awards

Nominations for the 18th annual Chlotrudis Awards were finalized by the film group’s nominating committee last weekend.  At the top of the heap, collecting Best Film, Director, Actor and Actress nods among its 7 nominations was the silent people can’t stop talking about, THE ARTIST.

Four other films received 4 or more nominations, including fellow Best Movie nominees ANOTHER YEAR, director Mike Leigh’s latest, and the low-budget independent WEEKEND (pictured left), both clear-eyed studies of relationships in today’s England, featuring acting tour de forces. The other front runner films are Lars von Trier’s dystopian MELANCHOLIA and MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, with its impressive directorial and lead actress debuts. | Read more »

Mark your calendars!  The 18th Annual Chlotrudis Awards ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, March 18, 5pm at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA.  This gala event with a grass roots twist features the announcement of the Society's picks of the best films and performances of 2011, musical numbers, special tributes, and special awards presented to guest filmmakers.  We hope to announce our first guest next week, and it's very exciting! 

In the meantime, Chlotrudis member will be gathering next weeked on January 21, to create the ballot for this year's awards.  Once the ballot is set, Chlotrudis members will begin watching the nominated films in earnest to prepare for voting.  It's usually hard to predict what film will win the coveted Chotrudis Award for Best Movie -- or even more exciting, Buried Treasure!  Do you have any guesses?

While Debra Granik's WINTER'S BONE was a bridesmaid at the Academy Awards, it was the big winner last night at the 17th Annual Chlotrudis Awards. With a 50% success rate, WINTER'S BONE picked up four Trudies out of its eight nominations including the top prizes, Best Movie and Best Director as well as Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography.  It's the first time the same film took the top two prizes since Michael Haneke's CACHE did the trick at the 13th Awards, and the first woman to take the Best Director prize since Sofia Coppola scored with LOST IN TRANSLATION back at the 10th annual Awards Ceremony. (She took Best Movie that year as well.)  Joon-ho Bong's MOTHER took two awards, Best Original Screenplay, and in perhaps the biggest upset, Best Actress for Hye-ja Kim. | Read more »

It was a big weekend for Chlotrudis as nominations for the 17th annual Chlotrudis Awards were finalized by the nominating committee. Leading the pack is Debra Granik’s stunning WINTER’S BONE, with 8 nominations, including Best Movie, Best Director and Best Actress. Five other films received 4 or more nominations, including fellow Best Movie nominees THE KING’S SPEECH, starring Colin Firth & Geoffrey Rush; Quebecois wunderkind Xavier Dolan’s I KILLED MY MOTHER; JACK GOES BOATING, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s directorial debut; and MOTHER, the latest from Korea’s Joon-ho Bong. Rounding out the category is the Peruvian ghost story, UNDERTOW. In all, 40 films received nominations; 20 countries were represented, with US films making up just over 30%. There were other multiple nominees, among them three-timers ANIMAL KINGDOM, FISH TANK and RABBIT HOLE. | Read more »

The Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film is excited to announce that World Wide Motion Pictures Corporation has picked up Danish film APPLAUSE for U.S. release in early December, and we are working with the distribution company to spread the word.  Chlotrudis members will want to see Paprika Steen's show-stopping, performance as a popular actress struggling to control her alcohol addiction. Members saw the film at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, and the raves for Steen herald a potential Chlotrudis Award nomination.  | Read more »

Actor Josh Hutcherson and actress Mia Wasikowska took the honors as the #1 male and female rising star on the fifth annual Popcorn N Roses Rising Stars list as announced on Sunday, July 4.

Hutcherson just edged out actor Logan Lerman for the top spot on the male side, with actor Kyle Gallner in the #3 position. On the women’s side, Wasikowska is the first non-American female to top the annual list. She is followed by actress Chloe Grace Moretz at #2 and actress Emma Stone at #3. | Read more »

The Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film is thrilled to announce our first guest to be honored at the 16th Annual Chlotrudis Awards, March 21, 5pm at the Brattle Theatre. Beth Grant is exactly the kind of actor Chlotrudis loves to honor. Like Maury Chaykin and Alberta Watson, previous recipients of the “Career-so-far” award, Beth Grant is one of those people whose name you may not be familiar with, but whose face and delightfully uptight performances you will recognize from dozens of independent and mainstream films, and television. Beth Grant is the kind of performer who rarely leads the cast, but whose presence is sure to enhance anything she is in. | Read more »

The listing of nominations for the 16th Annual Chlotrudis Awards has its own page. It's still in process, but should be complete in early March. In the meantime, visit the Current Awards page for the list of nominations. The 16th Annual Chlotrudis Awards will be announced on Sunday, May 21, 5pm at the Brattle Theatre. Watch this spot for a very special announcement about our first special guest coming very soon!

Nominations for the 16th annual Chlotrudis Awards were finalized by the film group’s nominating committee on January 30. The strength and breadth of this year’s best eligible films is evident in the extraordinarily even and consistent spread of nominations across the top categories. All five films nominated for Best Picture received 4 nominations, which was the highest number of nominations given any film. In addition, all received at least one lead acting or ensemble nomination, and all but one were nominated for Best Director.

The five films nominated for Best Picture and sharing top billing in most nominations received are: Claire Denis’ 35 SHOTS OF RUM, BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL – NEW ORLEANS the latest from Werner Herzog, recent DGA recipient Kathryn Bigelow’s THE HURT LOCKER, STILL WALKING from Japan’s Hirokazu Koreeda and Michael Haneke’s THE WHITE RIBBON. Also joining them as top nomination getter is A SINGLE MAN, Tom Ford’s directorial debut.

In all, 39 films received nominations; 19 countries were represented, with US films making up barely 40%. There were other multiple nominees, among them three-timers AN EDUCATION, IN THE LOOP and PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE; however this year’s nominations were sprinkled far and wide – almost three-quarters of the nominated films received only one nomination. Female directors had a fairly strong showing this year, with 10 films helmed by women among the nominees.

In the Society’s most competitive and prestigious category, the Buried Treasure, the final nominees were CHERRY BLOSSOMS from Germany’s Dorit Dorrie, about a widower honoring his late wife’s lifelong wish to visit Japan; THE NEW YEAR PARADE, set in Philadelphia amid Mummers; and three UK films: BRONSON, with Tom Hardy’s tour de force portrayal of England’s most notorious prisoner; OF TIME AND THE CITY, Terence Davies’ love/hate ode to the Liverpool of his boyhood; and the gritty SOMERS TOWN about the friendship between two rootless boys in London.

The Buried Treasure is the only category with eligibility requirements: nominated films must have earned less than $250,000 in its U.S. theatrical run, and members can submit no more than 3 entries for films they feel strongly were given distributional short shrift and deserve a wider audience. A shortlist is then compiled before the final vote, and those selections are published on the group’s website and in a separate press release. Once the final ballot is set, all members voting in the category must verify that they have watched in full all of the nominated films.

For over a decade, the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film has highlighted its commitment to independent and foreign film in style by holding its own black-tie CHLOTRUDIS AWARDS ceremony in early spring. The 2010 edition will be held Sunday March 21st at the historic Brattle Theatre, and the public is invited to join Chlotrudis members, nominees and special guests in the celebration.

In addition to the competitive categories, Chlotrudis also presents special awards that honor individuals or films for particular distinction. Past recipients Ellen Page (Breakthrough Award ‘05), Kerry Washington (Breakthrough Award ‘04), Don McKellar (Body of Work Award ‘07) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (first Hall of Fame inductee) are among those who have made the trek to Boston to be honored for their contributions toindependent film. This year’s recipients are still being finalized at press time.

A complete list of the nominations for the 16th Annual Chlotrudis Awards
follows:

BEST MOVIE
35 Shots of Rum
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans
The Hurt Locker
Still Walking
The White Ribbon

BEST DIRECTOR
Claire Denis– 35 Shots of Rum
Werner Herzog – The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans
Gotz Spielmann – Revanche
Hirokazu Koreeda – Still Walking
Michael Haneke – The White Ribbon

BEST ACTOR
Nicolas Cage – The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Sam Rockwell - Moon
Baard Owe – O’Horten
Colin Firth – A Single Man

BEST ACTRESS
Nisreen Faour – Amreeka
Charlotte Gainsbourg – Antichrist
Abbie Cornish – Bright Star
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Catalina Saavedra – The Maid
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Yolande Moreau – Seraphine

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alfred Molina – An Education
Mads Mikkelsen – Flame and Citron
Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker
Peter Capaldi – In the Loop
Christian McKay – Me and Orson Welles

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Rinko Kikuchi - The Brothers Bloom
Alycia Delmore – Humpday
Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Ursula Strauss – Revanche Julianne Moore – A Single Man

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE CAST
35 Shots of Rum
In the Loop
Still Walking
Summer Hours
The White Ribbon

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Beaches of Agnes
Me and Orson Welles
Moon
A Single Man
Sita Sings the Blues

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Agnes Godard - 35 Shots of Rum
Anthony Dod Mantle - Antichrist
John Christian Rosenlund – O’Horten
Alexis Zabe – Silent Light
Christian Berger – The White Ribbon

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Class
An Education
Gomorrah
Pontypool
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire A Single Man

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
(500) Days of Summer
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans
The Hurt Locker
In the Loop
Still Walking

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Beaches of Agnes
La Danse
Good Hair
Herb and Dorothy
Theatre of War
Unmistaken Child

BURIED TREASURE
Bronson
Cherry Blossoms
The New Year Parade
Of Time and the City
Somers Town

Good for Katherine Bigelow and THE HURT LOCKER for being awarded the Best Director and Best Movie of 2009 respectively by the Boston Society of Film Critics. Other winners of interest include THE COVE for Best Documentary, and SUMMER HOURS for Best Foreign Film. But what's up with Best Ensemble Cast... a tie between PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE and STAR TREK? I think they're trying to outdo Chlotrudis for startling choices. Now, I thought the cast of STAR TREK did an admirable job, but really, I would hardly call it award-worthy. Just my opinion though.

For the complete list of winners, check out their webpage.