Oscars Watch: 2023 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

BEST PICTURE

“The Zone Of Interest” (A24)

Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Produced by James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska, Jim Wilson, and Ewa Puszczynska

—
Runner-Up: “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)

Best Director

Jonathan Glazer
“The Zone Of Interest” (A24)

Produced by James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska, Jim Wilson, and Ewa Puszczynska

—
Runner-Up: Yorgos Lanthimos — “Poor Things”

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Sandra Hüller
“Anatomy Of A Fall” + “The Zone Of Interest”

Directed by Justine Triet + Jonathan Glazer
Produced by Marie-Ange Luciani, Philippe Martin, and David Thion +
James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska, Jim Wilson, and Ewa Puszczynska

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Emma Stone
“Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Produced by Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Ed Guiney, and Andrew Lowe

—
Runners-Up:
Andrew Scott — “All Of Us Strangers”
Jeffrey Wright — “American Fiction”

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Rachel McAdams
“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” (Lionsgate)

Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig
Produced by Julie Ansell, James L. Brooks, Julie Ansell, Richard Sakai, Kelly Fremon Craig, Judy Blume,
Amy Brooks, and Aldric La’Auli Porter

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Da’Vine Joy Randolph
“The Holdovers” (Focus Features + Miramax)

Directed by Alexander Payne
Produced by Mark Johnson, Bill Block, and David Hemingson

—
Runner-Up:
Lily Gladstone — “Killers Of The Flower Moon”
Ryan Gosling — “Barbie”

BEST SCREENPLAY

“All Of Us Strangers” (Searchlight Pictures)

Written by Andrew Haigh
Based on “Strangers” by Taichi Yamada

Directed by Andrew Haigh
Produced by Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, and Sarah Harvey

—
Runner-Up: “May December” — Samy Burch

Best Cinematography

“Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)

Cinematography by Robbie Ryan

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Produced by Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Ed Guiney, and Andrew Lowe

—
Runner-Up:
“Killers Of The Flower Moon” — Rodrigo Prieto
“Barbie” — Rodrigo Prieto

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

“Barbie” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Production Design by Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer

Directed by Greta Gerwig
Produced by David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, and Robbie Brenner

—
Runner-Up: “Poor Things” — Shona Heath And James Price

BEST EDITING

“Anatomy Of A Fall” (NEON)

Edited by Laurent Sénéchal

Directed by Justine Triet
Produced by Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion

—
Runner-Up: “All Of Us Strangers” — Jonathan Alberts

BEST MUSIC SCORE

“The Zone Of Interest” (A24)

Composed by Mica Levi
(w/ special recognition of the contribution of sound designer Johnnie Burn)

Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Produced by James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska, Jim Wilson, and Ewa Puszczynska

—
Runner-Up: “Barbie” — Mark Ronson And Andrew Wyatt

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

“Anatomy of a Fall”
(NEON)

Directed by Justine Triet
Produced by Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion

—
Runner-Up: “Tótem”

BEST DOCUMENTARY/NON-FICTION FILM

“Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros”
(Zipporah Films)

Directed by Frederick Wiseman
Produced by Frederick Wiseman, Karen Konicek, and Olivier Giel

—
Runner-Up: “The Eternal Memory” (MTV Documentary Films)

BEST ANIMATION

“The Boy And The Heron”
(GKIDS + Studio Ghibli)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki | Produced by Toshio Suzuki

—
Runner-Up: “Robot Dreams” (NEON)

NEW GENERATION AWARD

Celine Song
“Past Lives” (A24)

Produced by David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon, and Pamela Koffler

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT

Agnieszka Holland
“Green Border” (Kino Świat)

Produced by Marcin Wierzchoslawski, Fred Bernstein, and Agnieszka Holland

THE DOUGLAS EDWARDS EXPERIMENTAL FILM AWARD

“Youth (Spring)”
(Icarus Films)

Directed by Bing Wang and Hui Mao
Produced by Vincent Wang, Sonia Buchman, and Nicolas R. de la Mothe

Los Angeles Film Critics Association

BEST PICTURE:
BEST DIRECTOR:
BEST LEAD PERFORMER:
BEST LEAD PERFORMER:
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMER:
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMER:
BEST SCREENPLAY:
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:
BEST EDITING:
BEST MUSIC SCORE:
BEST Film Not in the English Language:
Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film:
Best Animation:
New Generation Award:
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT:
Douglas Edwards Experimental AWARD:

“The Zone Of Interest”
Jonathan Glazer — “The Zone Of Interest”
Sandra Hüller — “The Zone Of Interest” & “Anatomy Of A Fall”
Emma Stone — “Poor Things”
Rachel McAdams — “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret”
Da’Vine Joy Randolph — “The Holdovers”
“All Of Us Strangers” — Andrew Haigh
“Poor Things” — Robbie Ryan
“Barbie” — Sarah Greenwood
“Anatomy Of A Fall” — Laurent Sénéchal
“The Zone Of Interest” — Mica Levi
“Anatomy Of A Fall”
“Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros”
“The Boy And The Heron”
Celine Song — “Past Lives”
Agnieszka Holland
“Wang Bing’s Youth (Spring)”

Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Founded in 1975, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is comprised of Los Angeles-based, professional film critics working in the Los Angeles print and electronic media.

Each December, LAFCA members vote on the year’s Achievement Awards, honoring screen excellence on both sides of the camera. Plaques of recognition are presented to winners during LAFCA’s annual ceremony, held in mid-January.

Aside from honoring each year’s outstanding cinematic achievements, LAFCA has also made it a point to look back and pay tribute to distinguished industry veterans with its annual Career Achievement Award (which is announced in October), as well as to look forward by spotlighting fresh, promising talent with its annual New Generation Award.

Over the years, LAFCA Career Achievement winners have included filmmakers John Huston, Orson Welles and Billy Wilder, actors Robert Mitchum, Barbara Stanwyck, Myrna Loy and Robert Preston, producer Roger Corman, and, more recently, cinematographer Conrad L. Hall and composer Ennio Morricone.

Meanwhile, those New Generation Award-winners who were voted most likely to succeed over the past three decades include Martin Scorsese and Jodie Foster (1976’s recipients), John Carpenter, Sean Penn, Spike Lee, Pedro Almodóvar and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Association’s formation had been spearheaded by the late Ruth Batchelor, a writer for the L.A. Free Press and a correspondent for KTTV-TV. Opening its membership to L.A.-based film critics whose reviews appeared regularly in newspapers, trade publications and magazines, as well as on radio and television, LAFCA voted in its first batch of awards on Feb. 13, 1976 at the old Cock’n’Bull Restaurant.

While there was no official awards presentation that year, inaugural winners included “Dog Day Afternoon” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” which tied for Best Picture, while Al Pacino was voted Best Actor and Sidney Lumet received the nod for Best Director, both for “Dog Day Afternoon.” Best Actress Honors went to Florinda Bolkan, the star of Vittorio De Sica’s “A Brief Vacation.”

In the years that followed, LAFCA would continue to grow both in ranks and influence to become a respected organization with a reliable eye for excellence.

But LAFCA is not just about handing out awards. Over the past three decades, LAFCA has sponsored and hosted numerous film panels and events and donated funds to various Los Angeles film organizations, especially where film preservation was concerned.

LAFCA members have also collectively been vocal about taking up causes they’ve felt passionate about, from drafting formal protests against censorship and colorization to lending their support to controversial films.