The Film Experience

Amir here, to welcome you to the 4th annual Team Experience Awards, bestowed on the year’s best in film by the Film Experience community (you can read about us here) – sans Nathaniel, our host; you can follow his personal awards here. In the past three installments, we honoured Leos Carax’s Holy Motors (France/Germany), Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (USA/UK) and Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin (UK/USA/Switzerland) as our Best Pictures.

Perhaps it won’t surprise you that the awards below, particularly in the craft categories, are more or less dominated by a couple of films that we have all been championing throughout the year, but the usual caveats of all our team posts apply to this one as well. Though the final results might be not be shocking, there were bloodbaths in most categories with many strong contenders for each prize. The best actress category’s contenders, for example, were separated by a hair, rather fittingly, given the winner and and the runner-up.

Some of these behind the scenes details are listed in the trivia section, but without further ado, here are the winners of 2015’s Team Experience Awards:

BEST PICTURE
Carol Runner-up: Brooklyn

BEST UNRELEASED FILM
The Lobster Runner-up: Chevalier

foreign film, acting prizes, and craft achievements after the jump...

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Girlhood Runner-up: Son of Saul

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
The Look of Silence Runner-up: In Jackson Heights

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Inside Out Runner-up: Shaun the Sheep

BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes (Carol) Runner-up: George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Inside Out Runner-up: Spotlight

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Carol Runners-up: (tied) Brooklyn, 45 Years

BEST ACTOR
Tom Courtenay (45 Years) Runner-up: Michael B. Jordan (Creed)

BEST ACTRESS
Rooney Mara (Carol) Runner-up: Cate Blanchett (Carol)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina) Runner-up: Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria) Runner-up: Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

BEST ENSEMBLE
Spotlight Runner-up: Brooklyn

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Carol Runner-up: Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Carol Runner-up: Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Carol Runner-up: Brooklyn

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Ex Machina Runner-up: Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST MAKEUP
Mad Max: Fury Road Runner-up: MacBeth

BEST EDITING
Carol Runner-up: Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST SOUND DESIGN
Mad Max: Fury Road Runner-up: Sicario

BEST MUSIC
Carol Runner-up: It Follows

Trivia

• A whopping 206 films were voted for in all categories, beating our previous record by more than 40 films. Sixty-one different films were voted for in the best picture category, covering all six continents, more than 20 languages, and the entire span of the globe, from The Assassin to Timbuktu to The Pearl Button.

• The earliest release for a film with a best picture vote on our ballots is January 2nd (Bruno Dumont’s L’il Quinquin), though you could argue that Asghar Farhadi’s About Elly is the oldest, given it was originally released in Iran and Europe in 2009. The latest release is Christmas Day (45 Years, The Hateful Eight, The Revenant).

• The borderline case of Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina was voted highly in the best supporting actress category, but there’s no trace of category fraud in our lead actress selection, where both Carol ladies were included. It was a tight, hard-fought battle all the way through between Mara, Blanchett and Charlotte Rampling (45 Years), who in the end could not separate the two lovers.

• Frederick Wiseman continues to be Team Experience’s most beloved director. His last three films have all made our lineup: At Berkeley was the runner-up in 2013; National Gallery was the winner last year.

• Our acting awards weren’t as white as the Academy’s (this is not a call and response: our voting closed on January 8th.) Aside from the above mentioned Jordan and Isaac, Benicio Del Toro would also be included were we to expand our nominees to a full roster of twenty. Oscar acting nominees who didn’t receive a single vote from our team? Brian Cranston and Rachel McAdams. McAdams at least has the consolation prize of the best ensemble award. On the other hand, Trumbo didn’t receive any votes in any categories.

• By far the most popular film of which you can see no sign here is Diary of a Teenage Girl, a close contender in several categories, including screenplay, actress and supporting actor.

• Finally, here’s the team full top ten list:

Carol
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
45 Years
Tangerine
Room
Inside Out
Sicario
Son of Saul
Spotlight