Director Steve McQueen’s visceral drama recently won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama. It is currently nominated for 9 Academy Awards® and 10 EE British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs).
Steve McQueen said: “I am thrilled that 12 Years a Slave has been named Best Picture by the UK regional
film critics. This means so much to me.
Read our review of 12 Years A Slave
The regional critics’ award for Director of the year went to Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity. This matches the recent choices of both the Directors’ Guild of America and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their Best Director Golden Globe. Alfonso Cuarón also has a Best Director nomination at the EE BAFTAs and Academy Awards.
Alfonso Cuarón said: “It’s particularly gratifying to receive this honour from the UK regional film critics. Your encouraging words helped pave the road for audiences to really embrace the film. Gravity was produced, shot and all the post-production done here in the UK. I had the privilege of working with hundreds of talented British artists and I share this with all of them. I’d like to single out everyone at Framestore; our incredible crew, particularly our cinematographer and my dear friend Chivo [Emmanuel Lubezki]; our visual effects supervisor Tim Webber; my producing partner, David Heyman; and my son and co-writer, Jonas. Lastly, I’d like to thank Sandra Bullock who fully conveyed the emotional journey of this character – the heartbeat of this story.”
Cate Blanchett’s winning streak continued as she took the regional critics’ Best Actress award for her performance in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. The critics’ Screenwriter of the year was Spike Jonze for Her, which opens in UK cinemas on 14 February.
The regional critics’ British Breakthrough award went to George MacKay, who recently appeared in Sunshine on Leith, How I Live Now and For Those in Peril.
21 year-old George MacKay said: “It’s a real honour to have been awarded the British Breakthrough award at this year’s Regional Critics’ Film Awards and I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me. It’s very exciting to be involved in British filmmaking, I learned so much working on Sunshine on Leith and had such a brilliant time working on it.”
The UK regional film awards included a set of public votes. In these categories, Frozen won Animated Film of the year, while Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks were voted the Best On-screen Duo for Saving Mr Banks.
The Walt Disney Company UK said: “We are delighted that both Frozen and Saving Mr Banks have won UK Regional Critics’ Film Awards voted for by the public. We are thrilled that audiences have taken Frozen to their hearts in such a big way and that the phenomenal performances of Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks in Saving Mr Banks have struck a chord with cinemagoers across the country.”
In other public votes, Stephen Frears’ Philomena won British Film of the year and Ryan Lambie, who contributes to fan website Den of Geek!, was named Blogger of the year.
The winners of this year’s UK regional film awards in all 11 categories are as follows:
Regional critics’ awards:
- Film of the Year – 12 Years a Slave
- Director – Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
- Actress – Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
- Actor – Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
- Screenwriter – Spike Jonze, Her
- British Breakthrough – George MacKay
Public votes:
- Visual Effects – Gravity
- Animation – Frozen
- On-screen Duo – Emma Thompson/Tom Hanks, Saving Mr Banks
- British Film – Philomena
- Blogger – Ryan Lambie, Den of Geek!
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