The Los Angeles Film Critics Association Keeps the ‘Moonlight’ Honors Coming

Is there a more stressful month for film fans than December? Not only are most of us trying to stay on top of our normal holiday stress  —  picking up gifts for our family and friends and dreading time spent in airports and train stations  —  we are also trying to fit in as many movies as possible before the end of the year. Whether you write about film, participate in an office Academy Award pool, or just like watching good movies, there’s nothing like cramming movies into every spare second of an already packed month.

Thankfully, in the weeks leading up to the Oscars, we have some of the smaller awards to help narrow the field. The past week has already seen a flurry of activity, with the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the Gotham Awards all highlighting some of the favorites in this year’s Oscar race with their own selections. And with today’s announcements by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, we can clearly see that Moonlight is a force to be reckoned with, taking home awards for both Best Picture and Best Director.

Can Moonlight keep the momentum going through the rest of award season? Those hoping that the LAFCA results bodes well for Moonlight as this year’s Best Picture might not want to hold their breath; as award season website Gold Derby notes, the LAFCA awards have only predicated the future Best Picture winner eight times in their 41 year history. Then again, one of those eight films was Spotlight in 2015, so maybe there’s still a chance that Moonlight can defy the odds and take home the big prize on Oscar night.

Here are the major awards issued by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association:

Best Picture

WINNER: Moonlight
RUNNER-UP: La La Land

Best Director

WINNER: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
RUNNER-UP: Damien Chazzelle, La La Land

Best Actor

WINNER: Adam Driver, Paterson
RUNNER-UP: Casey Affleck, Manchester By the Sea

Best Actress

WINNER: Isabelle Huppert, Elle and Things to Come
RUNNER-UP: Rebecca Hall, Christine

Best Supporting Actor

WINNER: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
RUNNER-UP: Issy Ogata, Silence

Best Supporting Actress

WINNER:  Lily Gladstone, Certain Women
RUNNER-UP: Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Best Animated Film

WINNER: Your Name
RUNNER-UP: The Red Turtle

Best Foreign Language Film

WINNER: The Handmaiden
RUNNER-UP: Toni Erdmann

Best Documentary

WINNER: I Am Not Your Negro
RUNNER-UP: O.J.: Made in America

Best Screenplay

WINNER: Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos, The Lobster
RUNNER-UP: Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea

Best Editing

WINNER: Bret Granato, Maya Mumma, Ben Sozanski, O.J.: Made in America
RUNNER-UP: Tom Cross, La La Land

Best Production Design

WINNER: Ryu Seong-hee, The Handmaiden
RUNNER-UP: David Wasco, La La Land

Best Music Score

WINNER: Justin Hurwitz, La La Land
RUNNER-UP: Mica Levi, Jackie

Best Cinematography

WINNER: James Laxton, Moonlight
RUNNER-UP: Linus Sandgren, La La Land

Douglas Edwards Independent/Experimental Film/Video

WINNER: Deborah Stratman, The Illinois Parables

New Generation

WINNER: Trey Edwards Shults and Krisha Fairchild, Krisha

Can’t get enough of award season? Be sure to listen to the first episode of ‘And the Podcast Goes To,’ our brand new podcast where we break down all the competition and offer our thoughts on the frontrunners and underdogs for this year’s Academy Awards.