon Demon – Natasha Braier

Best Film Not in the English Language

Elle – France
^ The Handmaiden – South Korea ^
Neruda – Chile
The Salesman – Iran
Toni Erdmann – Germany

Best Documentary

13th
Cameraperson
I Am Not Your Negro
^ O.J.: Made in America ^
Weiner

Best Non-U.S. Release

After the Storm
The Death of Louis XIV
The Girl With All the Gifts
Graduation
Nocturama
Personal Shopper
A Quiet Passion
Staying Vertical
The Unknown Girl
Yourself and Yours

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