As teased in this week's podcast installment, it's time for The Team Experience Awards, our fifth yearly celebration! While Nathaniel begins his own Film Bitch Awards, here is our growing team's turn to bestow their year-end accolades without our host.
Last year we went all-in on Todd Haynes's Carol, and this year we have another favorite that receives quite a few prizes: Barry Jenkins's Moonlight. And this wasn't even close: the film was the only one to appear on every ballot in at least one category and was a landslide victory to the big prize. Consider Moonlight the consensus favorite here at The Film Experience. On to our awards:
BEST PICTURE
Moonlight
Runner-Up: The Lobster
BEST UNRELEASED FILM
Personal Shopper
Runner-Up: The Ornithologist
BEST DIRECTOR
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
Runner-Up: Pablo Larraín (Jackie)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Cameraperson
Runner-Up: 13th
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Aquarius
Runner-Up: Elle
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Zootopia
Runner-Up: Kubo and the Two Strings
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou)
Runner-Up: Things to Come (Mia Hansen-Løve)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, story by Tarell Alvin McCraney)
Runner-Up: Love and Friendship (Whit Stillman)
BEST ACTRESS
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Runner-Up: Sonia Braga (Aquarius)
BEST ACTOR
Denzel Washington (Fences)
Runner-Up: Colin Farrell (The Lobster)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)
Runner-Up: Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Runner-Up: TIE - Tom Bennett (Love and Friendship) & Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!)
BEST ENSEMBLE
Moonlight
Runner-Up: 20th Century Women
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Moonlight (James Laxton)
Runner-Up: La La Land (Linus Sandgren)
BEST EDITING
Moonlight (Joi McMillon & Nat Sanders)
Runner-Up: La La Land (Tom Cross)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Handmaiden (Seon-hie Ryu)
Runner-Up: La La Land (David Wasco)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Handmaiden (Sang-gyeong Jo)
Runner-Up: Jackie (Madeline Fontaine)
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR
Jackie
Runner-Up: Hail, Caesar!
BEST MUSIC
Jackie (score by Mica Levi)
Runner-Up: La La Land (music score by Justin Hurwitz, lyrics by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Arrival
Runner-Up: The Jungle Book
BEST SOUND
Arrival
Runner-Up: Silence
The Team Experience Top Ten:
- Moonlight
- The Lobster
- La La Land
- Jackie
- 20th Century Women
- Things to Come
- Aquarius
- Toni Erdmann
- Arrival
- Manchester By The Sea
TRIVIA:
- While the 69 films that received Best Picture bids was up from last year's 61, the number of total films that received votes was down significantly (175 to last year's 206).
- This year was tricky for category confusion for performers. While consensus wouldn't have resulted in a win for most (like Hugh Grant for Florence Foster Jenkins), there were three who could have guaranteed a win or runner-up placement: Viola Davis, Trevante Rhodes, and Ralph Fiennes. If we follow Oscar nomination rules, Davis and Rhodes would be nominated in lead and Fiennes would have been in the Supporting lineup from our results.
- Like The Look of Silence last year, The Lobster has won a prize after having been the previous year's Best Unreleased Film. Will Personal Shopper also remain in our favor next year?
- The closest race was Best Foreign film, with Aquarius leading by a single vote and a third contender right behind Elle. The Original Screenplay win for The Lobster was the biggest landslide, getting more than double the results for Things to Come.
- The category with the highest number of films voted upon was Best Editing at 48. Best Animated Film received the least voted films at 13.
- Some films that performed well without showing up anywhere on the above winners: American Honey, Julieta, Sing Street, and The Witch.
Previous Team Experience Award Winners:
2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012