VIMooZ

The Russian film Leviathan won the 8th Asia Pacific Screen Award (APSA) for Best Feature Film, the region’s highest accolade in film at the awards ceremony held in Brisbane, Australia.  The APSA for Achievement in Directing, for the third time in the history of the event, went to Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan for his already Palme d’Or winning film Winter Sleep (Turkey, France, Germany).  The awards recognize and promote cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest-growing film region.

The nominations for the 72nd Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning at the Beverly Hilton hotel, with HFPA president Theo Kingma, Kate Beckinsale, two-time Golden Globe Award-nominee Peter Krause, Paula Patton, and Golden Globe-winner and five-time nominee Jeremy Piven doing the honors. Birdman leads with seven nominations; Boyhood and Imitation Game follows with five each. The 72nd Annual Golden Globe® Awards, hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, will air on Sunday, January 11, 2015, LIVE coast-to-coast on NBC from 5:00-8:00 p.m. (PST)/8:00-11:00 p.m. (EST)

Selma

Selma, described as the first studio film to center around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is the big winner among the critics representing the African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA). Selma earned multiple awards from AAFCA for Best Director, (Ava DuVernay); Best Actor for Oyelowo and Best Song for its John Legend/Common theme song, “Glory”. AAFCA will hold its annual award ceremony and dinner on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 at 7:00pm the Taglyan Complex in Hollywood, CA.

The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) announced its top picks for the year, and “Boyhood”  won the coveted “Best Film” spot.  “Boyhood” also won for Best Director (Richard Linklater), Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Arquette), and Best Youth Performance by Ellar Coltrane, the young boy who literally becomes a man before audiences’ eyes. However, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” was the big winner with five awards. “Birdman,” directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and marking the explosive return of ’80s star Michael Keaton (winner of this year’s Best Actor award), also snatched Best Acting Ensemble, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. 

Under the Skin

The Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking announced the five nominees for its annual Cinema Eye Heterodox Award. The Cinema Eye Heterodox Award honors a narrative fiction film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production. The five films nominated this year for the Cinema Eye Heterodox Award are:

The 2015 Screen Actors Guild Award nominations were announced this morning and Birdman, lead the list with four nominations, including Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for Michael Keaton, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for EdwardNorton, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for EmmaStone and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Following closely, Boyhood, The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything each snagged 3 nominations including for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.  The 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony will take place on January 25, 2015.

WHIPLASH

The American Film Institute (AFI) announced today the official selections of AFI AWARDS 2014 – 11 outstanding films and 10 outstanding television programs deemed culturally and artistically representative of the year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image. 

“We celebrate these films and television programs as more than just milestones in a year of excellence.” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. “They are a part of our American cultural heritage – collectively, a new chapter in the story of the art form and of our nation.”

Boyhood

The Online Film Critics Society announced the nominees for the 18th annual OFCS awards for excellence in film. “Boyhood” lead the field with 6 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for Richard Linklater. Other nominees for Best Picture include  “The Grand Budapest Hotel,”  “Ida,” “The Lego Movie,” “Mommy,” “Nightcrawler,” “Selma,” “Two Days, One Night,” “Whiplash,” and “Under the Skin.”  The 2014 OFCS award winners will be announced on Monday, December 15th.