Capping off their second year as a recognized awards-voting body, the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle, a group which I helped found and participate as a proud member, has announced their nominees for the second annual CIFCC Awards. The 26 voting members completed ballots with the goal of three final nominees in 21 categories. They will commence a final round of voting ending on December 29, 2017 with winners announced on December 30, 2017.
Leading all films with seven nominations is the acclaimed thriller Get Out from director Jordan Peele. Following closely with six nominations each are the coming-of-age dramedy Lady Bird and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water. There are 31 different films included in 21 total categories for this year’s CIFCC Awards.
Two awards of special interest are the Trailblazer and Impact Awards. The 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 Sean Baker (The Florida Project), Jordan Peele (Get Out), and Dee Rees (Mudbound). The Impact Award celebrates a person whose work has had a positive impact on society and the nominees include Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), and Jordan Peele (Get Out).
From this first round of voting, the film critics group has compiled a pair of “10 Best” lists for 2017, one for independent film defined as a budget under $20 million and one for studio films defined as movies with budgets over $20 million:
THE 10 BEST INDEPENDENT FILMS (in alphabetical order):
The Big Sick, Call Me By Your Name, The Florida Project, Get Out, A Ghost Story, Lady Bird, Lucky, Mudbound, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
THE 10 BEST STUDIO FILMS (in alphabetical order):
Baby Driver, Blade Runner 2049, Dunkirk, Logan, The Lost City of Z, mother!, Phantom Thread, The Post, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Wonder Woman
The complete list of nominees for the 2017 CIFCC Awards:
BEST INDEPENDENT FILM
The Florida Project
Get Out
Lady Bird
BEST STUDIO FILM
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
Logan
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Raw
The Square
Thelma
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Faces Places
Jane
Whose Streets?
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Coco
The LEGO Batman Movie
Loving Vincent
BEST DIRECTOR
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Jordan Peele, Get Out
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Big Sick- Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani
Get Out- Jordan Peele
Lady Bird- Greta Gerwig
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Call Me By Your Name- James Ivory
The Disaster Artist- Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Mudbound– Dee Rees and Virgil Williams
BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
BEST ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri
Michael Stuhlbarg, Call Me By Your Name
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Tiffany Haddish, Girls Trip
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
Get Out
Mudbound
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Blade Runner 2049- Roger Deakins
Dunkirk- Hoyte van Hoytema
The Shape of Water– Dan Laustsen
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Blade Runner 2049- Dennis Gassner
mother!- Philip Messina
The Shape of Water- Paul D. Austerberry
BEST EDITING
Baby Driver– Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss
Dunkirk– Lee Smith
War for the Planet of the Apes– William Hoy and Stan Salfas
BEST COSTUME DESIGN AND MAKEUP
Darkest Hour– Jacqueline Durran (costumes), Kazuhiro Tsuji, Lucy Sibbick and David Malinowski (makeup)
Phantom Thread– Mark Bridges (costumes), Paul Engelen (makeup)
The Shape of Water– Luis Sequeria (costumes), Jordan Samuel and Paula Fleet (makeup)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Phantom Thread– Jonny Greenwood
The Shape of Water– Alexandre Desplat
War for the Planet of the Apes- Michael Giacchino
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Blade Runner 2049- Richard Clegg, Paul Lambert, Viktor Muller, and John Nelson
Star Wars: The Last Jedi– Richard Bain, Ben Morris, Michael Mulholland, and Chris Corbould
War for the Planet of the Apes- Joe Leterri, Dan Lemmon, Eric Winquist, and Dan Cervin
TRAILBLAZER AWARD
Sean Baker, The Florida Project
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Dee Rees, Mudbound
IMPACT AWARD
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman
Jordan Peele, Get Out
