The Iraq war drama “The Hurt Locker” added to its award-season momentum, winning best film from the New York Film Critics Circle.
The group, which announced its selections Monday, also awarded best director to Kathryn Bigelow of “The Hurt Locker.” Those choices mirrored the selections of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which were announced Sunday.
The New York critics picked Meryl Streep for best actress for her performance in “Julie & Julia.” It was her fourth award from the group.
Best actor went to George Clooney, who was chosen for “Up in the Air” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” The latter, Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated movie, won for best animated film.
Christoph Waltz, who played a menacing Nazi in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” won best supporting actor. Best actress went to Mo’Nique for her performance as the mother in “Precious.”
The New York Film Critics Circle Awards are among the drumbeat of critics’ prizes leading up to the Academy Awards on March 7. Oscar nominations are announced Feb. 2. Nominations for the Golden Globes, perhaps the most high profile of the earlier awards, were to be announced Tuesday by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
The early positive critical response to James Cameron’s “Avatar” has recently altered the handicapping of the Oscar race. Though the NYFCC declined to give any awards to “Avatar,” the New York Film Critics Online on Sunday named the movie its choice for best picture.
“We had a lot of good stuff to choose from and we spread the awards around,” said NYFCC chairman Armond White, critic for New York Press. “That’s a good thing because it recognizes the year’s abundance.”
The group also gave best screenplay to the political satire “In the Loop.” Best cinematography went to Christian Berger for his work on Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon.”
Olivier Assayas’ French drama “Summer Hour s” won for best foreign film. Terence Davies’ “Of Time and the City,” which is both a documentary and a personal narrative, was chosen as best “nonfiction film.”
For the first time, the critics also chose to give their special award to a fellow critic: Andrew Sarris, the famed critic who wrote for the Village Voice and championed the “auteur theory.” Earlier this year, the 81-year-old writer was laid off by the New York Observer, though he remains a film professor at Columbia University.
The New York Film Critics Circle, founded in 1935, will present its awards Jan. 11. The group, which is composed of 33 metro-area film critics, last year named Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” as best picture.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More