Female directors rule Chicago Indie Critics (CIC) nominations as ‘Little Women,’ ‘The Farewell’ lead

The recently rebranded Chicago Indie Critics (formerly known as the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle) have announced their nominees for the fourth annual film awards. The voting members completed ballots to compile five nominees for 23 categories. The CIC members will commence a final round of voting ending on January 2, 2020. 

Leading all films with an impressive eight nominations is Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women.  Two of those nominations highlight Gerwig’s work as a director and screenwriter. Following next with seven nominations each is the quartet of The Irishman, Marriage Story, 1917, and Parasite. On an individual level leading the field, Parasite’s Bong Joon-ho earned five personal nominations and Lulu Wang of The Farewell earned four across the 23 categories. In all, 42 films are represented with nominations for the 2019 CIC Awards.  

Two awards of special recognition and interest are the annual Trailblazer and Impact Awards.  The CIC’s Trailblazer Award honors the work of an artist who truly pushed the boundaries of the medium in terms of form and content. Nominated this year are filmmakers Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Rian Johnson (Knives Out), Sam Mendes (1917), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Lena Waithe (Queen & Slim), and Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit). Secondly, the Impact Award celebrates a person whose work during the past year or beyond made a positive impact on society. The nominees include Pedro Almodovar (Pain and Glory), Bong Joon-Ho (Parasite), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), and late Chicago film critic Milos Stehlik.  

The 2019 CIC Award winners will be announced on the evening of January 4, 2020. This year’s Awards Party will be emceed by stand-up comedienne and former film critic Katie Baker. Fans and followers can watch the awards event live-streaming on the CIC’s YouTube channel. Here is the full list of nominations.

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)

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)
• 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)
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Véronique Cayla and Bénédicte Couvreur (producers)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• Apollo 11, Evan Krauss, Todd Douglas Miller, Thomas Petersen (producers)
• 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)
• 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

• Greta Gerwig, Little Women
• Bong Joon-ho, Parasite
• 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
• 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
• Luce– J.C. Lee and Julius Onah
• The Two Popes– Anthony McCarten

BEST ACTOR

• Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
• Adam Driver, Marriage Story
• 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
• 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
• Kang-ho Song, Parasite

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

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

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

• Avengers: Endgame- Sarah Finn (casting director)
• The Irishman- Ellen Lewis (casting director)
• Knives Out- Mary Vernieu (casting director)
• 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
• Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood– Robert Richardson

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Ad Astra– Kevin Thompson
• Knives Out– David Crank
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Parasite– Jinmo Yang

BEST MUSICAL SCORE

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

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)
• “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
• 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
• 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

• Author
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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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