Snowden film 'CitizenFour' wins top documentary award

LOS ANGELES - "CitizenFour," filmmaker Laura Poitras's documentary about National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, was given the top award for best feature by the International Documentary Association on Friday.

The IDA award for "CitizenFour" follows the film's best documentary win at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards this week. It was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award last month and is among 15 films advancing in the Oscars best documentary race.

"CitizenFour" gives a fly-on-the-wall account of Snowden's tense days in a Hong Kong hotel and encounters with journalists as newspapers published details of NSA programs that gathered data from the Internet activities and phone records of millions of Americans and dozens of world leaders.

U.S. filmmaker Poitras shared a Pulitzer Prize this year for her role in publicizing the Snowden documents. She was awarded IDA's Courage Under Fire award last year for her "conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth."

The IDA, a 30-year-old non-profit organization that aims to support documentary films and culture, also bestowed honors on veteran actor-filmmaker and Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford, who was given the career achievement award.

Cable network Show time's "Time of Death" was named best limited series, while best short documentary went to HBO Films' "Tashi and the Monk," about a Buddhist monk and his 5-year-old charge Tashi.

Last year's IDA best feature winner, Jehane Noujaim's "The Square," was nominated for an Oscar this year, losing out to "20 Feet From Stardom."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

New York critics pick 'Boyhood' as best film

NEW YORK -- "Boyhood," a coming-of-age drama filmed over 12 years with the same actors, dominated the New York Film Critics Circle Awards on Monday, winning best picture of 2014, best director for Richard Linklater and the best supporting actress category.

Actor Timothy Spall was named best actor for his portrayal of one of Britain's greatest painters, J.M.W. Turner, in "Mr. Turner," and Marion Cotillard nabbed the top actress honors for roles in two films, "The Immigrant" and "Two Days, One Night."

With presentation set for on January 5 in New York, these are the first major movie awards in the run-up to the Oscars, the film industry's highest accolades.

Actor J.K. Simmons picked up the best supporting actor prize for playing a music teacher who terrorizes a student in "Whiplash," while Patricia Arquette won best supporting actress as the mother in "Boyhood," which follows a boy growing up from age 5 to 18.

The New York Film Critics Circle, founded in 1935, is among the oldest such groups in the country and its members represent newspapers, magazines and online publications.

The awards are regarded as a bellwether for the Oscars, which will be bestowed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on February 22.

The NYFCC selected "The Lego Movie" as the best animated film and "Ida," the story of a young woman on the verge of taking her vows as a nun in 1960s Poland, as best foreign film.

"Citizenfour," a documentary by director Laura Poitras about former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who released tens of thousands of classified documents to the media, was named best non-fiction film.

The best screenplay award went to Wes Anderson for "The Grand Budapest Hotel," a tale about a concierge in a famous fictional hotel between the first and second World Wars, and the best cinematography prize to Darius Khondji for "The Immigrant."

Jennifer Kent won the best first-film prize for her thriller "The Babadook."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com