2017 was tough. With a heightened need to escape from the endless grind of bad news, cinema delivered a stellar year yet again. Come year’s end, that makes our job as critics more difficult as we weigh up what really deserves recognition (a small burden lifted by wondrous storytelling, performances, and the craft of so many that go into bringing a film to life). As an Austin based entity, Cinapse is connected geographically to the AFCA, but also through membership, with four of our contributors also being proud members of the AFCA, myself included.
The nominees were announced back on December 30th, and while we all have our own personal favorites (see the bottom of the article for mine), the winners announced today are all certainly worthy of recognition. Read on for the official release as well as my own personal take on the year’s best.
Austin Film Critics Association 2017 Award Winners + Top Ten Films
The Austin Film Critics Association (AFCA) announced its 2017 awards today, with Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” winning Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, and Best First Film. Guillermo del Toro wins Best Director for The Shape of Water, which leads the group’s Top Ten list.
Acting award winners include Timothée Chalamet, as Best Actor for “Call Me By Your Name,” Frances McDormand as Best Actress for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Willem Dafoe for Best Supporting Actor in “The Florida Project,” and Allison Janney for Best Supporting Actress in “I, Tonya.”
Timothée Chalamet also receives the Robert R. “Bobby” McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award for “Call Me By Your Name,” “Lady Bird,” and “Hostiles.”
Two film legends also win AFCA awards: James Ivory, for his Best Adapted Screenplay for “Call Me By Your Name,” and Roger Deakins, for Best Cinematography for “Blade Runner 2049.”
Alexandre Desplat wins Best Score for The Shape of Water.
Other major awards includes Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja” winning Best Foreign Language Film, Agnès Varda and JR’s Faces Places winning Best Documentary, and Disney/Pixar’s “Coco” winning Best Animated Feature.
The AFCA also announces two Special Awards, honoring The Shape of Water’s Doug Jones and War for the Planet of the Apes’ Andy Serkis for their exemplary body and motion-capture performances, respectively, and the late Harry Dean Stanton for his long and distinguished career.
The AFCA previously announced director Macon Blair’s “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore” won the Austin Film Award.
The full list of winners, plus the AFCA Top Ten Films of 2017 list, is included below. You can also find details at the AFCA website, www.austinfilmcritics.org.
Founded in 2005 by Cole Dabney and Bobby McCurdy, the Austin Film Critics Association is a group dedicated to supporting the best in film, whether at the international, national, or local level. The AFCA has seen its numbers grow to more than 30 members with a diverse roster of professional film critics who regularly review movies for national television stations, daily newspapers, weekly alternatives, local radio, monthly magazines, and websites with international prominence. AFCA members vote on the year’s best in film, celebrating excellence on both sides of the camera. The outlets AFCA members represent include the Austin American-Statesman, the Austin Chronicle, Cinapse, the Daily Texan, Double Toasted, DVDActive, Fandango, Film School Rejects, FirstShowing.net, Hammer to Nail, Hill Country News, Horror’s Not Dead, Junkfood Cinema, KOOP 91.7 FM Radio, Movies.com, One Of Us, ScreenCrush, Smells Like Screen Spirit, and Spectrum News.
Best Film: Get Out (dir: Jordan Peele)
Best Director: Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
Best Actor: Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Best Actress: Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Best Original Screenplay: Jordan Peele, Get Out
Best Adapted Screenplay: James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
Best Score: Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water
Best Foreign-Language Film: Okja (dir: Bong Joon-ho)
Best Documentary: Faces Places (dirs: Agnès Varda and JR)
Best Animated Film: Coco (dir: Lee Unkrich)
Best First Film: Get Out (dir: Jordan Peele)
The Robert R. “Bobby” McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award: Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, Hostiles
Austin Film Award: I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (dir: Macon Blair)
Special Honorary Award: To The Shape of Water’s Doug Jones and War for the Planet of the Apes’ Andy Serkis for their exemplary body and motion-capture performances, respectively.
Special Honorary Award: To honor Harry Dean Stanton, for his body of work
AFCA 2017 Top Ten Films:
- The Shape of Water
- Call Me By Your Name
- Lady Bird
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- The Florida Project
- Dunkirk
- Get Out
- I, Tonya
- The Big Sick
- Logan
Jon’s 2017 Top 10:
Now for the hard part, for me at least. Spoiled for choice, my top 3 are relatively set in place. The rest are fluid, even with the honorable mentions, and were tough to nail down. My list stands at this moment as:
- Dunkirk
- The Shape of Water
- The Killing of a Sacred Deer
- Lady Bird
- Baby Driver
- Get Out
- The Big Sick
- I, Tonya
- John Wick 2
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Honorable mentions:
The Beguiled, Blade Runner 2049, Call Me By Your Name, Colossal, The Disaster Artist, The Florida Project, Personal Shopper, The Post, Raw, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Missouri, mother!, World of Tomorrow: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts.
Click on the titles for my review where applicable. *Disclaimer, I still have not yet seen The Phantom Thread.
Winners of my “what the hell were they thinking” awards:
King Arthur, Bright, The Book of Henry, Downsizing.