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National Society of Film Critics (USA)
Forty-third Annual Awards

The National Society of Film Critics (USA) on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009, chose Waltz With Bashir as Best Picture of the Year 2008. The Society, which is made up of 63 of the country's most prominent movie critics, held its 43rd annual awards voting meeting at Sardi's Restaurant in New York City. Forty-nine members voted. The Annual Awards for 2008 Films:

Best Actor
* 1. Sean Penn (Milk) — 87 (Focus Features)
  2. Mickey Rourke  (The Wrestler) — 40
  3. Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino) — 38

Best Actress
* 1. Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) — 65  (Miramax)
  2. Melissa Leo (Frozen River) — 33
  3. Michelle Williams (Wendy and Lucy) — 31

Best Supporting Actor
* 1. Eddie Marsan (Happy-Go-Lucky) — 41 (Miramax)
  2. Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) — 35
  3.  Josh Brolin (Milk) — 29

Best Supporting Actress
* 1. Hanna Schygulla (The Edge of Heaven) — 29  (Strand Releasing)
  2. Viola Davis (Doubt) — 29 (on fewer ballots)
  3. Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) — 24

Best Picture
* 1. Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman) — 26 (Sony Pictures Classic)
  2.  Happy-Go-Lucky — 20
  2.  WALL-E — 20

Best Director
* 1. Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky) — 36 (Miramax)
  2. Gus Van Sant (Milk, Paranoid Park) — 20
  3. Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) —16

Best Nonfiction Film
* 1. Man on Wire (James Marsh) — 55 (Magnolia)
  2. Trouble the Water (Tia Lessin and Carl C. Deal) — 34
  3. Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog) — 26

Best Screenplay
* 1. Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh) — 29
  2. A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin) — 24
  3.  Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman) — 17

Best Cinematography
* 1. Slumdog Millionaire (Anthony Dod Mantle) — 29 (Fox Searchlight)
  2. Flight of the Red Balloon (Lee Ping-Bing) — 22
  3. The Dark Knight (Wally Pfister) — 18
  4. Still Life (Yu Lik-Wai)

Best Experimental Film — Ken Jacobs' Razzle Dazzle.

Film Heritage Awards
The Criterion Collection for finally making Samuel Fuller's suppressed White Dog (1982) available to a wide American audience via DVD release.
The Exiles, Kent Mackenzie's realistic 1961 independent film about Native Americans in Los Angeles. (Restored by Ross Lipman of the UCLA Television and Film Archives and distributed by Milestone.)
Flicker Alley for releasing DVD collections of rare early U.S. and foreign silent films.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for its DVD set "Murnau, Borzage and Fox".

The Executive Director of the NSFC is Elisabeth Weis, who may be reached at LizFilm@nyc.RR.com

Budapest. The Hungarian Film Critics Awards 2008. Best Picture: Delta (Kornél Mundruczó) (photo). Best Director: Béla Tarr (The Man from London). Best Producers: Viktória Petrányi, Susanne Marian, Ági Pataki, Gábor Kovács (Delta). Best First Film: The Investigator (Attila Gigor). Special Prize: I'm Von Höffler (Péter Forgács). Best Cinematographer: Gergely Pohárnok (Hourglass). Best Original Screenplay: Attila Gigor (The Investigator). Best Artistic Design: László Rajk (The Man from London). Best Experimental Film: Slow Mirror (Igor and Ivan Buharov). Best Short Film: Weak Days (Ádám Császi). Best Documentary: The Sinking Village (Márton Szirmai) / Missing Pages (Richárd Schuster). Best Actress: Judit Rezes (The Investigator). Best Actor: Zsolt Anger (The Investigator). Best Supporting Actress: Ági Szirtes (The Man from London, Tableau). Best Supporting Actor: Zsolt Trill (Chameleon). Lifetime Achievement Award: Péter Bacsó.

Stockholm. The Swedish Association of Film Critics has chosen Involuntary (De Ofrivilliga) by Ruben Östlund as Swedish Film of the Year (2008). Motivation: "With exceptional  precision Ruben Östlund's Involuntary interweaves situations where everyday conflicts capsize into the cruel, destructive and self destructive. Terrible, but also terribly funny and full of insight."

Warsaw. Polish Critics selected Scratch (Rysa) by Michal Rosa and the documentary PO-LIN. Slivers of Memory (PO-LIN. Okruchy pamieici) by Jolanta Dylewska best Polish films of 2008. Best foreign film: "Lust, Caution" (Ang Lee), mentions went to Cargo 200 (Gruz 200, Alexei Balabanov) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon, Julian Schnabel).

Brazil. The Association of Critics in Rio Grande do Sul (ACCIRS) selected Playing (Jogo de Cena) by Eduardo Coutinho best film released in 2008 in the cinemas. — The Association of Critics in Rio de Janeiro voted as best films of 2008:
1) Onde os fracos não têm vez (No Country for Old Men) by Joel and Ethan Coen ) — Best Film of the Year
2) Sangue negro (There Will Be Blood) by Paul Thomas Anderson
3) Antes que o Diabo saiba que você está morto (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead) by Sidney Lumet
4) Não estou lá (I'm Not There") byTodd Haynes
5) Queime depois de ler (Burn After Reading") by Joel and Ethan Coen
6) Estômago de Marcos Jorge
7) Paranoid Park (Paranoid Park) by Gus Van Sant
8) WALL-E (WALL-E) by Andrew Stanton
9) Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) by Woody Allen
10) O escafandro e a borboleta (Le scaphandre et le papillon) by Julian Schnabel.

Istanbul. The 41st Siyad Awards ceremony was held by the Turkish Film Critics Association to honor the best Turkish films of 2008.
Best Film: Autumn (Sonbahar), produced by Serkan Acar
Best Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Three Monkeys (Üç Maymun)
Best Actress: Hatice Aslan (Three Monkeys/Üç Maymun)
Best Actor: Onur Saylak (Autumn/Sonbahar)
Best Actress in a Supoorting Role: Tülin Özen in Vicdan (Conscience)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Ahmet Rıfat Şungar (Three Monkeys /Üç Maymun)
Promising Talent Award: İnan Temelkuran (director, Made in Europe)
Best Script: Özcan Alper (Autumn/Sonbahar)
Best Cinematography: Feza Çaldiran (Autumn/Sonbahar)
Best Music: Demir Demirkan (Devrim Arabaları)
Best Editing: Ayhan Ergürsel, Bora Gökşingöl, Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Three Monkeys/Üç Maymun)
Best Art Director: Natali Yeres (Rıza)
Best Documentary: Devrimci Gençlik Köprüsü directed by Bahriye Kabadayi
Best Short Movie: Unus Mundus by Senem Tüzen
Honorary Award: Şener Şen
Special Award: Klaus Eder
Best Foreign Film: There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson

Berlin. At the occasion of Berlinale 2009, the German Association of Film Critics (Verband der deutschen Filmkritik) presented its annual prizes for German films (being shown in 2008).
Best Fiction Film: Jerichow by Christian Petzold
Best First Fiction Film: Night Before Eyes (Nacht vor Augen) by Brigitte Bertele
Best Actor: Elmar Wepper (Kirschblüten/Cherry Blossoms — Hanami, directed by Doris Dörrie)
Best Actress: Karoline Herfurth (A Year Ago in Winter / Im Winter ein Jahr, directed by Caroline Link)
Best Script: Philipp Stölzl, Christoph Silber, Rupert Henning, Johannes Naber (North Face / Nordwand, by Philipp Stölzl)
Best Camera: Kolja Brandt (North Face / Nordwand, by Philipp Stölzl)
Best Editing: Andreas Wodraschke (Dr. Alemán, by Tom Schreiber)
Best Music: Niki Reiser (A Year Ago in Winter / Im Winter ein Jahr, directed by Caroline Link)
Best Documentary: Elder Blossom (Holunderblüte) by von Volker Koepp
Best Experimental Film: Falsche Freunde by Sylvia Schedelbauer

Sydney. The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) presented the 2008 Award Winners:
Best Film: The Black Balloon (Producer Tristram Miall)
Best Director: Elissa Down (The Black Balloon)
Best Actor: William Mcinnes (Unfinished Sky)
Best Actress: Noni Hazlehurst (Bitter And Twisted)
Best Actor — Supporting Role: Brandon Walters (Australia)
Best Editor: Suresh Ayyer (Unfinished Sky)
Best Music: Antony Partos (Unfinished Sky)
Best Original Screenplay: Peter Duncan (Unfinished Sky)
Best Original Screenplay: Matthew Dabner, Joel Edgerton (The Square)
Best Cinematography: Mandy Walker (Australia)
Best Actress — Supporting Role: Toni Collette (The Black Balloon)
Best Festure Documentary: Not Quite Hollywood (Director Mark Hartley)
Best Documenatary, Jury Prize: Bastardy (Director Amiel Courtin-Wilson, Producer Philippa Campey)
Best Documentary, Short: Rare Chicken Rescue (Director Randall Wood)
Best Documentary, Short, Honorable Mention: Spirit Stones (Director Allan Collins)
Best Foreign Feature — English Language: Slumdog Millionaire (Directors Danny Boyle & Lovleen Tandan)
Best Foreign Language Film: The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (Director Julian Schnabel)
Special Acknowledgement — Producer: Richard Brennan – A Life In Film.

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