North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA) Winners: La La Land, Hell or High Water Top Picks

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The North Carolina Film Critics Association is pleased to announce the winners of its fifth annual awards honoring the best achievements in film.

In close voting, La La Land emerged as the critics’ choice for Best Narrative Film. The musical romance also earned recognition for director Damien Chazelle, cinematographer Linus Sandgren, and star Emma Stone (Best Actress).

Hell or High Water earned two awards, one for Jeff Bridges (Best Supporting Actor) and one for writer Taylor Sheridan (Best Original Screenplay). Other notable winners include Viola Davis (Best Supporting Actress), Casey Affleck (Best Actor), and O.J. : Made in America (Best Documentary).

This year the NCFCA renamed its Tar Heel Award, given to a film or artist with a special connection to North Carolina, after deceased critic and colleague Ken Hanke. Director Jeff Nichols was selected to receive the Ken Hanke Memorial Tar Heel Award. An alumnus of the UNC School of Arts, Nichols released two films in 2016, Midnight Special and Loving.

A full list of nominations follows. Winners in each category are marked with asterisks.

The NCFCA consists of approximately forty professional critics who live in the state or whose work contributes to an outlet based in North Carolina.

BEST NARRATIVE FILM
Arrival
Hell or High Water
**La La Land**
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
13th
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
**O.J.: Made in America**
Weiner

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
Sausage Party
**Zootopia**

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Elle
**The Handmaiden**
A Man Called Ove
Toni Erdmann
Things to Come

BEST DIRECTOR
**Damien Chazelle — La La Land**
Barry Jenkins — Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan — Manchester by the Sea
David Mackenzie — Hell or High Water
Chan-woo Park — The Handmaiden

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Chung-hoo Chung — The Handmaiden
James Laxton — Moonlight
Giles Nuttgens — Hell or High Water
**Linus Sandgren — La La Land**
Bradford Young — Arrival

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
Arrival
Captain America: Civil War
**Doctor Strange**
Jungle Book
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

BEST ACTOR
**Casey Affleck — Manchester by the Sea**
Joel Edgerton — Loving
Ryan Gosling — La La Land
Viggo Mortensen — Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington — Fences

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali — Moonlight
**Jeff Bridges — Hell or High Water**
Ben Foster — Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges — Manchester by the Sea
Sam Neill — Hunt for the Wilderpeople

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening — 20th Century Women
Kate Beckinsale — Love & Friendship
Ruth Negga — Loving
Natalie Portman — Jackie
**Emma Stone — La La Land**

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
**Viola Davis — Fences**
Greta Gerwig — 20th Century Women
Naomie Harris — Moonlight
Nicole Kidman — Lion
Michelle Williams — Manchester by the Sea

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Damien Chazelle — La La Land
Barry Jenkins — Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan — Manchester by the Sea
Mike Mills — 20th Century Women
**Taylor Sheridan — Hell or High Water**

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Tom Ford — Nocturnal Animals
**Eric Heisserer — Arrival**
Seo-kyeong Jeong and Chan-wook Park — The Handmaiden
Whit Stillman — Love & Friendship
Taika Waititi — Hunt for the Wilderpeople

KEN HANKE MEMORIAL TAR HEEL AWARD
(To an artist or film with a special connection to North Carolina.)
Anthony Mackie
**Jeff Nichols**
Starving the Beast

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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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