Film News: Chicago Film Critics Association Names ‘Moonlight’ as 2016 Best Picture

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CHICAGO – The poignant identity film “Moonlight” was named the 2016 Best Picture by the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), in an announcement on December 15th. The film also took home the Best Director (Barry Jenkins) and Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali) honors. “Manchester by the Sea” got the most honors, with four, from a voting survey of the CFCA.

’Moonlight,’ Honored as 2016 Best Picture by the Chicago Film Critics Association
Photo credit: A24

There were 17 categories of film excellence selected by the CFCA, including acting, directing, screenplay, production elements and score, plus documentary, animated and foreign language films. Two of the more unique categories are Most Promising Performer and Filmmaker, which honors outstanding newcomers. The CFCA honored Robert Eggers of “The Witch” for filmmaker, a testament to the association’s ability to find and nurture up-and-coming film artists. Lucas Hedges, of “Manchester by the Sea,” was Most Promising Performer.

Rounding out the rest of the major awards, Casey Affleck was honored as Best Actor for “Manchester by the Sea,” for his riveting performance about loss and pain. Natalie Portman was Best Actress for “Jackie,” by creating a powerful persona for the former first lady. Surprises included the Best Documentary category, with the seven hour multi-tiered “O.J.: Made in America” taking the honor, and the Best Animated Feature went to the overwhelmingly beautiful “Kubo and the Two Strings.”

The Chicago Film Critics Association is an organization that oversees many events in the Chicagoland area, including the Chicago Film Critics Awards, the Chicago Critics Film Festival and various film discussions and events around the city and surrounding suburbs. The complete list of 2016 honorees are as follows…

Best Picture
Moonlight

Best Director
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Best Actress
Natalie Portman, Jackie

Best Actor
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

Best Supporting Actress
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Best Original Screenplay
Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan


Best Adapted Screenplay

The Handmaiden, Seo Kyung-Chung & Chan-wook Park


Best Foreign Language Film
The Handmaiden

Best Documentary
OJ: Made in America

Best Animated Feature
Kubo and the Two Strings

Best Art Direction/Production Design
The Handmaiden, Seong-hie Ryu

Best Cinematography
La La Land, Linus Sandgren

Best Editing
La La Land, Tom Cross

Best Original Score
Jackie, Mica Levi

Most Promising Performer
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea

Most Promising Filmmaker
Robert Eggers, The Witch

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com