‘Moonlight’ has won big at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (LAFCA).
The drama movie – which recently swept the board at the Gotham Independent Film Awards – won Best Picture, Best Director for filmmaker Barry Jenkins, Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali and Best Cinematography for James Laxton’s camera work.
‘Moonlight’ tells the story of a guy growing up in a tough Miami neighbourhood at three stages in his life portrayed by a trio of actors, Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders and Alex Hibbert, and also stars Naomie Harris.
Park Chan-wook’s ‘The Handmaiden’ was also named as the winner of two prizes.
The erotic drama motion picture won Best Foreign-Language Film and Best Production Design for Ryu Seong-hee, but ‘La La Land’ triumphed in just one category, for Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s music.
The film narrowly missed out on a further five prizes, including Best Picture and Best Director for Damien Chazelle, ending up runner up on each occasion.
Adam Driver picked up the Best Actor gong for ‘Paterson’ ahead of ‘Manchester By The Sea’ runner-up Casey Affleck, while Isabelle Huppert won Best Actress for ‘Elle and Things to Come’ with Rebecca Hall in second spot for her role in ‘Christine’.
Shirley MacLaine has been chosen as the winner of this year’s Career Achievement Award and all the gongs will be handed out at a special dinner on January 14 at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, LA.
The full list of winners and runners up:
Best Picture
Winner: ‘Moonlight’
Runner-Up: ‘La La Land’
Best Director
Winner: Barry Jenkins, ‘Moonlight’
Runner-Up: Damien Chazelle, ‘La La Land’
Best Actress
Winner: Isabelle Huppert, ‘Elle and Things to Come’
Runner-Up: Rebecca Hall, ‘Christine’
Best Actor
Winner: Adam Driver, ‘Paterson’
Runner-Up: Casey Affleck, ‘Manchester By The Sea’
New Generation
Trey Edward Shults and Krisha Fairchild, ‘Krisha’
Best Foreign-Language Film
Winner: ‘The Handmaiden’
Runner-Up: ‘Toni Erdmann’
Best Animated Film
Winner: ‘Your Name’
Runner-Up: ‘The Red Turtle’
Best Screenplay
Winner: Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos, ‘The Lobster’
Runner-Up: Kenneth Lonergan, ‘Manchester By The Sea’
The Douglas Edwards Independent/Experimental Film/Video Prize
Winner: ‘The Illinois Parables’
Documentary/Non-Fiction
Winner: ‘I Am Not Your Negro’
Runner-up: ‘OJ: Made In America’
Supporting Actress
Winner: Lily Gladstone, ‘Certain Women’
Runner-up: Michelle Williams, ‘Manchester By The Sea’
Editing
Winner: Bret Granato, Maya Mumma, Ben Sozanski, ‘OJ: Made In America’
Runner-up: Tom Cross, ‘La La Land’
Production Design
Winner: Ryu Seong-hee, ‘The Handmaiden’
Runner-up: David Wasco, ‘La La Land’
Supporting Actor
Winner: Mahershala Ali, ‘Moonlight’
Runner-up: Issey Ogata, ‘Silence’
Music/Score
Winner: Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, ‘La La Land’
Runner-up: Mica Levi, ‘Jackie’
Cinematography
Winner: James Laxton, ‘Moonlight’
Runner-up: Linus Sandgren, ‘La La Land’