New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) Winners: Lady Bird Wins Best Film; Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet Claim Lead Acting Prizes

Lady Bird has won the New York Film Critics Circle’s Best Film with its star, Saoirse Ronan, capturing the Best Actress prize. Lady Bird‘s director Greta Gerwig became just the second woman after Kathryn Bigelow (who won twice) to helm a Best Film winner from the organization. 

The Florida Project‘s Sean Baker won Best Director, the second year in a row for A24. The two films were the only to win more than one award as the group spread the wealth out quite a bit.

At 21, Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) is the youngest Best Actor winner ever from the NYFCC. Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) won her second Best Actress prize in three years. Together, the pair is the youngest set of lead winners in the group’s history.

Rachel Morrison (Mudbound) is the first woman to win Best Cinematographer since the awards body started the category in 1980, one of a handful of firsts at this year’s awards.

Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) capped his second win this week. The last four winners of Best Supporting Actor from the NYFCC have gone on to win the Oscar. In a thrilling win, Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) won Best Supporting Actress. Since 2000, fourteen winners of Supporting Actress went on to Oscar nominations and four have won.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before but once again, two major contenders (both from Fox Searchlight) are finding their awards season circling the drain. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Shape of Water were both snubbed, just as they were with the National Board of Review and poor showings at the Independent Spirit Awards nominations. What does it mean? Both films are critical hits so why isn’t it translating into year-end awards?

The New York Film Critics Circle, an organization of film reviewers from New York-based publications that exists to honor excellence in U.S. and world cinema, was founded in 1935 and includes critics from daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, magazines, and qualifying online general-interest publications. Every year in December the organization meets in New York to vote on awards for the previous calendar year’s films.

Among the categories: best picture, director, screenplay, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, cinematography, animated film, and best first feature. Special standalone awards are also given to individuals and organizations that have made substantial contributions to the art of cinema, including producers, directors, actors, writers, critics, historians, film restorers, and service organizations.

Here is the full list of winners:

Best Film
Lady Bird

Best Director
Sean Baker, The Florida Project

Best Screenplay
Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Anderson

Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name

Best Actress
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Best Supporting Actress
Tiffany Haddish, Girls Trip

Best Animated Film
Coco (Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina)

Best Foreign Film
BPM (Robin Campillo)

Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary)
Faces Places (Agnès Varda)

Best Cinematographer
Mudbound (Rachel Morrison)

Best First Film
Get Out (Jordan Peele)

Special Award
Career Achievement to Molly Haskell