7th Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (LEJA) Awards: ‘Sing Sing’ Named Best Picture, Fernanda Torres Wins Best Actress

Sing Sing has won Best Picture at 7th Annual Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (LEJA) Film Awards. The film also picked up the Best Actor award for Colman Domingo, who won the same award last year for Rustin.

In the other top categories, filmmaker Brady Corbet won Best Director for The Brutalist; Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres won Best Actress for I’m Still Here; Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain; and Dominican-Puerto Rican actress Zoe Saldaña won Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Pérez, which led all nominations with 17 nods.

The films that earned two awards this year were Sing Sing; I’m Still Here, which also won Best Non-English Film; Emilia Pérez, which also won Best Song for “El Mal;” Conclave, which won Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Ensemble Cast; The Substance, which won Best Original Screenplay and Best Hair and Makeup; Challengers, which won Best Editing and Best Score; Wicked, which won Best Production Design and Best Costumes; and Dune: Part Two, which won Best Visual Effects and Best Sound.

“LEJA has much to be proud of,” said Toni Gonzales, LEJA President. “Winners in the four of top five categories are Latinos. In a year when Hollywood faced strikes and decreased production and our journalists faced downsizing, Latinos continue to lead the way.”

She continued: “Our community has long been marginalized and devalued. Despite this, we continue to shine through engaging, entertaining and thoughtful work on both sides of the screen. Though our work continues to be an uphill battle at times, our gente will continue grow, educate and inspire others. Viva la cultura!”

Late last month, LEJA also announced that its Rita Moreno Lifetime Achievement Award went to veteran actor Edward James Olmos. LEJA also awarded the Breakout Award to Adria Arjona for her roles in Los Frikis, Hit Man and Blink Twice; and the Activism Award to John Leguizamo for highlighting the contributions of Latinos in history and entertainment.

The full list of winners is below:

BEST PICTURE

Sing Sing, Greg Kwedar, Clint Bentley, Monique Walton

BEST DIRECTOR

Brady Corbet, The Brutalist

BEST ACTOR

Colman Domingo, Sing Sing

BEST ACTRESS

Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Substance, Coralie Fargeat

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Conclave, Peter Straughan

BEST VOICE PERFORMANCE

Lupita Nyong’o, The Wild Robot

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Flow, Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman

BEST NON-ENGLISH FILM

I’m Still Here (Brazil)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Frida, Carla Gutierrez

BEST ENSEMBLE CASTING

Conclave

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Wicked, production design: Nathan Crowley; set decoration: Lee Sandales

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

(TIE) Nickel Boys, Jomo Fray

(TIE) Nosferatu, Jarin Blaschke

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Wicked, Paul Tazewell

BEST EDITING

Challengers, Marco Costa

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP

The Substance, Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli

BEST SOUND

Dune: Part Two, Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Dune: Part Two, Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer

BEST STUNTS

The Fall Guy

BEST SCORE

Challengers, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

BEST SONG

“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez; music by Clément Ducol and Camille; lyrics by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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