MOONLIGHT Wins Top Honors from Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics (GALECA)

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The Golden Globe-winning and Academy Award-nominated Moonlight earned six wins from the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (GALECA) today, tying it Carol for the group’s all-time record wins. It won Film of the Year, LGBTQ Film of the Year, Director of the Year and Screenplay of the Year for Barry Jenkins (based on Tarell Alvin McCraney unproduced play), and Film Performance of the Year – Actor for Mahershala Ali. Trevante Rhodes, nominated for actor alongside Ali, was given the “We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award (named for the group’s patron saint Oscar Wilde). Moonlight, about the three stages of the life a queer, black boy to teenager to man, is the second film from Jenkins and this week was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor (Ali).

Viola Davis, recently named by GALECA as one of the 10 Best Actresses of All Time, earned film actress honors for her work in the Denzel Washington-directed screen version of the late playwright August Wilson’s Fences.

La La Land, the Oscar-nominated musical romance starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and set against some of Los Angeles’ most iconic vistas, was named Visually Striking Film of the Year. Movies also notching wins: Christine, the devastating docudrama starring Rebecca Hall as ill-fated ‘70s newswoman Christine Chubbuck; the lesbian-tinged spectacle The Handmaiden; and the Kate Winslet romp The Dressmaker (Campy Flick of the Year).

Since its inception in 2009, GALECA (of which I am a voting member) has bestowed Film of the Year honors to Carol, Boyhood, 12 Years a Slave, Argo, Weekend, I Am Love and A Single Man.

On the television side, a handful of performers and TV shows picked up double wins including Transparent (LGBTQ Show of the Year and TV Performance of the Year – Actor for Jeffrey Tambor), The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story for TV Drama of the Year and TV Performance of the Year – Actress for Sarah Paulson and Kate McKinnon earned two wins; one for her melancholy musical performance of “Hallelujah” on Saturday Night Live the week of the Presidential election and as the Wilde Artist of the Year (in a tie with Hamilton‘s Lin-Manuel Miranda).

Samantha Bee muscled her way to the top with her Full Frontal being named Top Current Affairs Show of the Year and newcomer The Real O’Neals was named Unsung TV Show of the Year.

The late Carrie Fisher earned the Wilde Wit of the Year award. She is the first to earn it posthumously. John Waters — recently announced as GALECA’s latest “Timeless Star,” the group’s affectionate career-achievement honor that in the past has gone to performers — offered this statement: “A ‘Timeless Star’? Wow! Does that mean good-old or crazy-new? Either way, I’m thrilled and honored to be called a star no matter which side of the camera I choose to be on.” The thin-mustachioed multihyphenate — a writer/director/actor/Divine muse/Baltimore prodigal son who has given the world such crazy pro-sanity tales as Hairspray, Serial Mom, Polyester and Pink Flamingos, joins past honorees Jane Fonda, Sir Ian McKellen, George Takei, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Cloris Leachman.

The group’s annual Winners Toast, honoring a select group of 2016-17 winners, is set for Saturday afternoon, February 18. Past GALECA toasts have welcomed such winners or project ambassadors as Oscar-nominated Carol screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, Orange is the New Black star Lea DeLaria, Transparent actresses Melora Hardin and Alexandra Billings, and revered marriage rights activists Jeff Carrillo and Paul Katami. This year, the event returns to the Maharaja Room at The Pikey Cafe and Bar in Hollywood, Ca.

COMPLETE LIST OF GALECA 2016/17 DORIAN AWARD WINNERS (Noted with a bullet in bold)

Film of the Year
Jackie (Fox Searchlight)
La La Land (Summit/Lionsgate)
Manchester by the Sea (Roadside/Amazon Studios)
• Moonlight (A24)
20th Century Women (A 24)

Director of the Year
(Film or Television)
• Barry Jenkins, Moonlight (A24)
Pablo Larraín, Jackie (Fox Searchlight)
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By the Sea (Roadside/Amazon Studios)
Park Chan-wook, The Handmaiden (Amazon Studios)
Damien Chazelle, La La Land (Summit/Lionsgate)

Film Performance of the Year — Actress
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women (A24)
• Viola Davis, Fences (Paramount)
Isabelle Huppert, Elle (Sony Classics)
Emma Stone, La La Land (Summit/Lionsgate)
Natalie Portman, Jackie (Fox Searchlight)

Film Performance of the Year — Actor
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea (Roadside/Amazon Studios)
• Mahershala Ali, Moonlight (A24)
Ryan Gosling, La La Land (Summit/Lionsgate)
Trevante Rhodes, Moonlight (A24)
Denzel Washington, Fences (Paramount)

LGBTQ Film of the Year
Being 17 (Strand)
Closet Monster (Strand)
• Moonlight (A24)
Other People (Vertical)
The Handmaiden (Amazon Studios)

Foreign Language Film of the Year
Elle (Sony Classics)
Neruda (The Orchard)
• The Handmaiden (Amazon Studios)
Things to Come (Sundance Selects)
Toni Erdmann (Sony Pictures Classics)

Screenplay of the Year
• Barry Jenkins, Moonlight (A24)
Efthymis Filippou, Yorgos Lanthimos, The Lobster (A24)
Damien Chazelle, La La Land (Summit/Lionsgate)
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea (Roadside/Amazon Studios)
Mike Mills, 20th Century Women (A24)

Documentary of the Year
(theatrical release, TV airing or DVD release)
I Am Not Your Negro (Magnolia)
• O.J. Made in America (ESPN Films)
13TH (Netflix)
Tickled (Magnolia)
Weiner (Sundance Selects/Showtime)

Visually Striking Film of the Year
Arrival (Paramount)
Jackie (Fox Searchlight)
• La La Land (Lionsgate)
Moonlight (A24)
The Handmaiden (Amazon Studios)

Unsung Film of the Year
American Honey (A24)
Captain Fantastic (Bleecker Street)
• Christine (The Orchard)
Other People (Vertical)
Sing Street (The Weinstein Company)

Campy Film of the Year
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (Fox Searchlight)
King Cobra (IFC Midnight)
Nocturnal Animals (Focus Features)
• The Dressmaker (Broadgreen/Amazon Studios)
The Neon Demon (Broadgreen/Amazon Studios)

TV Drama of the Year
Black Mirror (Netflix)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
The Crown (Netflix)
• The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX)
Westworld (HBO)

TV Comedy of the Year
Atlanta (FX)
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CW)
Insecure (HBO)
• Transparent (Amazon)
Veep (FX)

TV Performance of the Year — Actor
Riz Ahmed, The Night Of (HBO)
Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)
Donald Glover, Atlanta (FX)
• Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent (Amazon)
Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)

TV Performance of the Year — Actress
Claire Foy, The Crown (Netflix)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)
Thandie Newton, Westworld (HBO)
• Sarah Paulson, American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson (FX)
Winona Ryder, Stranger Things (Netflix)

TV Current Affairs Show of the Year
Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN)
• Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)
Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

TV Musical Performance of the Year
Beyonce, “Lemonade,” MTV Video Music Awards (MTV)
Kelly Clarkson, “Piece by Piece,” American Idol (Fox)
Lady Gaga – “Til It Happens to You,” The 88th Academy Awards (ABC)
Jennifer Hudson, “I Know Where I’ve Been,” Hairspray Live! (NBC)
• Kate McKinnon “Hallelujah,” Saturday Night Live (NBC)

LGBTQ TV Show of the Year
Looking: The Movie (HBO)
Orange Is the New Black (Netflix)
RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars (Logo)
The Real O’Neals (ABC)
• Transparent (Amazon)

Unsung TV Show of the Year
Fleabag (Amazon)
Lady Dynamite (Netflix)
London Spy (BBC America)
Please Like Me (Pivot)
• The Real O’Neals (ABC)

Campy TV Show of the Year
Finding Prince Charming (Logo)
Fuller House (Netflix)
Hairspray Live! (NBC)
• RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars (Logo)
Scream Queens (Fox)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Fox)

We’re Wilde About You! Rising Star of the Year
Millie Bobby Brown
Lucas Hedges
Connor Jessup
Ruth Negga
• Trevante Rhodes

Wilde Wit of the Year
(honoring a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse)
Samantha Bee
• Carrie Fisher
Bill Maher
Kate McKinnon
John Oliver

Wilde Artist of the Year (tie)
(honoring a truly groundbreaking force in the fields of film, theater and/or television)
Beyonce
Viola Davis
Barry Jenkins
• Kate McKinnon
• Lin-Manuel Miranda

Timeless Star
(to an actor or performer whose exemplary career is marked by character, wisdom and wit)
John Waters (previously announced)

GALECA’S MISSION
GALECA, a 501 C-6 nonprofit, aims to generate camaraderie in an unsettling media environment, champion constructive film and TV criticism and elevate entertainment journalism. Via panels, screenings, events and its occasional “Ten Best” lists, GALECA also strives to remind the world that the LGBTQ-munity has a significant history of helping improve pop culture at large. After all, how would the world fare without knowing what’s campy?