The 2019 Chicago Indie Critics (CIC) Winners

By Matt Neglia 

The Chicago Indie Critics (CIC) have announced their winners representing the best in film for 2019.

​Click below to see the winners.

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 Baumbachand 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, Gabriele Israilovici, 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 Part 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 (TIE)
Bong Joon-ho - Parasite (TIE)
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
Joker - Kay Georgiou and Nicki Ledermann
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 Pasek & Paul) 
“Stand Up” from Harriet 
(performed by Cynthia Erivo and written by Joshuah 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

You can follow Matt and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on Twitter at @NextBestPicture