2019 PFCC Annual Awards

December 8, 2019

Philadelphia Film Critics Circle Names Knives Out the Best Film of 2019

Philadelphia, PA: The Philadelphia Film Critics Circle today voted on its third annual year-end awards, and the choice for Best Movie was Rian Johnson‘s Knives Out.

Knives Out also won the award for Best Script, as the awards were spread among several different films.

Martin Scorsese won Best Director for The Irishman, which co-starred Joe Pesci, who shared the Best Supporting Actor award with Brad Pitt, for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Quentin Tarrantino’s film also won for Best Soundtrack.

Florence Pugh won two awards for her work in Little Women, both Best Supporting Actress and Best Breakthrough Performance.

Adam Driver, on the third ballot, won Best Actor for Marriage Story, while Lupita Nyong’o was the winner of Best Actress for Us.

Parasite, from South Korea, was the choice for Best Foreign Language Film, while Toy Story 4 won in the Best Animated category. Apollo 11 won for Best Documentary, while The Lighthouse was the pick for Best Cinematography.

The Best Directorial Debut award was split between Joe Talbot, for The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Olivia Wilde for Booksmart.

For the PFCC’s two special awards, the Steve Friedman Award – for a person or film that drives major public discourse on a topic or issue, went to Todd Phillips‘ Joker. And the Elaine May Award, for a deserving person or film that brings awareness to a story from a women’s perspective, went to Kasi Lemmons‘ Harriet, a film set partially in Philadelphia.

“In this very strong year for movies, we were happy to give awards to a wide variety of different films,” Philadelphia Film Critics Circle co-founder Rich Heimlich said.

“I’m thrilled that we didn’t fall into the trap of choosing expected winners,” said PFCC member James Berardinelli.

This was the third year of awards since the Circle’s inception in 2017; Get Out was the 2017 winner for Best Film, while Roma was the choice in 2018. 

Full list of winners: 

Best Film:

• Knives Out
  • Runner-Up: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Director:

• Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
  • Runner-Up: Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Actress:

• Lupita Nyong’o, Us
  • Runner-Up: Saoirse Ronan, Little Women

Best Actor:

• Adam Driver, Marriage Story
  • Runner-Up: Eddie Murphy, Dolemite Is My Name

Best Supporting Actress:

• Florence Pugh, Little Women
  • Runner-Up: Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers

Best Supporting Actor:

• Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (tie)
• Joe Pesci, The Irishman (tie)

Best Foreign Film: 

• Parasite (South Korea)
  • Runner-Up: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (France)

Best Animated Film: 

• Toy Story 4
  • Runner-Up: Frozen 2

Best Documentary: 

• Apollo 11
  • Runner-Up: The Kingmaker

Best Cinematography:

• The Lighthouse
  • Runner-Up: 1917

Best Breakthrough Performance:

• Florence Pugh, Little Women
  • Runner-Up: Thomasin McKenzie, Jojo Rabbit

Best Directorial Debut:

• Joe Talbot, The Last Black Man in San Francisco (tie)
• Olivia Wilde, Booksmart (tie)

Best Script:

• Knives Out
  • Runner-Up: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Score/Soundtrack:

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • Runner-Up: Us

Elaine May Award:

• Harriet

Steve Friedman Award:

• Joker