11/12/2008

Adding to an already strong year for British cinema, UK films swept most of the major honours at the 34th annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) awards, with the exception of Best Picture, which went to Wall-E, and Best Actor, which Sean Penn won for Milk.

Danny Boyle won Best Director for his much-lauded Slumdog Millionaire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danny Boyle
film profile], while another British director, Christopher Nolan, took the runner-up spot for The Dark Knight.

Slumdog Millionaire added another award to its kitty when A.R. Rahman won the Best Music/Score award, with Alexandre Desplat announced runner-up for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Slumdog cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle had to be content being the runner-up in the Cinematography category with Yu Lik Wai winning for Jia Zhanke’s Still Life.

Mike Leigh won Best Screenplay for Happy-Go-Lucky [+see also:
trailer
film profile] while Sally Hawkins won Best Actress for the same film. The late Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor for his turn as the Joker in The Dark Knight while Eddie Marsan named runner up for Happy-Go-Lucky. Penelope Cruz won Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Elegy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Vicky Cristina Barcelona [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Still Life won Best Foreign Language Film with Laurent Cantet’s The Class [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carole Scotta
interview: Laurent Cantet
film profile] announced as runner-up. The New Generation award went to Steve McQueen for Hunger [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Hastings-Smith Rob…
interview: Steve McQueen
film profile]. James Marsh’s Man on Wire [+see also:
trailer
film profile] took the Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film award and Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] won the Best Animation award.

The awards ceremony will be held on January 12, 2009 in Los Angeles.