The 2016 Seattle Film Awards Nominations

Because I’m a super fancy film critic (i.e. I spend most of my free time sitting silently in dark rooms watching movies most people never see; writing about them online, where no one reads about them, for little to no money; and talking about these movies no one sees with other likeminded obsessives—jealous?), I get to vote in super fancy end-of-the-year film critic polls. One of these is the Seattle Film Critics Society, which just announced the 2016 Seattle Film Awards nominations.

Newly launched as an official entity, the group that morphed into the SFCS (they shot down my idea of calling it the Seattle Film Nerd Party Club, but that’s how it lives on in my heart) has been voting in this fashion for a few years (I think we just gave everything to Mad Max: Fury Road last time out).

This is just the nominations, there’s another round of voting to be had, and the winners will be announced on January 5th. (We don’t have a live telecast, yet.) I voted for some of these (kicking myself I forgot John Goodman for best supporting actor, but thankfully others remembered). I didn’t vote for others. I will vote for some of them again. Some of them I still need to see; some of them I probably won't. I’m not terribly surprised by any of the choices (and only moderately disappointed that a few of mine missed the cut).

And without further ado, here are the 2016 Seattle Film Awards nominations. Make of them what you will.

BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR:

13th (Netflix)

ARRIVAL (Paramount)

ELLE (Sony Pictures Classics)

THE HANDMAIDEN (Amazon Studios/Magnolia Pictures)

HELL OR HIGH WATER (CBS Films)

JACKIE (Fox Searchlight)

LA LA LAND (Lionsgate)

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions)

MOONLIGHT (A24)

THE WITCH (A24)

BEST DIRECTOR:

Damien Chazelle – La La Land

Robert Eggers – The Witch

Barry Jenkins – Moonlight

Paul Verhoeven – Elle

Denis Villeneuve - Arrival

BEST ACTOR in a LEADING ROLE:

Casey Affleck – Manchester By The Sea

Ryan Gosling – La La Land

Logan Lerman – Indignation

Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic

Denzel Washington - Fences

BEST ACTRESS in a LEADING ROLE:

Amy Adams – Arrival

Kate Beckinsale – Love & Friendship

Isabelle Huppert – Elle

Natalie Portman – Jackie

Emma Stone – La La Land

BEST ACTOR in a SUPPORTING ROLE:

Mahershala Ali– Moonlight

Jeff Bridges – Hell Or High Water

Kyle Chandler – Manchester By The Sea

John Goodman – 10 Cloverfield Lane

Lucas Hedges – Manchester By The Sea

BEST ACTRESS in a SUPPORTING ROLE:

Viola Davis – Fences

Lily Gladstone – Certain Women

Naomie Harris – Moonlight

Kate McKinnon – Ghostbusters

Michelle Williams – Manchester By The Sea

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST:

Captain Fantastic

Hell Or High Water

Fences

Manchester By The Sea

Moonlight

BEST SCREENPLAY:

Arrival – Eric Heisserer

Hell Or High Water – Taylor Sheridan

La La Land – Damien Chazelle

Manchester By The Sea – Kenneth Lonergan

Moonlight – Barry Jenkins and Tarell McCraney

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:

Finding Dory – Andrew Stanton, director; Angus MacLane, co-director

Kubo And The Two Strings – Travis Knight, director

Moana – Ron Clements and John Musker, directors

Tower – Keith Maitland, director

Zootopia – Byron Howard and Rich Moore, directors; Jared Bush, co-director.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

Elle – Paul Verhoeven, director

The Handmaiden – Park Chan-wook, director

The Innocents – Anne Fontaine, director

Under The Shadow – Babak Anvari, director

The Wailing – Na Hong-jin, director

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

13th – Ava DuVernay, director

Cameraperson – Kirsten Johnson, director

O.J.: Made In America – Ezra Edelman, director

Tickled – David Farrier, Dylan Reeve, directors

Weiner – Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg, directors

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Arrival – Bradford Young

Jackie – Stéphane Fontaine

La La Land – Linus Sandgren

Moonlight – James Laxton

The Witch – Jarin Blaschke

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

The Handmaiden – Cho Sang-kyung

Jackie – Madeline Fontaine

La La Land – Mary Zophres

Love & Friendship – Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh

The Witch – Linda Muir

BEST FILM EDITING:

Arrival – Joe Walker

Cameraperson – Nels Bangerter, David Teague

Hell Or High Water – Jake Roberts

La La Land – Tom Cross

Moonlight – Nat Sanders, Joi McMillon

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

Arrival – Jóhann Jóhannsson

Jackie – Mica Levi

La La Land – Justin Hurwitz

Moonlight – Nicholas Britell

Swiss Army Man – Andy Hull, Robert McDowell

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:

Arrival – Patrice Vermette (production designer); Paul Hotte (key decorator)

The Handmaiden – Ryu Seong-hee

Jackie – Jean Rabasse (production designer); Véronique Melery (set decorator)

La La Land – David Wasco (production designer); Sandy Reynolds-Wasco (set decorator)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – Doug Chiang, Neil Lamont (production designers); Lee Sandales (set decorator)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

Arrival – Louis Morin

Captain America: Civil War – Dan DeLeeuw, Dan Sudick, Russell Earl, Greg Steele

Doctor Strange – Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Richard Bluff, Vince Cerelli

The Jungle Book – Robert Legato, Andrew R. Jones, Adam Valdez, Dan Lemmon

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel, Neil Corbould

BEST YOUTH PERFORMANCE (18 years of age or younger upon start of filming):

Alex Hibbert – Moonlight

Royalty Hightower – The Fits

Sunny Pawar – Lion

Harvey Scrimshaw – The Witch

Anya Taylor-Joy – The Witch

BEST VILLAIN:

Darcy Banker – Green Room – portrayed by Patrick Stewart

Black Phillip – The Witch – portrayed by Charlie and voiced by Wahab Chaudary

Orson Krennic – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – portrayed by Ben Mendelsohn

Norman Nordstrom (a/k/a ‘The Blind Man’) – Don’t Breathe – portrayed by Stephen Lang

Howard Stambler – 10 Cloverfield Lane – portrayed by John Goodman