The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has convened for its 51st annual meeting to determine the year’s best achievements in filmmaking.
Last year’s best picture winner, “Anora,” continued LAFCA’s tradition of elevating daring, artistically ambitious work that later resonates with the Academy. That lineage includes Oscar success stories such as “The Hurt Locker” (2009), “Spotlight” (2015), “Moonlight” (2016) and “Parasite” (2019) — all of which went on to capture the Academy Award for best picture.
While the group is known for its adventurous taste, its instincts often align with Hollywood’s most coveted accolades. Since 2009, six LAFCA-winning filmmakers have gone on to win the Oscar for best director, including Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker,” Alfonso Cuarón for “Gravity,” Guillermo del Toro for “The Shape of Water,” Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite,” Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland” and Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog.”
Screenplay winners have proved to be another reliable bellwether. Over the past decade, five LAFCA-honored scripts have translated those victories into Academy Award wins, among them Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” and Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman.” Only one LAFCA winner since 2009 has failed to earn an Oscar nomination: last year’s “All of Us Strangers.”
This year also marks LAFCA’s fourth iteration of gender-neutral acting categories.
As previously announced, LAFCA will honor Philip Kaufman with its Career Achievement Award. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker earned his sole Academy nod for adapted screenplay for “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière, and has left a lasting imprint through films such as “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “The Right Stuff” and “Quills.”
As the awards-season marathon accelerates, LAFCA’s selections are poised to shape the next phase of the Oscar race — spotlighting late-breaking contenders, validating festival favorites and elevating under-the-radar performers who might otherwise be overlooked. The annual banquet, scheduled for January, will celebrate all winners and mark another year of evolution for the organization.
Founded in 1975, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association has long maintained a reputation for championing bold, uncompromising filmmaking and broadening the industry’s understanding of what constitutes excellence.
The list of winners will be updated below.
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Best Picture:
Runner-up:
Director:
Runner-up:
Leading Performances:
Runners-up:
Supporting Performances:
Runners-up:
Screenplay:
Runner-up:
Animation:
Runner-up:
Cinematography: “Train Dreams” (Netflix) — Adolpho Veloso
Runner-up: “Sinners” (Warner Bros.) — Autumn Durald Arkapaw
Editing:
Runner-up:
Production Design: “Sinners” (Warner Bros.) — Hannah Beachler
Runner-up: “Frankenstein” (Netflix) — Tamara Deverell
Music Score: “Sirāt” (Neon) — Kangding Ray
Runner-up: “Sinners” (Warner Bros.) — Ludwig Göransson
Foreign Language:
Runner-up:
Documentary/Non-Fiction Film:
Runner-up:
New Generation Award:
Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Prize:
Career Achievement Award: Philip Kaufman
Special Citation:
