Georgia Film Critics Association: Moonlight Wins Best Pic, Affleck and Portman Take Actor and Actress

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The Georgia Film Critics Association has anointed Moonlight the Best Picture of 2016 as well as wins for Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali, who also won their Breakthrough award), Adapted Screenplay, Ensemble, and Cinematography. The group spread the wealth with La La Land, which took Director and Original Screenplay for Damien Chazelle, Original Score, Original Song and Production Design.

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) and Natalie Portman (Jackie) won for their lead performances and Viola Davis (Fences) won Supporting Actress.

The Georgia Film Critics Association (GAFCA) was created in 2011 with the intention to promote film criticism and the film industry within the state of Georgia. While critics groups are prevalent in many parts of the country, the GAFCA is the first of its kind to be based solely in the state of Georgia.

Here is the full list of nominees and winners:

Best Picture
  • “Arrival”
  • “Hacksaw Ridge”
  • “Hell or High Water”
  • “Jackie”
  • “La La Land”
  • “Loving”
  • “Manchester by the Sea”
  • “Moonlight” – WINNER
  • “The Nice Guys”
  • “O.J.: Made in America”

Best Director
  • “Arrival” – Denis Villeneuve
  • “Jackie” – Pablo Larraín
  • “La La Land” – Damien Chazelle – WINNER
  • “Manchester by the Sea” – Kenneth Lonergan
  • “Moonlight” – Barry Jenkins

Best Actor
  • Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) – WINNER
  • Colin Farrell (“The Lobster”)
  • Andrew Garfield (“Hacksaw Ridge”)
  • Ryan Gosling (“La La Land”)
  • Tom Hanks (“Sully”)
  • Denzel Washington (“Fences”)

Best Actress
  • Amy Adams (“Arrival”)
  • Annette Bening (“20th Century Women”)
  • Ruth Negga (“Loving”)
  • Natalie Portman (“Jackie”) – WINNER
  • Emma Stone (“La La Land”)

Best Supporting Actor
  • Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”) – WINNER
  • Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”)
  • Ben Foster (“Hell or High Water”)
  • John Goodman (“10 Cloverfield Lane”)
  • Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”)
Best Supporting Actress
  • Viola Davis (“Fences”) – WINNER
  • Greta Gerwig (“20th Century Women”)
  • Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”)
  • Nicole Kidman (“Lion”)
  • Michelle Williams (“Manchester by the Sea”)

Best Original Screenplay
  • “Hell or High Water” – Taylor Sheridan
  • “Jackie” – Noah Oppenheim
  • “La La Land” – Damien Chazelle – WINNER
  • “The Lobster” – Efthymis Filippou, Yorgos Lanthimos
  • “Manchester by the Sea” – Kenneth Lonergan

Best Adapted Screenplay
  • “Arrival” – Eric Heisserer
  • “Fences” – August Wilson
  • “Moonlight” – Barry Jenkins – WINNER
  • “Nocturnal Animals” – Tom Ford
  • Silence” – Jay Cocks, Martin Scorsese

Best Cinematography
  • “Arrival” – Bradford Young
  • “The Handmaiden” – Chung Chung-hoon
  • “Jackie” – Stéphane Fontaine
  • “La La Land” – Linus Sandgren
  • “Moonlight” – James Laxton – WINNER
  • “Silence” – Rodrigo Prieto

Best Production Design
  • “Arrival” – Patrice Vermette, Isabelle Guay
  • “Jackie” – Jean Rabasse, Halina Gebarowicz
  • “La La Land” – David Wasco, Austin Gorg – WINNER
  • “The Nice Guys” – Richard Bridgland, David Utley
  • “Silence” – Dante Feretti, Wen-Ying Huang

Best Original Score
  • “Arrival” – Jóhann Jóhannsson
  • “Jackie” – Mica Levi
  • “La La Land” – Justin Hurwitz – WINNER
  • “Lion” – Hauschka, Dustin O’Halloran
  • “Moonlight” – Nicholas Britell

Best Original Song
  • “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” – Justin Hurwitz, Pasek and Paul (“La La Land”)
  • “City of Stars” – Justin Hurwitz, Pasek and Paul (“La La Land”) – WINNER
  • “Drive It Like You Stole It” – Gary Clark (“Sing Street”)
  • “How Far I’ll Go” – Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Moana”)
  • “I’m Still Here” – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (“Miss Sharon Jones!”)
  • “The Rules Don’t Apply” – Eddie Arkin and Lorraine Feather (“Rules Don’t Apply”)

Best Ensemble
  • “20th Century Women”
  • “Everybody Wants Some!!”
  • “Hell or High Water”
  • “Hidden Figures”
  • “Manchester by the Sea”
  • “Moonlight” – WINNER
  • “Sing Street”

Best Foreign Film
  • “Elle” – WINNER
  • “The Handmaiden”
  • “Neruda”
  • “Things to Come”
  • “Toni Erdmann”

Breakthrough Award
  • Mahershala Ali (“Free State of Jones,” “Hidden Figures,” “Kicks,” “Moonlight”) – WINNER
  • Alden Ehrenreich (“Hail Caesar!,” “Rules Don’t Apply”)
  • Lily Gladstone (“Buster’s Mal Heart,” “Certain Women”)
  • Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”)
  • Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”)
  • Angourie Rice (“The Nice Guys,” “Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows”)

Best Animated Film
  • “Finding Dory”
  • “Kubo and the Two Strings”
  • “Kung Fu Panda 3”
  • “Moana”
  • “Zootopia” – WINNER

Best Documentary Film
  • “13th”
  • “Gleason”
  • “I Am Not Your Negro”
  • “O.J.: Made in America” – WINNER
  • “Weiner”
Oglethorpe Award for Excellence in Georgia Cinema
  • THE NICE GUYS (Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi)

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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