Daniel
Kaluuya in Get Out, this
year’s top film according to the AFCC. Image courtesy of Universal Pictures
Atlanta
Film Critics Circle Announces Annual Award Winners
Atlanta (Dec. 2017)--Co-founded in 2017 by longtime
Atlanta film critics Michael Clark and Felicia Feaster, the Atlanta Film
Critics Circle (AFCC) has released its awards for this year’s top films,
performers and other stand-outs in a host of critical categories.
Jordan Peele’s debut film effort, Get Out, a blend of horror and social
commentary, was the winner as the top film of the year for its insightful
transposition of issues of race to the horror genre, followed by Christopher
Nolan’s skillful, galvanizing Dunkirk,
about that definitive WWII battle, and a rousing throwback to the technical
proficiency and style of classic Hollywood cinema.
Winners in the Top 10 film category were a blend of
established talent like Steven Spielberg for The Post, horror/fantasy vet Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water and Nolan (Dunkirk).
But
in addition to notable works by some of Hollywood’s heavy-hitters, 2017 also
signaled the rise of some promising newcomers including actress and first-time
director Greta Gerwig whose coming-of-age dramedy Lady Bird, centers on a Sacramento teen headed for college who
continually clashes with her emotionally-paralyzed mother (AFCC’s Best Supporting Actress
winner Laurie Metcalf); writers Emily V. Gordon and comedian Kumail Nanjiani’s The Big Sick, based on
Gordon’s real-life experience with a life-threatening illness; and Jordan
Peele, a former member of the comedy duo Key and Peele, who delivered a
stunning testament to black fear of the white power structure told through the
eyes of a young black man meeting his white girlfriend’s parents for the first
time in Get Out.
Newcomers and indie and Hollywood stalwarts alike
defined this year’s AFCC acting winners. British actress Sally Hawkins
delivered a complex, emotionally resonant performance as a mute woman in love
with an amphibious creature in The Shape
of Water while Laurie Metcalf, perhaps best known for her turn on television’s
“Roseanne,” offered a tragic, nuanced performance as a deeply flawed mother in Lady Bird. Longtime film and theater heavyweight
Willem Dafoe won a Best Supporting Actor nod from the AFCC for his performance
as a harried but decent Orlando, Florida motel manager in director Sean Baker‘s
poignant treatment of characters living on society’s margins in The Florida Project. Heralded for his
exceptional turn as a brilliant, sophisticated but romantically inexperienced
young man falling in love for the first time, 21-year-old Timothée Chalamet was
recognized by AFCC for his heart-wrenching performance in Call Me by Your Name.
In addition to these awards, the AFCC each year
recognizes a performer, writer or director in the AFCC Breakthrough Award
dedicated to exceptional emerging talent in the film industry.
This year’s Breakthrough Award winner was Jordan
Peele for his remarkable dexterity in moving from comedy to profound social
issue horror in Get Out. This year’s
runner up for the Breakthrough Award was Timothée Chalamet. Says AFCC
co-founder Michael Clark, of the Gwinnett
Daily Post, “the
nomination process for our ‘Breakthrough Award’ alone speaks volumes about the
diversity in our group. The finalists were the director of a cutting-edge,
socially aware horror/thriller and an emerging young actor starring in a tragic
romantic drama. I’m proud to have co-founded a group with such a collective
keen eye on blossoming talent.”
“This has been an exceptionally good year to be a
film critic” says AFCC co-founder Felicia Feaster whose work appears in Atlanta magazine, Burnaway, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Travel
Channel, “with a host of remarkable films that engage with very relevant social
issues and also propel the art of filmmaking forward by reinvigorating a genre
like monster movies in The Shape of Water
or the war film in Dunkirk. The AFCC
has already demonstrated a knack for identifying notable talent, both new and
established.”
Full
list of AFCC winners:
TOP
10 2017 FILMS
1. Get Out
2. Dunkirk
3. Lady Bird
4. The Shape
of Water
5. Call Me by
Your Name
6. The Florida
Project
7. Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
8. The Big
Sick
9. Baby Driver
10. The Post
BEST
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name
BEST
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sally Hawkins in The
Shape of Water
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe in The
Florida Project
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird
BEST
ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST
DIRECTOR
Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk
BEST
SCREENPLAY
Jordan Peele for Get
Out
BEST
DOCUMENTARY
Tie: Jane
and Kedi
BEST
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
BPM
(Beats Per Minute)
BEST
ANIMATED FILM
Coco
BEST
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Hoyte van Hoytema for Dunkirk
AFCC
BREAKTHROUGH AWARD
Jordan Peele for Get
Out
ABOUT THE AFCC
Composed of a dynamic mix of Atlanta-based critics
working in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, the newly launched
Atlanta Film Critics Circle solidifies Atlanta’s status as a Top 10 film market
with a robust media presence and a booming film production industry. Georgia is
currently number 1 in feature film production over any other market according
to FilmL.A. Inc.
Co-founded by Michael Clark and
Felicia Feaster, founding members (in alphabetical order) of AFCC are: Ed Adams
(Kaleidoscope Reviews), Christopher Campbell (Movies.com), Michael Clark (The
Gwinnett Daily Post), Jake Cole (Slant.com), Jim Farmer (Out on Film),
Felicia Feaster (Burnaway, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Travel
Channel.com), Matt Goldberg (Collider.com), Jonathan Hickman (Newnan
Times-Herald), Curt Holman (Creative Loafing, Living Intown Magazine),
Will Leitch (New York Magazine, Paste Magazine, The New
Republic),
Emma Loggins (Fanbolt), Michael
McKinney (the CW), Steve Murray (ArtsATL), Kyle Pinion (Comicsbeat.com,
GeekRex.com),
Eleanor Ringel-Cater (The Atlanta
Business Chronicle), Gil Robertston (Kaleidoscope Reviews), Matt Rodriguez
(Shakefire.com), Elijah
Sarkesian (Outtakes ATL), Josh
Sewell (Times-Georgian, Douglas County Sentinel), Jeff Stafford
(ArtsATL), Dean Treadway (Movie Geeks United), Jim Vorel (Paste Magazine),
Steve Warren (InSite), Drew Wheeler (Athens Flagpole).
For more information about AFCC or
our annual award winners, please contact Felicia Feaster at ffeaster@bellsouth.net
Nahuel
Pérez Biscayart stars in the AFCC Best Foreign-Language Film award-winner BPM. ©Céline
Nieszawer/The Orchard
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