Poor Things has been named the best film of 2023 by the Indiana Film Journalists Association, winning 7 awards, the most ever in the 15 years of the IFJA awards, including Best Lead Performance for Emma Stone, Best Supporting Performance for Mark Ruffalo, Best Director for Yorgos Lanthimos, Best Adapted Screenplay for Tony McNamara, Original Vision and Best Ensemble Acting. 

The Zone of Interest was awarded Best Foreign Language Film and Kokomo City was named Best Documentary. Writer/director Celine Song earned the Breakout of the Year Award for her debut film, Past Lives.

The Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award, which goes to a film or filmmaker with Indiana ties, went to Sam Mirpoorian, director of the documentary Greener Pastures.

IFJA members issued this statement for the Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award: “Sam Mirpoorian has shown that an Indiana-based filmmaker can make major waves across the cinematic landscape. His documentary ‘Greener Pastures’ is a powerful look at the lives of independent farmers shot over several years, traveling alongside them before and during Covid, observing their struggles with depression and substance abuse but always demanding we see their intrinsic dignity as those who nourish us. Mirpoorian has rendered those who were largely invisible indelible in our eyes and hearts.”

Winner and runner-up of 2023 Indiana Film Journalists Association Awards

Best Picture

Winner: Poor Things
Runner-up: Oppenheimer

Other Best Film Finalists: (listed alphabetically)

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Barbie
The HoldoversJohn Wick: Chapter 4
Killers of the Flower Moon
May December
Past Lives
Robot Dreams

Best Animated Film

Winner: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Runner-up: Robot Dreams

Best Foreign Language Film

Winner: The Zone of Interest
Runner-up: Godzilla Minus One

Best Documentary Film

Winner: Kokomo City
Runner-up: 20 Days in Mariupol

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Runner-up: Samy Burch (screenplay/story) and Alex Mechanik (story), May December

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner: Tony McNamara, Poor Things
Runner-up: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie

Best Director

Winner: Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Runner-up: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

Best Lead Performance

Winner: Emma Stone, Poor Things
Runner-up: Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer

Best Supporting Performance

Winner: Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things
Runner-up: Robert Downey, Jr., Oppenheimer

Best Vocal/Motion Capture Performance

Winner: Hailee Steinfeld, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Runner-up: Shameik Moore, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Best Ensemble Acting

Winner: Poor Things
Runner-up: Oppenheimer

Best Musical Score

Winner: Ludwig Göransson, Oppenheimer
Runner-up: Robbie Robertson, Killers of the Flower Moon

Breakout of the Year

Winner: Celine Song, Past Lives
Runner-up: Charles Melton, May December

Best Cinematography

Winner: Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer
Runner-up: Dan Laustsen, John Wick: Chapter 4

Best Editing

Winner: Jennifer Lame, Oppenheimer
Runner-up: Thelma Schoonmaker, Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Stunt/Movement Choreography

Winner: Jeremy Marinas (fight coordinator), Scott Rogers (stunt coordinator) and Stephen Levy (stunt choreographer), John Wick: Chapter 4
Runner-up: Jennifer White (choreographer) and Lisa Welham (associate choreographer), Barbie

Original Vision Award

Winner: Poor Things
Runner-up: Barbie

The Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award*

Winner: Director Sam Mirpoorian, Greener Pastures

*As a special honor, no runner-up is named for the Hoosier Award. It is named after founding IFJA member and longtime NUVO Newsweekly critic Edward Johnson-Ott.