December 8, 2018
PHILADELPHIA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE NAMES ROMA THE BEST FILM OF 2018
Philadelphia, PA- The Philadelphia Film Critics Circle today voted on its second annual year-end awards, and the choice for Best Movie was Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma.
Roma also won awards for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Film. Tying Roma for the most awards, with three, was If Beale Street Could Talk. From that film, Barry Jenkins won the award for Best Director, Regina King for Best Supporting Actress, and Kiki Layne for Best Breakthrough Performance.
After four rounds of balloting, when no other category required more than two, Viola Davis won the Best Actress award for Widows. In addition, Christian Bale won Best Actor for Vice.
Richard E. Grant won Best Supporting Actor for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, The Incredibles 2 was the winner of Best Animated Film, and Won’t You Be My Neighbor was the choice for Best Documentary. Suspiria was the winner for Best Soundtrack/Score, Boots Riley was awarded Best Directorial Debut for Sorry to Bother You, while the late Audrey Wells won Best Script for The Hate U Give.
For its two special awards, the Steve Friedman Award– for a person or film that drives major public discourse on a topic or issue, went to Black Panther. And the Elaine May Award, for a deserving person or film that brings awareness to women’s issues, went to RBG.
“It was an eclectic year for films of all types, and they that showed through in our results. I couldn’t be happier,” said Rich Heimlich, cofounder of the critics circle.
This was the second year of awards since the Circle’s inception in 2017; Get Out was the 2017 winner for Best Film.
Full list of winners:
Best Picture: Roma
Best Director: Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Best Actor: Christian Bale, Vice
Best Actress: Viola Davis, Widows
Best Supporting Actor: Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me
Best Supporting Actress: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Best Foreign Film: Roma (Mexico)
Best Animated Film: The Incredibles 2
Best Documentary: Won’t You Be My Neighbor
Best Cinematography: Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
Best Breakthrough Performance: Kiki Layne, If Beale Street Could Talk
Best Directorial Debut: Boots Riley, Sorry To Bother You
Best Script: Audrey Wells, The Hate U Give
Best Score/Soundtrack: Suspiria (Thom Yorke)
Elaine May Award: RBG
Steve Friedman Award: Black Panther.