Chicago Indie Critics (CIC) awards: ‘Knives Out,’ ‘Parasite’ top winners

Erik Anderson January 5, 2020

The Chicago Indie Critics have voted this week to declare the winners of 23 categories for their fourth annual film awards. Two fine films emerged with the most wins and top victories. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite from Neon and Rian Johnson’s Knives Out from Lionsgate each won four CIC Awards. Little Women and 1917 followed closely, each winning three awards respectively.

Knives Out was awarded Best Studio Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Ensemble, and Best Editing. Parasite equaled that tally winning Best Independent Film, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Supporting Actor for Song Kang-ho, and a tie of Best Director honors for Bong Joon-ho shared with Greta Gerwig for Little Women. Speaking of Mr. Bong and Ms. Gerwig, the two filmmakers were the most honored individuals of the 2019 CIC Awards ceremony. Both were credited on three awards apiece. In all, twelve different films won CIC Awards for 2019.

In two special CIC Award categories of distinction, two top female filmmakers and what they stand for were celebrated. The Trailblazer Award honoring the work of an artist who pushed the boundaries of the medium was awarded to Greta Gerwig. Additionally, Lulu Wang, the writer/director of The Farewell, was voted the recipient of the Impact Award. That honor celebrates a person whose work has had a positive impact on society. It was a special night to laud and appreciate the work of female creators such as these two honorees.

Here is the full list of nominees and winners.

BEST INDEPENDENT FILM (budgets under $20 million)

Booksmart, Chelsea Barnard, David Distenfield, Jessica Elbaum, Megan Ellison, and Katie Silberman (producers)
The Farewell, Anita Gou, Daniele Melia, Andrew Miano, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Chris Weitz, Jane Zheng, and Lulu Wang (producers)
Jojo Rabbit, Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi, and Chelsea Winstanley (producers)
Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach and David Heyman (producers)
Parasite, Bong Joon-ho, Kwak Sin-ae, Moon Yang-kwon, and Jang Young-hwan (producers) – WINNER

BEST STUDIO FILM (budgets over $20 million)

The Irishman, Gerald Chamales, Robert De Niro, Randall Emmett, Gabriele Israilovici, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Jane Rosenthal, Gastón Pavlovich, Martin Scorsese, and Irwin Winkler (producers)
Knives Out, Ram Bergman and Rian Johnson (producers) – WINNER
Little Women, Denise Di Novi, Amy Pascal, and Robin Swicord (producers)
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, and Quentin Tarantino (producers)
1917, Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes, Brian Oliver, and Jayne-Ann Tenggren, (producers)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Birds of Passage, Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (producers)
Monos, Fernando Epstein, Alejandro Landes, Cristina Landes, and Santiago Zapata, (producers)
Pain and Glory, Agustin Almodovar (producer)
Parasite, Bong Joon-ho, Kwak Sin-ae, Moon Yang-kwon, and Jang Young-hwan (producers) – WINNER
Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Véronique Cayla and Bénédicte Couvreur (producers)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Apollo 11, Evan Krauss, Todd Douglas Miller, Thomas Petersen (producers) – WINNER
Hail, Satan?, Gabriel Sedgwick (producer)
Honeyland, Atanis Georgiev (producer)
The Kingmaker, Frank Evers and Laura Greenfield (producers)
One Child Nation, Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Christoph Jorg, Nanfu Wang, and Jialing Zhang (producers)

BEST ANIMATED FILM

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Bonnie Arnold and Brad Lewis (producers)
I Lost My Body, Marc du Pontavice (producer) – WINNER
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Jinko Gotoh, Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller, (producers)
Missing Link, Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner (producers)
Toy Story 4, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera (producers)

BEST DIRECTOR (tie)

Greta Gerwig, Little Women – WINNER
Bong Joon-ho, Parasite – WINNER
Sam Mendes, 1917
Céline Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Lulu Wang, The Farewell

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Farewell- Lulu Wang
Knives Out– Rian Johnson – WINNER
Marriage Story– Noam Baumbach
Parasite– Bong Joon-Ho and Jin Won-Han
Portrait of a Lady on Fire– Céline Sciamma

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Irishman– Steve Zaillian
Jojo Rabbit– Taika Waititi
Little Women– Greta Gerwig- WINNER
Luce– J.C. Lee and Julius Onah
The Two Popes– Anthony McCarten

BEST ACTOR

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Adam Driver, Marriage Story – WINNER
Eddie Murphy, Dolemite is My Name
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems

BEST ACTRESS

Awkwafina, The Farewell
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Elisabeth Moss, Her Smell
Lupita Nyong’o, Us – WINNER
Florence Pugh, Midsommar

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
Song Kang-ho, Parasite – WINNER

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell – WINNER
Octavia Spencer, Luce

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

Avengers: Endgame- Sarah Finn (casting director)
The Irishman- Ellen Lewis (casting director)
Knives Out- Mary Vernieu (casting director) – WINNER
Little Women- Kathy Driscoll and Francine Maisler (casting directors)
Marriage Story- Francine Maisler and Douglas Aibel (casting directors)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ad Astra- Hoyte Van Hoytema
Ford v. Ferrari– Phedon Papamichael
The Lighthouse– Jarin Blaschke
1917– Roger Deakins – WINNER
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood– Robert Richardson

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Ad Astra– Kevin Thompson
Knives Out– David Crank – WINNER
1917– Dennis Gassner
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood– Barbara Ling
Parasite- Ha-Jun Lee

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Dolemite is My Name– Ruth E. Carter – WINNER
Knives Out– Jenny Eagan
Little Women– Jacqueline Durran
Midsommar– Andrea Flesch
Once Upon a Time.. in Hollywood– Arianne Phillips

BEST MAKEUP

Bombshell– Vivian Baker, Kazu Hiro, and Anne Morgan – WINNER
Dolemite is My Name– Debra Denson, Carla Joi Farmer, Stacey L. Morris, Vera Steimberg
The Irishman– Sean Flanigan, Nicki Ledermann, and Carla White
Joker- Kay Georgiou and Nicki Ledermann
Us– Camille Friend and Scott Wheeler

BEST EDITING

Ford v. Ferrari– Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker, and Dirk Westervelt
Knives Out– Bob Ducsay
Little Women– Nick Houy
1917– Lee Smith – WINNER
Parasite– Jinmo Yang

BEST MUSICAL SCORE

Avengers: Endgame– Alan Silvestri
Little Women– Alexandre Desplat
Marriage Story– Randy Newman
1917– Thomas Newman
Us– Michael Abels – WINNER

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Catchy Song” from The LEGO Movie Part 2: The Second Part (performed by Dillion Francis featuring T-Pain and That Girl Lay Lay and written by Jon Lajoie)
“Glasgow (No Place Like Home)” from Wild Rose (performed by Jessie Buckley and written by Mary Steenburgen, Caitlin Smith, and Kate York)
“I Punched Keanu Reeves” from Always Be My Maybe (performed and written by Randall Park) – WINNER
“Not Evil” from The LEGO Movie Part 2: The Second Part (performed by Tiffany Haddish and written by Jon Lajoie)
“Speechless” from Aladdin (performed by Naomi Scott and written by Pasek & Paul)
“Stand Up” from Harriet (performed by Cynthia Erivo and written by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Ad Astra– Scott R. Fisher, Allan Maris, Guillaume Rocheron, and Jedediah Smith
Avengers: Endgame– Matt Aitken, Russell Earl, Dan Leeluw, and Dan Sudick
The Irishman– Leandro Estebecorena, Stephanie Grabli, Pablo Helman, and Nelson Sepulveda
1917– Greg Butler, Guillaume Rocheron, and Dominic Tuohy – WINNER
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker– Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, and Dominic Tuohy

SPECIAL AWARDS

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Honors the work of an artist who truly pushes the boundaries of the medium in terms of form and content

Greta Gerwig – WINNER
Rian Johnson
Sam Mendes
Martin Scorsese
Lena Waithe
Taika Waititi

IMPACT AWARD

Given to a person whose work has had a positive impact on society

Pedro Almodovar
Bong Joon-Ho
Martin Scorsese
Milos Stehlik
Lulu Wang – WINNER

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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.