THE CHICAGO INDEPENDENT FILM CRITICS CIRCLE HAS NAMED ITS NOMINEES FOR THE FIRST ANNUAL CIFCC AWARDS

Capping off their inaugural year, the members of newly-formed Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle, of which I am a director and co-founder, have announced their nominees for their first annual CIFCC Awards.  Their voting membership of 28 members strong completed ballots over the holidays with the goal of three final nominees in 25 categories.  They will commence a final round of voting ending on January 1, 2017 and host an invitation-only awards banquet at Transistor Chicago on January 8, 2017.

Leading all films with eight nominations is "Moonlight" from director Barry Jenkins.  Following closely with seven nominations each are "Jackie," "La La Land," and "The Handmaiden."  There are 35 different films included in 25 total categories for the 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 are the directors behind "The Love Witch," "Swiss Army Man," "The Lobster," and "The Illinois Parables."  The Impact Award celebrates a person whose work has had a positive impact on society and the nominees include documentarian Ava Duvernay for "13th," filmmaker Barry Jenkins for "Moonlight," and University of Chicago programmer Jacqueline Stewart.

From this first round of CIFCC voting, the film critics group has compiled a pair of “10 Best” lists for 2016, 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):

"A Bigger Splash," "Green Room," "Hell or High Water," "Jackie," "Love & Friendship," "The Love Witch," "Loving," "Manchester by the Sea," "Moonlight," "The Witch"

THE 10 BEST STUDIO FILMS (in alphabetical order):

"Arrival," "Captain America: Civil War," "The Conjuring 2," "Fences," "Hail, Caesar!," "La La Land," "The Neon Demon," "The Nice Guys," "Nocturnal Animals," "Sully"

The complete list of nominees for the 2016 CIFCC Awards:

BEST INDEPENDENT FILM

"Jackie"

"Love & Friendship"

"Moonlight"

BEST STUDIO FILM

"Arrival"

"La La Land"

"Nocturnal Animals"

BEST FOREIGN FILM

"Elle"

"The Handmaiden"

"Toni Erdmann"

BEST DOCUMENTARY

"13th"

"O.J.: Made in America"

"Tower"

BEST MICRO-BUDGET FILM

"The Fits"

"Kate Plays Christine"

"Krisha"

BEST ANIMATED FILM

"Kubo and the Two Strings"

"Tower"

"Zootopia"

BEST CHICAGO FILM

"Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party"

"Pause of the Clock"

"Southside with You"

BEST DIRECTOR

Damien Chazelle ("La La Land")

Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight")

Pablo Larrain ("Jackie")

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

"Hell or High Water" (Taylor Sheridan)

"The Lobster" (Yorgos Lanthimos/Efthymis Filippou)

"Manchester by the Sea" (Kenneth Lonergan)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

"The Handmaiden" (Park Chan-wook/Jeong Seo-kyeong)

"Moonlight" (Barry Jenkins)

"Nocturnal Animals" (Tom Ford)

BEST ACTOR

Casey Affleck ("Manchester by the Sea")

Ryan Gosling ("La La Land")

Denzel Washington ("Fences")

BEST ACTRESS

Kate Beckinsale ("Love & Friendship")

Isabelle Huppert ("Elle")

Natalie Portman ("Jackie")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali ("Moonlight")

Jeff Bridges ("Hell or High Water")

Michael Shannon ("Nocturnal Animals")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Viola Davis ("Fences")

Naomie Harris ("Moonlight")

Michelle Williams ("Manchester by the Sea")

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

"Everybody Wants Some!!"

"Fences"

"Moonlight"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

"The Handmaiden"

"La La Land"

"Moonlight"

"The Witch"

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

"The Handmaiden"

"La La Land"

"The Love Witch"

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

"The Handmaiden"

"Jackie"

"The Love Witch"

BEST EDITING

"The Handmaiden"

"Jackie"

"La La Land"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

"Jackie" (Mica Levi)

"La La Land" (Justin Hurwitz)

"The Neon Demon" (Cliff Martinez)

BEST MAKEUP

"The Handmaiden"

"Jackie"

"Swiss Army Man"

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

"Doctor Strange"

"The Jungle Book"

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"

BEST SHORT FILM

"Inner Workings"

"Piper"

"The Stylist"

BEST UNDISTRIBUTED FILM

"Atmo Horrox"

"Viaje"

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Anna Biller ("The Love Witch")

Daniel Kwan/Daniel Scheinert ("Swiss Army Man")

Yorgos Lanthimos ("The Lobster")

Deborah Stratman ("The Illinois Parables")

IMPACT AWARD

Ava Duvernay ("13th")

Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight")

Jacqueline Stewart (Pioneers of African-American Cinema)