The Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle, a group who I am a co-founder of, held their first annual awards ceremony on January 8 in Chicago. It was a great evening mingling with my fellow group members and revealing the winners we voted on. Special thanks go out to the tremendous coverage we received from Nick Digilio of WGN and Darel Jevens covering our awards for the Chicago Sun-Times.
CIFCC Directors announcing winners
(from left: Jim Alexander, Jon Espino, Michael Smith, Don Shanahan) Photo by: Pam Powell
Here is the press release of the winners list:
MEDIA CONTACT:
Danielle Garnier, Garnier Public Relations
312-841-3500
Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle
“Diversity in Film Criticism”
Established in 2016
chicagoindiecritics.org
THE CHICAGO INDEPENDENT FILM CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES ITS WINNERS FOR THE FIRST ANNUAL CIFCC AWARDS
The 28 film critics and voting members of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle completed their final ballots in 25 categories for their first annual CIFCC Awards. The CIFCC will host an invitation-only awards reception at Transistor Chicago on January 8, 2017.
Leading all films with six awards is La La Land from Summit Entertainment, including Best Studio Film and Best Director for Damien Chazelle. A24’s Moonlight from director Barry Jenkins follows with four wins. Sixteen different films were award winners.
The voting for two special awards, the Trailblazer and Impact Awards, ended in ties. The Trailblazer Award honoring the work of an artist who truly pushed the boundaries of the medium in terms of form and content will be shared by directors Yorgos Lanthimos of The Lobster and Anna Biller of The Love Witch. The Impact Award celebrating a person whose work has had a positive impact on society will be shared by documentary director Ava DuVernay for 13th and Pioneers of African-American Cinema curators Jacqueline Stewart and Charles Musser.
The complete list of the winners of the 2016 CIFCC Awards:
BEST INDEPENDENT FILM
Moonlight (Producers: Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner)
BEST STUDIO FILM
La La Land (Producers: Fred Berger, Gary Gilbert, Jordan Horowitz, and Marc Platt)
BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Handmaiden (Producers: Park Chan-wook and Syd Lum)
BEST DOCUMENTARY
O.J.: Made in America (Producers: Ezra Edelman, Caroline Waterlow, Tamara Rosenberg, Nina Krstic, Deirdre Fenton, Libby Geist, Erin Leyden, and Connor Schell)
BEST MICRO-BUDGET FILM
The Fits (Producers: Anna Rose Holmer and Lisa Kjerulff)
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Kubo and the Two Strings (Producers: Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner)
BEST CHICAGO FILM
Southside with You (Producers: Tika Sumpter, Richard Tanne, Robert Teitel)
BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Barry Jenkins and Tarell McCraney (Moonlight)
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
BEST ACTRESS
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis (Fences)
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
Moonlight (Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Janelle Monae, Andre Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Jaden Piner, Patrick Decile)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Linus Sandgren (La La Land)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
David Wasco (La La Land)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
TIE: Madeline Fontaine (Jackie)
TIE: Anna Biller (The Love Witch)
BEST EDITING
Tom Cross (La La Land)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)
BEST MAKEUP
Jason Hamer (Swiss Army Man)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Richard Bluff, and Vince Cirelli (Doctor Strange)
BEST SHORT FILM
Piper (Producer: Marc Sondheimer)
BEST UNDISTRIBUTED FILM
Atmo Horrox (Producer: Pat Tremblay)
TRAILBLAZER AWARD
TIE: Anna Biller (The Love Witch)
TIE: Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster)
IMPACT AWARD
TIE: Ava DuVernay (13th)
TIE: Jacqueline Stewart and Charles Musser (Pioneers of African-American Cinema)
EVENT INFORMATION:
An invitation-only event is scheduled for January 8 at 7 pm at Transistor Chicago (5224 N. Clark St.) to announce the winners at 8 pm. Winners present will have a chance to speak and others will be available via Skype or pre-written speeches.
ABOUT THE CIFCC:
Unlike other film critics organization across the country, the CIFCC embraces and highlights diversity within the film industry. Its members represent the LGBQT community, females, and various ethnicities as well as critiquing films using unique platforms such as video essays and podcasts along with traditional print form.
CIFCC DIRECTORS
Jim Alexander
Jon Espino
Pamela Powell
Don Shanahan
Michael Glover Smith
The Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle
For more information on the Chicago Film Critics Circle you can visit the groups website at: Chicagoindiecritics.org
Follow the CIFCC on Twitter @CriticsChicago
