December 20 – Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” led the way with four awards in the Florida Film Critics Circle’s (FFCC) annual honors, but critical darling “The Social Network” is the group’s Best Picture of 2010. The film, about the founding of Facebook, won three awards, including Best Director (David Fincher) and Best Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin).
Natalie Portman won Best Actress for her performance as a tortured ballerina in “Black Swan,” and Colin Firth took Best Actor honors for his turn as King George VI in “The King’s Speech.” Director David O. Russell’s “The Fighter” took home both Supporting Actor awards, with Christian Bale and Melissa Leo each winning by comfortable margins.
In addition to Nolan’s win for Best Original Screenplay, the other awards for “Inception” were in technical categories: Cinematography (Wally Pfister), Visual Effects, and Art Direction/Production Design (Brad Ricker and Guy Hendrix Dyas, respectively).
In other awards, “I Am Love” won for Best Foreign Language Film, “Toy Story 3” took Best Animated Film and “The Tillman Story” was hailed as the Best Documentary. And in a close competition with “True Grit” star Hailee Steinfeld, “Winter’s Bone” star Jennifer Lawrence won the Pauline Kael Breakout Award.
The Golden Orange award, given for a significant contribution to film and/or filmmaking in Florida, went to Matthew Curtis, programming director for the Enzian Theater and FL Film Festival in Orlando. He was honored for “continuing to bring diverse programming to Orlando's lone art house and being similarly dedicated to ensuring that the Florida Film Festival is a significant component of Central Florida's film culture for the past two decades.”
Founded in 1996, the Florida Film Critics Circle is comprised of 19 writers from state publications. Dan Hudak of www.hudakonhollywood.com has served as chairman since March 2008. For more information on the FFCC, visit floridafilmcriticscircle.webs.com.
