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

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