‘Burning,’ ‘Zama’ lead 16th International Cinephile Society (ICS) Awards nominations

The 16th ICS Awards saw two international films dominate the nominations with 9 apiece. In Zama, Lucrecia Martel’s magnificent critique of Spanish colonialism, Crown official Don Diego de Zama (Daniel Giménez Cacho) is wasting his life in perpetual longing and cruel condescension while the Native rhythms of 18th-century Paraguay ebb and flow beneath his oblivious stare. His tale begins with a hopeful gaze out to sea, regresses through years of bureaucratic delay, and concludes with a surreal expedition into the heart of darkness. Diego, when will you return?

South Korean director Lee Chang-dong took a Murakami short story and, by some wondrous alchemy, turned it into Burning, also blazing its way to 9 nominations. This twisted triangle pits an awkward writer (Yoo Ah-in) against his alter ego, a sophisticated and enigmatic playboy (Steven Yeun), all for love of a strange girl (Jeon Jong-seo) who disappears – or does she? Who is actually writing this story? It’s all in how you peel the imaginary orange.

Rounding out the best director category were Alfonso Cuarón for Roma, Bertrand Mandico for The Wild Boys, Alice Rohrwacher for Happy as Lazzaro and Chloé Zhao for The Rider. Significantly, this marks the first time we’ve seen equal representation for female directors in the ICS lineup.

Other multiple-nominated films included The Favourite, Roma and Shoplifters with 6 apiece and If Beale Street Could Talk with 5.

In keeping with ICS tradition, the Unreleased Films list features a group of underseen films that our members were lucky enough to catch at festivals on five continents, and for which they voted passionately, but which failed to receive theatrical distribution in the USA in 2018.

The International Cinephile Society is comprised of accredited journalists, film scholars, historians and industry professionals from around the globe.

Winners of the 16th ICS Awards will be announced on February 3, 2019.

BEST PICTURE

A Bread Factory
Burning
The Favourite
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
Madeline’s Madeline
The Other Side of the Wind
The Rider
Roma
Shoplifters
The Wild Boys
Zama

BEST DIRECTOR

Alfonso Cuarón – Roma
Lee Chang-dong – Burning
Bertrand Mandico – The Wild Boys
Lucrecia Martel – Zama
Alice Rohrwacher – Happy as Lazzaro
Chloé Zhao – The Rider

BEST ACTOR

Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate
Daniel Giménez Cacho – Zama
Ethan Hawke – First Reformed
Meinhard Neumann – Western
Lakeith Stanfield – Sorry to Bother You
Yoo Ah-in – Burning

BEST ACTRESS

Sakura Andô – Shoplifters
Juliette Binoche – Let the Sunshine In
Olivia Colman – The Favourite
Tyne Daly – A Bread Factory
Helena Howard – Madeline’s Madeline
Joanna Kulig – Cold War

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Hugh Grant – Paddington 2
Brian Tyree Henry – If Beale Street Could Talk
Russell Hornsby – The Hate U Give
Juan Minujín – Zama
Steven Yeun – Burning

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Isabelle Adjani – The World is Yours
Lola Dueñas – Zama
Jeon Jong-seo – Burning
Kirin Kiki – Shoplifters
Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk
Rachel Weisz – The Favourite

BEST ENSEMBLE

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
A Bread Factory
The Favourite
A Paris Education
Shoplifters

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Burning – Oh Jung-mi, Lee Chang-dong
The Death of Stalin – Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin
If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins
Leave No Trace – Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini
Zama – Lucrecia Martel

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

A Bread Factory – Patrick Wang
The Favourite – Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
First Reformed – Paul Schrader
Happy as Lazzaro – Alice Rohrwacher
Shoplifters – Hirokazu Kore-eda

BEST FILM EDITING

Hale County This Morning, This Evening – RaMell Ross
Madeline’s Madeline – Harrison Atkins, Josephine Decker, Elizabeth Rao
The Other Side of the Wind – Bob Murawski, Orson Welles
Roma – Alfonso Cuarón, Adam Gough
You Were Never Really Here – Joe Bini

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Burning – Hong Kyung-pyo
Cold War – Lukasz Zal
Madeline’s Madeline – Ashley Connor
Roma – Alfonso Cuarón
Zama – Rui Poças

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

The Favourite – Fiona Crombie
Isle of Dogs – Paul Harrod, Adam Stockhausen
Roma – Eugenio Caballero, Barbara Enriquez
The Wild Boys – Astrid Tonnelier
Zama – Renata Pinheiro

BEST SCORE

Annihilation – Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury
Burning – Mowg
First Man – Justin Hurwitz
If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell
Suspiria – Thom Yorke
You Were Never Really Here – Jonny Greenwood

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Have a Nice Day
Isle of Dogs
Mary and the Witch’s Flower
Mirai no Mirai
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Dead Souls
El mar la mar
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Minding the Gap
Shirkers

BEST PICTURE NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Burning
Cold War
Happy as Lazzaro
A Paris Education
Roma
Shoplifters
Sicilian Ghost Story
Western
The Wild Boys
Zama

BEST PICTURE NOT RELEASED IN 2018

3 Faces
Asako I & II
Ash is Purest White
Birds of Passage
Climax
Diamantino
Diane
Dogman
An Elephant Sitting Still
Grass
High Life
The Image Book
Joy
Knife + Heart
La Flor
Leto
Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Manta Ray
Memories of My Body
Ray & Liz
Real Love
Rojo
Transit
What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire?
The Wild Pear Tree

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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), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) 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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