LA Film Critics Awards

LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ANNOUNCE 2006 AWARD WINNERS



LOS ANGELES, DECEMBER 10, 2006 "Letters from Iwo Jima" was voted Best Picture of the Year, it was announced today by Henry Sheehan, President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA). The runner up was "The Queen."


LAFCA's 32nd annual achievement awards ceremony will be held Sunday, January 14 at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Los Angeles. www.lafca.net


Other award winners are:

DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass, "United 93"

Runner-up: Clint Eastwood, "Flags of our Fathers", “Letters from Iwo Jima”

ACTRESS: Helen Mirren, "The Queen"

Runner-up: Penelope Cruz, “Volver”

ACTOR: Tie – Sacha Baron Cohen, "Borat" and Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”

SCREENPLAY: "The Queen" by Peter Morgan

Runner-up: “Little Miss Sunshine” by Michael Arndt

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Luminita Gheorghiu, "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu"

Runner-up: Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Michael Sheen, "The Queen"

Runner-up: Sergi Lopez, "Pan’s Labyrinth"

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: "The Lives of Others" directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Runner-up: "Volver" directed by Pedro Almodovar

DOCUMENTARY/NON-FICTION FILM: "An Inconvenient Truth" directed by Davis Guggenheim

Runner-up: "Darwin’s Nightmare" directed by Hubert Sauper

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Eugenio Caballero, "Pan’s Labyrinth"

Runner-up: Jim Clay, Veronica Falzon, Geoffrey Kirkland, "Children of Men"

ANIMATION: “Happy Feet" (George Miller)

Runner-up: “Cars” (John Lasseter, Joe Ranft)

MUSIC: Alexandre Desplat, “The Painted Veil” and "The Queen"

Runner-up: Thomas Newman, "The Good German" and “Little Children”

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Emmanuel Lubezki, "Children of Men"

Runner-up: Tom Stern, "Flags of our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima"

NEW GENERATION: Michael Arndt, Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris – “Little Miss Sunshine”

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Robert Mulligan (previously announced)

INDEPENDENT/EXPERIMENTAL: Tie - “Old Joy” directed by Kelly Reichardt and “In Between Days” directed by So Yong Kim

SPECIAL CITATIONS: To Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 film “Army of Shadows” which had its U.S. premiere this year, and to Jonas Mekas for his career as a critic and filmmaker.