(New York City) — CINEMARATI, the renowned organization of professional online film critics from across the globe, today announced its distinctive nominations for the fourth annual Cinemarati Awards.
Five films, an intriguing mix of blockbusters and indie treasures, lead the slate. *The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King* and *Kill Bill: Volume One* received ten nominations apiece. *Raising Victor Vargas,* *Lost in Translation,* and *American Splendor* each received eight nominations.
Unlike other professional awards, the Cinemarati Award Nominees — eight each in twenty-four categories, recognizing the best cinematic efforts of 2003 — now enter Cinemarati’s signature public process, where nominees go head-to-head in matchups voted on by its Member Critics in full view at http://www.cinemarati.org .
This year, lauded performances like those of BILL MURRAY and NAOMI WATTS sit alongside rarely recognized turns by CHIWETEL EJIOFOR (*Dirty Pretty Things*) and VALERIE LEMERCIER (*Friday Night*). Newcomers fare especially well, with multiple nominatons for *In America*’s SARAH BOLGER, *The Station Agent*’s PETER DINKLAGE, and the first-ever triple nominee, ROBERT PULCINI, for his first-time feature directing, writing, and editing work on *American Splendor.*
The recent flap over awards screeners did not affect this year’s deliberations. “Cinemarati Member Critics have never depended upon screeners,” said awards co-chair NICK DAVIS, lead critic at Nick’s Flick Picks. “We appreciate seeing films with a public audience of filmgoers, on a big screen, the way movies were intended to be seen.”
Over the next three weeks, the nominees will be whittled down to one winner in each category through a series of playoff-style votes. The playoff process results in some interesting oddities. This year, in the Best Lead Actress category, Scarlett Johansson in *Lost in Translation* squares off against… Scarlett Johansson in *Girl With a Pearl Earring* in round-one voting.
Results of each round of voting will be posted in the Cinemarati Roundtable, and discussion participants — movie lovers from around the globe — are encouraged to lobby the Member Critics to vote for their favorites in susequent rounds.
“The entire process happens out in the open,” explains founding member MARYANN JOHANSON, of FlickFilosopher.com. “No other critics’ group offers the moviegoing public a peek into the backroom of award discussions, but we at Cinemarati find that it invigorates the dialogue between film audiences and film critics. It’s an exciting experience.”
Winners will be announced on Monday, January 19th.
4th ANNUAL CINEMARATI AWARD NOMINATIONS nominee list
BEST FILM
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Kill Bill: Volume One
The Company
American Splendor
Mystic River
Elephant
Raising Victor Vargas
BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM
The Triplettes of Belleville
City of God
Friday Night
Millennium Actress
The Barbarian Invasions
To Be and To Have
Irreversible
BUS 174
BEST ANIMATED FILM
The Triplettes of Belleville
Finding Nemo
Millennium Actress
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
The Animatrix
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Destino
Kill Bill: Volume One (anime sequence)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
Capturing the Friedmans
Winged Migration
Spellbound
The Fog of War
To Be and To Have
BUS 174
Lost in La Mancha
Love and Diane
BEST DVD AWARD
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Platinum Extended Edition)
Looney Tunes: The Golden Collection
By Brakhage (Criterion Collection)
Alien: Quadrilogy (Box Set)
The Adventures of Indiana Jones (Box Set)
The Directors Series: Michel Gondry
West Side Story (Special Edition)
Tokyo Story (Criterion Collection)
BEST LEAD ACTOR
Bill Murray, Lost in Translation
Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean:The Curse of the Black
Pearl
Paul Giamatti, American Splendor
Billy Bob Thornton, Bad Santa
Sean Penn, Mystic River
Peter Dinklage, The Station Agent
Jack Black, The School of Rock
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dirty Pretty Things
BEST LEAD ACTRESS
Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation
Uma Thurman, Kill Bill: Volume One
Zooey Deschanel, All the Real Girls
Patricia Clarkson, The Station Agent
Jamie Lee Curtis, Freaky Friday
Naomi Watts, 21 Grams
Valerie Lemercier, Friday Night
Scarlett Johansson, Girl With a Pearl Earring
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Peter Sarsgaard, Shattered Glass
Sean Astin, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai
Benicio Del Toro, 21 Grams
Paul Bettany, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Djimon Hounsou, In America
Eugene Levy, A Mighty Wind
Will Ferrell, Old School
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Catherine O’Hara, A Mighty Wind
Hope Davis, American Splendor
Altragracia Guzman, Raising Victor Vargas
Holly Hunter, Thirteen
Alison Lohman, Matchstick Men
Frances McDormand, Laurel Canyon
Sarah Bolger, In America
Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
A Mighty Wind
Raising Victor Vargas
Mystic River
The Magdalene Sisters
The Station Agent
City of God
Elephant
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE AWARD
Keisha Castle-Hughes, Whale Rider
Victor Rasuk, Raising Victor Vargas
Peter Dinklage, The Station Agent
Emma Bolger, In America
Sarah Bolger, In America
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dirty Pretty Things
Cillian Murphy, 28 Days Later
Martin Compston, Sweet Sixteen
BEST DIRECTOR
Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation
Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill: Volume One
Robert Altman, The Company
Gus Van Sant, Elephant
Alan Rudolph, The Secret Lives of Dentists
Peter Sollett, Raising Victor Vargas
Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund, City of God
THE ORSON WELLES AWARD for the Year’s Best Directorial Debut
Peter Sollett, Raising Victor Vargas
Thomas McCarthy, The Station Agent
Andrew Jarecki, Capturing the Friedmans
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, American Splendor
Billy Ray, Shattered Glass
Peter Webber, Girl With a Pearl Earring
Jacques Cluzaud and Michel Debats, Winged Migration
Eli Roth, Cabin Fever
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation
Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill: Volume One
Peter Sollett & Eva Vives, Raising Victor Vargas
John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, Arnie Marx and Terry Zwigoff, Bad
Santa
Mike White, The School of Rock
Eve Ahlert & Dennis Drake, Down With Love
Jim, Naomi and Kirsten Sheridan, In America
Thomas McCarthy, The Station Agent
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, The Lord of
the Rings: The Return of the King
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, American Splendor
Craig Lucas, The Secret Lives of Dentists
Billy Ray, Shattered Glass
Brian Helgeland, Mystic River
John Collee and Peter Weir, Master and Commander: The Far
Side of the World
Braulio Mantovani, City of God
Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, and David Hayter, X2: X-Men
United
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Peter Sollett and Eva Vives, Raising Victor Vargas
Thomas McCarthy, The Station Agent
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, American Splendor
Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake, Down With Love
Braulio Mantovani, City of God
Billy Ray, Shattered Glass
Randy Pearlstein and Eli Roth, Cabin Fever
Avner Bernheimer, Yossi and Jagger
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Robert Richardson, Kill Bill: Volume One
Harris Savides, Elephant
Andrew Lesnie, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lance Acord, Lost in Translation
Tim Orr, All the Real Girls
Harris Savides, Gerry
Agnes Godard, Friday Night
Eduardo Serra, Girl With a Pearl Earring
BEST FILM EDITING
Annie Collins and Jamie Selkirk, The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the King
Sally Menke, Kill Bill: Volume One
Geraldine Peroni, The Company
Sarah Flack, Lost in Translation
Lee Smith, Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World
Robert Pulcini, American Splendor
Daniel Rezende, City of God
Tim Squyres, Hulk
OUTSTANDING DESIGN
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Kill Bill: Volume One
Down With Love
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Girl With a Pearl Earring
Dracula: Pages From a Virgin’s Diary
American Splendor
Big Fish
BEST SONG (Original or Adapted)
“Swinging Belleville Rendezvous,” The Triplettes of Belleville
“Battle Without Honor or Humanity,” Kill Bill: Volume One
“More Than This,” Lost in Translation
“The Steward of Gondor,” The Lord of the Rings: The Return
of the King
“A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow,” A Mighty Wind
“The School of Rock,” The School of Rock
“You Will Be My Ain True Love,” Cold Mountain
“Here’s To Love,” Down With Love
BEST MUSICAL SCORE
Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Philip Glass, The Fog of War
Gabriel Yared, T-Bone Burnett and Jack White, Cold Mountain
Benoit Charest, The Triplettes of Belleville
Marc Shaiman, Down With Love
Alexandre Desplat, Girl With a Pearl Earring
Lisa Gerrard, Whale Rider
The RZA, Kill Bill: Volume One
BEST FILM-RELATED WEB SITE
GreenCine Daily http://daily.greencine.com/
DVD Beaver http://www.dvdbeaver.com/
Senses of Cinema http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/
The Fog of War http://www.sonyclassics.com/fogofwar
Masters of Cinema http://www.carldreyer.com/masters/index.htm
#6 The Tulse Luper Suitcases Web Archive
http://www.tulselupernetwork.com/
Midnight Eye http://www.midnighteye.com/
Bright Lights Film Journal http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/
EXCEPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENT IN CRITICISM
“Liner Notes: By Brakhage,” Fred Camper,
http://www.criterionco.com/asp/in_focus_essay.asp?id=13&eid=298
“Noe Exit,” Jessica Winter, *City Pages*
http://www.citypages.com/databank/24/1167/article11186.asp
“Faster, Pussy Wagon! Kill! Kill!,” R.J. Smith, *Village
Voice* http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0340/smith.php
“In Search of the Code Inconnu,” Robin Wood, *Cineaction*
Issue 62, 2003 – not available online
“Awakening to *A.I.*’s Dream,” Gregory Solman, *Senses of
Cinema* http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/03/27/ai.html
“The Eastwood Variations,” Kent Jones, *Film Comment*
http://filmlinc.com/fcm/9-10-2003/eastwood.htm
“Their Souls for a Freebie,” Armond White, *New York Press*
http://www.nypress.com/16/44/news&columns/feature.cfm
“Straw Dogs,” Dana Knowles, *The High Hat*
http://www.thehighhat.com/Nitrate/002/straw_dogs.html
ROUNDTABLE FILM OF THE YEAR chosen by visitors to
http://www.cinemarati.org/roundtable/
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Kill Bill: Volume One
All the Real Girls
The Company
Lost in Translation
Gerry
American Splendor
Big Fish
END NOMINATIONS
The 2004 international roster of Cinemarati critics features widely read writers from across the planet, representing some of the most heavily trafficked film sites on the World Wide Web, including NETFLIX, FLICKFILOSOPHER.COM, SLANT MAGAZINE, FILM THREAT, MIXEDREVIEWS.NET and APOLLO GUIDE.
The Cinemarati member critics are:
Acquarello, Strictly Film School, http://www.filmref.com
Catherine Cantieri, Hole City,
http://holecity.com/asp/frontpage.asp
Shay Casey, Daily Reviews, http://www.daily-reviews.com
Jill Cozzi, MixedReviews.net, http://www.mixedreviews.com
Nick Davis, Nick’s Flick Picks, http://www.nicksflickpicks.com
Michael Dequina, Film Threat/MoviePoopShoot,
http://www.moviepoopshoot.com/flimflam
Bryant Frazer, Deep Focus, http://www.deep-focus.com/flicker
Mark Freeman, Critical Eye, http://home.vicnet.net.au/~freeman
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine,
http://www.slantmagazine.com/index.asp
Stephen Himes, Film Snobs, http://www.filmsnobs.com
Dan Jardine, Apollo Guide/Netflix, http://www.apolloguide.com
MaryAnn Johanson, FlickFilosopher.com,
http://www.flickfilosopher.com
Jeremiah Kipp, Culture Dose/Matinee Magazine,
http://www.culturedose.com
Nathaniel R., The Film Experience,
http://www.thefilmexperience.net
Gabriel Shanks, MixedReviews.net, http://www.mixedreviews.com
Vern, Then Fuck You, Jack, http://www.geocities.com/outlawvern
Jeff Vorndam, About Film, http://www.aboutfilm.com
Brian Webster, Apollo Guide/Netflix, http://www.apolloguide.com
For further information about Cinemarati or the 4th Annual
Cinemarati Awards, please email gabrielshanks@cinemarati.org, or call (201) 686-9131.
http://www.cinemarati.org
