DC critics awards

The Washington Area Film Critics have announced our awards:

The Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) today selected a movie honoring the memories of the brave heroes of September 11, the poignant United 93, as Best Film of the Year in a victory that could spur the movie's burgeoning Oscar hopes. Director Martin Scorsese was voted by the group as Best Director for his smash hit movie The Departed,

Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) was named Best Actor, and Helen Mirren (The Queen) continued her march to the Oscars as she was named Best Actress as both actors brought characters to real, and even sympathetic, life.

"What a wonderful way to celebrate our fifth anniversary by honoring this fine collection of talented films and groundbreaking performances. This year gave us true cinematic royalty with a Queen, a King and a Dreamgirl," said WAFCA President Tim Gordon.

As a sign of the strength of her performance and show stopping ability that brought ovations during screenings in DC, Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) was a two time winner awarded Best Supporting Actress and Breakthrough Performance of the Year. In other categories, Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) was named Best Supporting Actor, Happy Feet danced away with Best Animated Feature and Pan's Labyrinth Best Foreign Language Film.


Additionally, WAFCA honored two first time feature length screenwriters as Jason Reitman walked away with Best Adapted Screenplay for the DC-based Thank You For Smoking and Michael Arndt won Best Original Screenplay for the summer's surprise indie hit Little Miss Sunshine.

The Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association is comprised of 36 DC-
based film critics from television, radio, print and the internet. Voting was conducted from December 9 - 10, 2006.

Final Results 2006 Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association Awards

Best Film
United 93/Universal

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker - The Last King Of Scotland

Best Actress
Helen Mirren - The Queen


Best Supporting Actor
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Best Director
Martin Scorsese - The Departed

Best Screenplay, Original
Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Screenplay, Adapted
Jason Reitman - Thank You For Smoking

Best Foreign Film
Pan's Labyrinth/Picturehouse

Best Animated Feature
Happy Feet/Warner Brothers

Best Documentary
An Inconvenient Truth/Paramount Classics

Best Breakthrough Performance
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Best Ensemble
Little Miss Sunshine/Fox Searchlight

Best Art Direction
Marie Antoinette/SONY Pictures Entertainment