December 29, 2019:

**GRETA GERWIG’S LITTLE WOMEN LEADS ALL FILMS AS THE CHICAGO INDIE CRITICS ANNOUNCE NOMINEES FOR THEIR FOURTH ANNUAL AWARDS**

The recently rebranded Chicago Indie Critics have announced their nominees for the fourth annual film awards. The voting members completed ballots to compile five nominees for 23 categories. The CIC members will commence a final round of voting ending on January 2, 2020.

The 2019 CIC Award winners will be announced on the evening of January 4, 2020. This year’s Awards Party will be emcee by stand-up comedienne and former film critic Katie Baker. The event will be held at the Cards Against Humanity Theater in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago starting at 5:00pm and open to the public with ticket admission. Fans and followers can watch the awards event live-streaming on the CIC’s YouTube channel.

Leading all films with an impressive eight nominations is Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women. Two of those nominations highlight Gerwig’s work as a director and screenwriter. Following next with seven nominations each is the quartet of The Irishman, Marriage Story, 1917, and Parasite. On an individual level leading the field, Parasite’s Bong Joon-ho earned five personal nominations and Lulu Wang of The Farewell earned four across the 23 categories. In all, 43 films are represented with nominations for the 2019 CIC Awards.

Two awards of special recognition and interest are the annual Trailblazer and Impact Awards. The CIC’s Trailblazer Award honors the work of an artist who truly pushed the boundaries of the medium in terms of form and content. Nominated this year are filmmakers Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Rian Johnson (Knives Out), Sam Mendes (1917), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Lena Waithe (Queen & Slim), and Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit). Secondly, the Impact Award celebrates a person whose work during the past year or beyond made a positive impact on society. The nominees include Pedro Almodovar (Pain and Glory), Bong Joon-Ho (Parasite), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), and late Chicago film critic Milos Stehlik.

Founded in 2016, the Chicago Indie Critics (formerly known as the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle) is a creative and engaging non-for-profit organization composed of unique, dedicated, and diversified film critics. Its members are wide-ranging in experiences, backgrounds, tastes, and target audiences across both print and online platforms and publications. The CIC organized to share their personal assessments, commentaries, passions, and creativity in the vigilant effort to highlight the greatness and diversity found in both independent and mainstream films. While they originate in the Chicagoland area, the efforts of Chicago Indie Critics are to share, celebrate, and promote the rich artistic medium of film to audiences, fans, and eager minds across the nation and the world as an exemplary and upstanding pillar of intelligent print and broadcast journalism.

The complete list of nominees for the 2019 CIC Awards:

BEST INDEPENDENT FILM (budgets under $20 million)

Booksmart

Chelsea Barnard, David Distenfield, Jessica Elbaum, Megan Ellison, and Katie Silberman (producers)

The Farewell

Anita Gou, Daniele Melia, Andrew Miano, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Chris Weitz, Jane Zheng, and Lulu Wang (producers)

Jojo Rabbit

Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi, and Chelsea Winstanley (producers)

Marriage Story

Noah Baumbach and David Heyman (producers)

Parasite

Bong Joon-ho, Kwak Sin-ae, Moon Yang-kwon, and Jang Young-hwan (producers)

BEST STUDIO FILM (budgets over $20 million)

The Irishman

Gerald Chamales, Robert De Niro, Randall Emmett, Israilovici Gabriele , Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Jane Rosenthal, Gastón Pavlovich, Martin Scorsese, and Irwin Winkler (producers)

Knives Out

Ram Bergman and Rian Johnson (producers)

Little Women

Denise Di Novi, Amy Pascal, and Robin Swicord (producers)

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, and Quentin Tarantino (producers)

1917

Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes, Brian Oliver, and Jayne-Ann Tenggren (producers)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Birds of Passage

Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (producers)

Monos

Fernando Epstein, Alejandro Landes, Cristina Landes, and Santiago Zapata (producers)

Pain and Glory

Agustin Almodovar (producer)

Parasite

Bong Joon-ho, Kwak Sin-ae, Moon Yang-kwon, and Jang Young-hwan (producers)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Véronique Cayla and Bénédicte Couvreur (producers)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Apollo 11

Evan Krauss, Todd Douglas Miller, Thomas Petersen (producers)

Hail, Satan?

Gabriel Sedgwick (producer)

Honeyland

Atanis Georgiev (producer)

The Kingmaker

Frank Evers and Laura Greenfield (producers)

One Child Nation

Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Christoph Jorg, Nanfu Wang, and Jialing Zhang (producers

BEST ANIMATED FILM

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Bonnie Arnold and Brad Lewis (producers)

I Lost My Body

Marc du Pontavice (producer)

The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

Jinko Gotoh, Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller (producers)

Missing Link

Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner (producers)

Toy Story 4

Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera (producers)

BEST DIRECTOR

Greta Gerwig, Little Women

Bong Joon-ho, Parasite

Sam Mendes, 1917

Céline Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Lulu Wang, The Farewell

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Farewell- Lulu Wang

Knives Out– Rian Johnson

Marriage Story– Noam Baumbach

Parasite– Bong Joon-Ho and Jin Won-Han

Portrait of a Lady on Fire– Céline Sciamma

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Irishman– Steve Zaillian

Jojo Rabbit– Taika Waititi

Little Women– Greta Gerwig

Luce– J.C. Lee and Julius Onah

The Two Popes– Anthony McCarten

BEST ACTOR

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory

Adam Driver, Marriage Story

Eddie Murphy, Dolemite is My Name

Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems

BEST ACTRESS

Awkwafina, The Farewell

Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story

Elisabeth Moss, Her Smell

Lupita Nyong’o, Us

Florence Pugh, Midsommar

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Al Pacino, The Irishman

Joe Pesci, The Irishman

Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Kang-ho Song, Parasite

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Laura Dern, Marriage Story

Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers

Florence Pugh, Little Women

Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell

Octavia Spencer, Luce

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

Avengers: Endgame- Sarah Finn (casting director)

The Irishman- Ellen Lewis (casting director)

Knives Out- Mary Vernieu (casting director)

Little Women- Kathy Driscoll and Francine Maisler (casting directors)

Marriage Story- Francine Maisler and Douglas Aibel (casting directors)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ad Astra- Hoyte Van Hoytema

Ford v. Ferrari– Phedon Papamichael

The Lighthouse– Jarin Blaschke

1917– Roger Deakins

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood– Robert Richardson

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Ad Astra– Kevin Thompson

Knives Out– David Crank

1917– Dennis Gassner

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood– Barbara Ling

Parasite- Ha-Jun Lee

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Dolemite is My Name– Ruth E. Carter

Knives Out– Jenny Eagan

Little Women– Jacqueline Durran

Midsommar– Andrea Flesch

Once Upon a Time.. in Hollywood– Arianne Phillips

BEST MAKEUP

Bombshell– Vivian Baker, Kazu Hiro, and Anne Morgan

Dolemite is My Name– Debra Denson, Carla Joi Farmer, Stacey L. Morris, Vera Steimberg

The Irishman– Sean Flanigan, Nicki Ledermann, and Carla White

Judy- Jeremy Woodhead

Us– Camille Friend and Scott Wheeler

BEST EDITING

Ford v. Ferrari– Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker, and Dirk Westervelt

Knives Out– Bob Ducsay

Little Women– Nick Houy

1917– Lee Smith

Parasite– Jinmo Yang

BEST MUSICAL SCORE

Avengers: Endgame– Alan Silvestri

Little Women– Alexandre Desplat

Marriage Story– Randy Newman

1917– Thomas Newman

Us– Michael Abels

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Catchy Song” from The LEGO Movie Part 2: The Second Part

(performed by Dillion Francis featuring T-Pain and That Girl Lay Lay and written by Jon Lajoie)

“Glasgow (No Place Like Home)” from Wild Rose

(performed by Jessie Buckley and written by Mary Steenburgen, Caitlin Smith, and Kate York)

“I Punched Keanu Reeves” from Always Be My Maybe

(performed and written by Randall Park)

“Not Evil” from The LEGO Movie Part 2: The Second Part

(performed by Tiffany Haddish and written by Jon Lajoie)

“Speechless” from Aladdin

(performed by Naomi Scott and written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul)

“Stand Up” from Harriet

(performed by Cynthia Erivo and written by Joshua Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Ad Astra– Scott R. Fisher, Allan Maris, Guillaume Rocheron, and Jedediah Smith

Avengers: Endgame– Matt Aitken, Russell Earl, Dan Leeluw, and Dan Sudick

The Irishman– Leandro Estebecorena, Stephanie Grabli, Pablo Helman, and Nelson Sepulveda

1917– Greg Butler, Guillaume Rocheron, and Dominic Tuohy

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker– Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, and Dominic Tuohy

SPECIAL AWARDS

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Honors the work of an artist who truly pushes the boundaries of the medium in terms of form and content

Greta Gerwig

Rian Johnson

Sam Mendes

Martin Scorsese

Lena Waithe

Taika Waititi

IMPACT AWARD

Given to a person whose work has had a positive impact on society

Pedro Almodovar

Bong Joon-Ho

Martin Scorsese

Milos Stehlik

Lulu Wang

CIC AWARD NOMINATIONS BY THE NUMBERS

FILMS

8: Little Women

7: The Irishman, Marriage Story, 1917, Parasite

6: Knives Out

5: The Farewell, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

3: Ad Astra, Avengers: Endgame, Dolemite is My Name, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Us

2: Pain and Glory, Jojo Rabbit, Luce, Ford v. Ferrari, Midsommar

1: Aladdin, Always Be My Maybe, Apollo 11, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Bombshell, Booksmart, Hail, Satan?, Harriet, Her Smell, Honeyland, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Hustlers, Joker, Judy, I Lost My Body, The Kingmaker, Missing Link, Monos, One Child Nation, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Two Popes, Toy Story 4, Wild Rose

PEOPLE:

5: Bong Joon-Ho

4: Lulu Wang

3: Greta Gerwig, Rian Johnson, Sam Mendes, Martin Scorsese, Taika Waititi

2: Noah Baumbach, David Heyman, Jon Lajoie, Francine Maisler, Florence Pugh, Céline Sciamma, Dominic Tuohy

2019 CIC Awards- Timeline and Categories

Nominations ballots go out: December 20, 2019

Round one voting due: December 27, 2019

Nominations announced: December 29, 2019

Round two voting due: January 2, 2020

Winners announced and Awards Ceremony: January 4, 2020 (Location and time TBA)

Chicago Indie Critics

2019 AWARDS

**GRETA GERWIG’S LITTLE WOMEN LEADS ALL FILMS AS THE CHICAGO INDIE CRITICS ANNOUNCE NOMINEES FOR THEIR FOURTH ANNUAL AWARDS**

The complete list of nominees for the 2019 CIC Awards:

BEST INDEPENDENT FILM (budgets under $20 million)