Female critics' group hails 'Little Miss Sunshine' as best pic
There has long been a need for female film critics to form their own voting body and emerge from the bully shadows of male-dominated critics' groups blinded by testosterone when they choose award winners. Look over the list of best-picture winners cited by the New York Film Critics Circle through the years, for example. Macho-ism obviously rules. In the years when Oscar voters endorsed "The Greatest Show on Earth," "Hamlet," "Gigi," "Out of Africa," "The English Patient," "Titanic," "Forrest Gump" and "Shakespeare in Love," the circle boys backed "High Noon," "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," "The Defiant Ones," "Prizzi’s Honor," "Fargo," "L.A. Confidential," "Pulp Fiction" and "Saving Private Ryan." And I mean boys. Right now there are 27 members of the circle. Only 3 are women.
Besides, there's another reason that a separate, female critics' group is needed.
"Women filmmakers need female critics to support their work," says Thelma Adams of Us Weekly. "Whenever I go to film festivals like Sundance or Toronto, I hear filmmakers say how hard it was to get their movies made and I think: it's just as hard to get recognition for their films. They'll get a fair shake from other women, but, frankly, women are drastically under-represented among America's film critics."
Several years ago the Women's Film Critics Circle was formed, then a faction broke off and created a rival group called the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Over the past week, both groups announced their award winners.
First the circle's results. At the bottom of the list, note a breakdown of who belongs to the group.
BEST PICTURE BY A WOMAN
Little Miss Sunshine: Valerie Faris
BEST PICTURE ABOUT A WOMAN: TIE
Volver
The Queen
BEST WOMAN STORYTELLER (Screenwriting Award)
Aline Brosh McKenna: The Devil Wears Prada
BEST ACTRESS
Helen Mirren, The Queen
BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE
Maryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
BEST ACTOR
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
BEST YOUNG ACTRESS
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
BEST FEMALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE: TIE
Sweet Land: Elizabeth Reaser,
Something New, Sanaa Lathan
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Water: Deepa Mehta
BEST MUSIC
Dreamgirls
ADRIENNE SHELLY AWARD: For a film that most passionately opposes violence against women
Sisters In Law: Florence Ayisi and Kim Longinotto
JOSEPHINE BAKER AWARD: For best expressing the woman of color experience in America Been Rich All My Life: Heather MacDonald
KAREN MORLEY AWARD: For best exemplifying a woman's place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity
Sweet Land: Elizabeth Reaser
Room: Cyndi Williams
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Barbara Kopple
SPECIAL MENTION FOR A FEMALE’S RIGHT TO MALE ROLES IN MOVIES
Shareeka Epps: Half Nelson
Isabella Rossellini: My Dad Is 100 Years Old
ACTING AND ACTIVISM
Sharon Stone
BEST DOCUMENTARIES
In Recognition Of Women’s Excellence In The Documentary Category,
In Light Of Their General Exclusion From Mainstream Filmmaking:
ABOVE AND BEYOND
The Ground Truth: Patricia Foulkrod
The War Tapes: Deborah Scranton
GROUNDBREAKER
Jesus Camp: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady
COURAGE IN FILMMAKING
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up And Sing: Barbara Kopple
The Color Of Olives: Carolina Rivas
BEST EQUALITY OF THE SEXES
Ellen Page: Hard Candy
MOST OFFENSIVE MALE CHARACTERS
Sacha Baron Cohen: Borat
Jason Statham: Crank
WFCC TOP TEN HALL OF SHAME
Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction
Loverboy
Sorry, Haters
Turistas
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things
Shadowboxer
Venus
The Quiet
Heading South
Mini's First Time
BEST ANIMATED FEMALES
Happy Feet: Brittany Murphy and Nicole Kidman
BEST FAMILY FILMS (Non-animated)
Lassie
Nanny McPhee
Miss Potter
The Women Film Critics Circle Awards were announced on our annual Awards Ceremony on-air at WBAI Radio, 99.5 FM in NY and on Web Radio at wbai.org, on December 14th 2006 at 11am.
The Women Film Critics Circle is an association of 35 women film critics from around the country, who are involved in print, radio, online and TV broadcast media. We have come together to form the first women critics organization in the country, in the belief that women’s perspectives and voices in film criticism need to be recognized fully. For more information, please contact us at:
WFCC AWARDS COMMITTEE
Prairie Miller
Veronica Mixon
Jan Aaron
Criticalwoman@aol.com
WFCC.wordpress.com
MEMBERSHIP:
THELMA ADAMS
US Weekly
KAREN BUTLER
UPI, The Irish Echo
CHRISTY LEMIRE
Associated Press
DANA STEVENS
Slate.com; nytimes.com/movies
AMY LONGSDORF
Bergen Record, Camden Courier Post
SHELLI SONSTEIN
Clear Channel, 104.3 radio; CBS Radio; News director/ co-host, Jim Kerr Rock 'n Roll Morning Show
DONNA MORAN
AP Radio/PEOPLE Radio/CBS Radio
YUKI SARUWATARI
Elle Japan, GQ Japan, Weekly Pia, More (Japan)
PRAIRIE MILLER
WBAI Radio, Insite Magazine, LI Woman
BETSY PICKLE
Scripps Howard News Service, The Knoxville News Sentinel
CYNTHIA LUCIA
Cineaste Magazine
KAMAL LARSUEL
3blackchicks.com, On the Real Radio with Chuck D and Giana Garel
ELOISE PARKER
The Press Association, Metro newspapers, IC Network, The Belfast Telegraph, The Newcastle Journal, The Birmingham Post and the Bristol Evening Post
LISA COLLINS
Hollywood.com
JOSLYN YANG
Look Magazine (Asia)
ENEIDA DELVALLE
NY Post: Tempo, Latino News
LUCY CARRIGAN
Air America Radio
AMANDA WARD
RadioacktiveFilm.com
CASSANDRA HENRY
3BlackChicks.com, New Orleans
VANESSA COOPER
WBLS Radio, Amsterdam News, MTV Networks
VERONICA MIXON
FilmGazette.com
MARIE MOORE
EurWeb.com, The Daily Challenge, The New York Beacon, Timessquare.com
AUDREY BERNARD
Radioscope; Audrey's Whirl-TV; Editor, EUR; Arts Editor, Harlem News Group
GERRI PARE
Liguorian Magazine
JAN AARON
Education Update
STEPHANIE R. GREEN
Urbanfilmpremiere.com; Afro American Syndicate; 88.1FM Radio KAYT, New Orleans
MELISSA WALTERS
Blackfilm.com
ANNE RASO
Today's Black Woman, Black Noir, Word Up, Teen Dream
MARIA GARCIA
Film Journal, The Progressive
LINDA ZISES
WBAI Womens Show
MARISSA & MARIANELA GONZALEZ
The Movie Twins
University Network TV
DOMINGA MARTIN
Creme-Magazine.com
YOSHIE FURUHASHI
Monthly Review
PAT AUFDERHEIDE
Mother Jones Magazine
LIZA BEAR
Indiewire
"Look over the list of best-picture winners cited by the New York Film Critics Circle through the years, for example. Macho-ism obviously rules. In the years when Oscar voters endorsed "The Greatest Show on Earth," "Hamlet," "Gigi," "Out of Africa," "The English Patient," "Titanic," "Forrest Gump" and "Shakespeare in Love," the circle boys backed "High Noon," "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," "The Defiant Ones," "Prizzi’s Honor," "Fargo," "L.A. Confidential," "Pulp Fiction" and "Saving Private Ryan.""
Call me crazy, but looking at the movies you chose to make your point, I'd argue quality ruled far more than macho-ism.
Posted by: facls | December 19, 2006 at 10:40 AM