Chicago Indie Critics (CIC) Awards: ‘Oppenheimer’ Wins 7

The Chicago Indie Critics (CIC) have given Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer its Best Studio Film of 2023 honor along with six other awards, including Best Director.

Past Lives was chosen as the Best Independent Film, also winning Best Original Screenplay and Breakout Artist for writer/director Celine Song. Barbie and The Holdovers were double winners and Poor Things earned three awards including Best Actress for Emma Stone.

Here is the complete list of winners.

Best Studio Film: Oppenheimer
Best Independent Film: Past Lives

Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

Best Actor: Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Best Actress: Emma Stone, Poor Things
Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Best Original Screenplay: Celine Song, Past Lives
Best Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

Best Animated Film: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Best Documentary: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Best Foreign Film: The Zone of Interest

Best Ensemble: Oppenheimer

Best Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer
Best Editing: Jennifer Lame, Oppenheimer
Best Production Design: Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, Barbie
Best Costume Design: Holly Waddington, Poor Things
Best Makeup: Poor Things
Best Original Score: Daniel Pemberton, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Best Original Song: “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie
Best Visual Effects: Godzilla Minus One
Best Stunts: John Wick: Chapter 4

Breakout Artist: Celine Song

Sight Unseen Award: Oscar Isaac, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Impact Award: Dennis Scott, Music Box Theatre organist

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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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