Los Angeles Film Critics Association Names “West Side Story” star Ariana DeBose Best Supporting Actress

Ariana DeBose is the LA critics’ choice…

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association voted Saturday on the best films and performances of 2021, with the 30-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress/singer earning a shout out.

Ariana DeBose, West Side StoryDeBose, who earned her first-ever Golden Globes nod earlier this month, was named Best Supporting Actress for her acclaimed performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story.

Penélope Cruz claimed the Best Actress award for her starring role in Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers.

The 47-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress beat out runner-up Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) for the honor.

Meanwhile, Alberto Iglesias took home the Best Music/Score honor.

The 66-year-old Spanish composer claimed the award for his score to Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers, a score that already earned him a Hollywood Music in Media Award.

Tatiana Huezo, meantime, tied for the New Generation award with Shatara Michelle Ford.

The 49-year-old Mexican Salvadoran filmmaker earned the recognition for her latest film Prayers for the Stolen.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association is a group made up of L.A. area print and digital journalists, which today deliberated on winners and runners-up in a total of 14 categories.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

Best Picture
Winner: Drive My Car
Runner-up: The Power of the Dog

Best Director
Winner: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Runner-up: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car

Best Actress
Winner: Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Runner-up: Renate Reinsve, The Worst Person in the World

Best Actor
Winner: Simon Rex, Red Rocket
Runner-up: Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog

Best Documentary
Winner: Summer of Soul
Runner-up: Procession

Best Screenplay
Winner: Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe
Runner-up: Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson

Best Animation
Winner: Flee
Runner-up: Belle

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Runner-up: Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard

Best Supporting Actor
Winner (tie): Vincent Lindon, Titane and Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

Editing
Winner: Joshua L. Pearson, Summer of Soul
Runner-up: Andy Jurgensen, Licorice Pizza 

Best Production Design
Winner: Steve Saklad, Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar 
Runner-up: Tamara Deverell, Nightmare Alley 

Best Music/Score
Winner: Alberto Iglesias, Parallel Mothers
Runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog and Spencer

Best Cinematography
Winner: Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog
Runner-up: Greig Fraser, Dune

Best Film Not in the English Language
Winner: Petite Maman
Runner-up: Quo Vadis, Aida?

Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Prize
The Works And Days (Of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)

New Generation
Winner (tie): Shatara Michelle Ford, Test Pattern and Tatiana Huezo, Prayers for the Stolen

Career Achievement Award
Mel Brooks

The New York Film Critics Online Awards Alfonso Cuaron with Three Prizes for “Roma”

Alfonso Cuaron is the celebrating big in the Big Apple

The New York Film Critics Online has announced their winners, with the 57-year-old Mexican filmmaker coming away the big winner with three prizes.

Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma

Cuaron’s Spanish-language drama Roma was named Best Picture, while he earned the Best Director award for helming the film.

Additionally, Cuaron took home the award for Best Cinematography for the semi-autobiographical take on Cuaron’s upbringing in Mexico City. The film follows the life of a live-in housekeeper to a middle-class family.

This marks the second Best Picture win for Roma, which was honored earlier in the day by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

Picture
Roma

Director
Alfonso Cuarón- Roma

Actor
Ethan Hawke – First Reformed

Actress
Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Supporting Actor
Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Supporting Actress
Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk

Screenplay
Deborah Davis & Tony McNamara – The Favourite

Cinematography
Alfonso Cuarón – Roma

Documentary
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Foreign Language
Cold War

Ensemble Cast
The Favourite

Breakthrough Performer
Elsie Fisher – Eighth Grade

Debut as Director
Bo Burnham – Eighth Grade

Use of Music
Nicholas Britell – If Beale Street Could Talk

Animated Feature
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Top Ten (Alphabetical)

  1. BlackKklansman(Focus Features)
  2. Eight Grade (A24)
  3. The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
  4. First Reformed (Fox Searchlight)
  5. Green Book (Universal)
  6. If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna)
  7. Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street)
  8. Roma (Netflix)
  9. A Star if Born (Warner Bros.)
  10. Vice (Annapurna)

Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” Awarded Two Prizes by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Alfonso Cuaron is the LA critics’ choice…

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has announced its annual awards with the 57-year-old Mexican filmmaker earning two trophies for his critically acclaimed drama Roma.

Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma

Cuaron’s “deeply personal” film tookhome honors for Best Picture, while he was named Best Cinematography for his work on the Spanish language film.

He was the runner up in the Best Director and Best Editing categories.

The group will honor its winners January 12 at a gala dinner at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, where Japanese director and animator Hayao Miyazaki will receive the Career Achievement award.

Last year, Sony Pictures ClassicsCall Me By Your Name was voted the LAFCA’s Best Picture, with A24’s The Florida Project runner-up for Best Picture. The former went on to earn an Oscar Best Picture nom.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

Best Picture:
Winner: ROMA
Runner-up: Burning

Best Director
Winner: Debra Granik, Leave No Trace
Runner-up: Alfonso Cuaron, ROMA

Best Actor
Winner: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
Runner-up: Ben Foster, Leave No Trace

Best Documentary
Runner-up: Minding the Gap
Winner: Shirkers

Best Screenplay
Winner: Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Runner-up: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara, The Favourite

The Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award
Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson and Guy Maddin, The Green Fog

Best Animation
Winner: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Runner-up: Incredibles 2

Best Actress
Winner: Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Runner-up: Toni Collette, Hereditary

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Runner-up: Elizabeth Debicki, Widows

Editing
Winner: Joshua Altman and Bing Liu, Minding the Gap
Runner-up: Alfonso Cuarón and Adam Gough, Roma

Best Production Design
Winner: Hannah Beachler, Black Panther
Runner-up: Fiona Crombie, The Favourite

Supporting Actor
Winner: Steven Yeun, Burning
Runner-up: Hugh Grant, Paddington 2

Best Music/Score
Winner: Nicholas Britell, If Beale Street Could Talk
Runner-up: Justin Hurwitz, First Man

Best Cinematography
Winner: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
Runner-up: James Laxton, If Beale Street Could Talk

Career Achievement Award
Hayao Miyazaki

Cuarón to Receive Visual Effects Society’s Visionary Award

There’s no denying Alfonso Cuarón is a visionary filmmaker… But now he’ll have an award to prove it.

The Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s professional honorary society, has named the 52-year-old Mexican filmmaker as the recipient of its Visionary Award in recognition of his extraordinary career, most recently including his landmark achievement on this year’s critically acclaimed 3D sci-fil film Gravity.

Alfonso Cuarón

The VES Visionary Award recognizes an individual who has uniquely and consistently employed the art and science of visual effects to foster imagination and ignite future discoveries by way of artistry, invention and groundbreaking work. VES will honor Cuarón for his consummate artistry, expansive storytelling and profound ability to use and pioneer technology and visual effects to bring his unique visions to life.

A three-time Oscar nominee and one of Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainers of the Year, Cuarón directed, co-wrote, produced and edited Gravity, which is one of the most acclaimed films of this or any year. The accolades that Cuarón and the film have received to date include: Best Director and Best Picture awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association; four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress (Sandra Bullock); and ten Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Art Direction.

Cuarón made his feature film directorial debut in 1992 with Sólo Con Tu Pareja, the biggest box office hit in Mexico that year, which brought him an Ariel Award as the film’s co-writer. Cuarón made his American feature film debut in 1995 with the widely acclaimed A Little Princess, followed in 1998 by Great Expectations. He then wrote and directed Y tu mamá también, for which he received his first Oscar nomination, for Best Original Screenplay, as well as BAFTA Award nominations for Best Foreign Film and Best Original Screenplay. He went on to helm Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third film in the most successful motion picture franchise of all time. Cuarόn’s 2006 hit, Children of Men, was celebrated by critics and film fans for its groundbreaking techniques. The film brought two Oscar nominations to Cuarón, for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.

“Alfonso pushes the known boundaries of filmmaking,” said Jeffrey A. Okun, VES Board Chair. “He has been at the forefront in using visual effects to tell remarkable, highly nuanced stories that change the way we think about what is possible to achieve. Throughout his career, Alfonso has shown a rare talent for using cutting-edge technology to engage us in his deeply visceral storytelling and create unforgettable cinematic experiences.”

The award will be presented at the 12th Annual VES Awards on February 12, 2014 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Previous winners of the VES Visionary Award have been Christopher Nolan and Ang Lee.