5th annual Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards

Since I compiled nominations, set our online ballot, revealed the winners at our party tonight, wrote the press release, and sent the news to various organizations, I might as well post it here.

Children of Men and The Departed big winners in 5th annual Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards

(Columbus, January 12, 2007) Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men was named Best Film in the Central Ohio Film Critics Association’s 5th annual awards, recognizing excellence in the film industry for 2006. Best Film runner-up The Departed won the most awards, claiming the top spot for Best Director (Martin Scorsese), Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Ensemble, and Best Screenplay–Adapted (William Monahan).

Other individual winners include: Helen Mirren for Best Actress for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen; Dreamgirls’ Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson in the supporting performance categories, with Hudson also winning Breakthrough Film Artist; Actor of the Year Clive Owen for his exemplary work in Children of Men and Inside Man; Apocalypto’s Dean Semler for Best Cinematography; Rian Johnson for Best Screenplay–Original for Brick; and Babel’s Gustavo Santaolalla for Best Score.

Other honored films include: An Inconvenient Truth for Best Documentary; Pan’s Labyrinth for Best Foreign Language Film; Cars for Best Animated Film; and Brick for Best Overlooked Film.

Founded in 2002, the Central Ohio Film Critics Association is made up of film critics based in Columbus, Ohio, and the surrounding areas. Its membership consists of more than 25 print, radio, television, and new media critics. COFCA recently launched its official website at www.cofca.org, which contains links to member reviews and past award winners.

Winners were announced at a private party on January 11.

Complete list of awards:

Best Films
1. Children of Men
2. The Departed
3. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
4. Pan’s Labyrinth
5. Little Miss Sunshine
6. Brick
7. United 93
8. Babel
9. Thank You for Smoking
10. Casino Royale

Best Director
-Martin Scorsese, The Departed
-Runner-up: Alfonso Cuarón, Children of Men

Best Actor
-Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
-Runner-up: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Best Actress
-Helen Mirren, The Queen
-Runner-up: Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada

Best Supporting Actor
-Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
-Runner-up: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine

Best Supporting Actress
-Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
-Runner-up: Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Best Ensemble
-The Departed
-Runner-up: Little Miss Sunshine

Actor of the Year (for an exemplary body of work)
-Clive Owen, Children of Men and Inside Man
-Runner-up:Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond and The Departed

Breakthrough Film Artist
-Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
-Runner-up: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Best Cinematography
-Dean Semler, Apocalypto
-Runner-up: Guillermo Navarro, Pan’s Labyrinth

Best Screenplay – Adapted
-William Monahan, The Departed
-Runner-up: Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby, Children of Men

Best Screenplay – Original
-Rian Johnson, Brick
-Runner-up: Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine

Best Score
-Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel
-Runner-up: Nathan Johnson, Brick

Best Documentary
-An Inconvenient Truth
-Runners-up (tie): Jesus Camp and Wordplay

Best Foreign Language Film
-Pan’s Labyrinth
-Runner-up: Letters from Iwo Jima

Best Animated Film
-Cars
-Runner-up: Monster House

Best Overlooked Film
-Brick
-Runner-up: The Descent

COFCA offers its congratulations to the winners.

For more information about the Central Ohio Film Critics Association, please visit www.cofca.org or e-mail info@cofca.org.

The complete list of members and their affiliations:

Kevin Carr (www.columbuScene.com, www.7mpictures.com) ; Nick Chordas (The Columbus Dispatch), Bill Clark (www.fromthebalcony.com); Nikki Davis (Columbus Alive); John DeSando (90.5 WCBE); Johnny DiLoretto (Fox 28 WTTE); Chad Dull (The Other Paper); Frank Gabrenya (The Columbus Dispatch); Jordan Gentile (The Other Paper); Kaizaad Kotwal (C Magazine, Gay Peoples Chronicle); Kristin Dreyer Kramer (NightsAndWeekends.com); Joyce Long (820 WOSU); Rico Long (820 WOSU); Clay Lowe (90.5 WCBE); Colin Mack (U Weekly); Hope Madden (The Other Paper); Paul Markoff (WOCC-TV3); David Medsker (Bullz-Eye.com); Neil Miller (www.columbusmovieguy.com); J. Caleb Mozzocco (Donewaiting.com); Lori Pearson (Kids-in-Mind.com, critics.com); Mark Pfeiffer (Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema; WOCC-TV3); Margaret Quamme (The Columbus Dispatch); Dave Redelberger (WLVQ, WHOK, WAZU); John Ross (Columbus Alive); Melissa Starker (Columbus Alive); Peter Tonguette (freelance); Jason Zingale (Bullz-Eye.com).