With Oscar prognostications in full swing, I’m presenting my annual list at Indie Outlook of the five nominees I would personally select in nearly every category, including one that I insist should exist (that being Best Actor Under 18). As will likely happen at the Oscars, Damien Chazelle’s captivating musical, “La La Land,” earned the most nominations, racking up a total of ten, followed close behind by my favorite narrative feature of the year, Maren Ade’s “Toni Erdmann,” with six nominations. Ken Loach’s wrenching “I, Daniel Blake” and Barry Jenkins’ brilliant “Moonlight” received five apiece, while Kenneth Lonergan’s lovely “Manchester by the Sea” and Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert’s lovably audacious “Swiss Army Man,” each garnered four nominations. And illustrating just how fantastic a year this was for horror, three nominations were given to Osgood Perkins’ “The Blackcoat’s Daughter,” Nicolas Winding Refn’s “The Neon Demon” and Robert Eggers’ “The Witch.”
Make sure to stick around after the full list of nominees for Eleven Special Mentions in categories such as Best Discovery, Best Head Trip and Best Train Wreck.
BEST PICTURE
I, Daniel Blake
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Hooligan Sparrow
Life, Animated
Newtown
Sonita
13th
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Being 17
Graduation
Mountains May Depart
Toni Erdmann
A War
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Boy & the World
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
The Red Turtle
Zootopia
BEST DIRECTOR
Maren Ade, “Toni Erdmann”
Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Lobster”
Ken Loach, “I, Daniel Blake”
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”
Dave Johns, “I, Daniel Blake”
Roland Møller, “Land of Mine”
Peter Simonischek, “Toni Erdmann”
BEST ACTRESS
Dylan Gelula, “First Girl I Loved”
Sandra Hüller, “Toni Erdmann”
Morgan Saylor, “White Girl”
Emma Stone, “La La Land”
Anya Taylor-Joy, “The Witch”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
John Goodman, “10 Cloverfield Lane”
Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”
Tracy Letts, “Indignation”
Daniel Radcliffe, “Swiss Army Man”
Ashton Sanders, “Moonlight”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Judy Davis, “The Dressmaker”
Viola Davis, “Fences”
Viktoriya Isakova, “The Student”
Tuva Novotny, “A War”
Hayley Squires, “I, Daniel Blake”
BEST ACTOR UNDER 18
Peyton Kennedy, “American Fable”
Oona Laurence, “Lamb”
Lewis MacDougall, “A Monster Calls”
Garance Marillier, “Raw”
Kiernan Shipka, “The Blackcoat’s Daughter”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Maren Ade, “Toni Erdmann”
Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Paul Laverty, “I, Daniel Blake”
Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
David Birke, “Elle”
Jay Cocks & Martin Scorsese, “Silence”
Terence Davies, “Sunset Song”
Patrick Ness, “A Monster Calls”
Park Chan-wook & Chung Seo-kyung, “The Handmaiden”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Natasha Braier, “The Neon Demon”
Diego Garcia, “Neon Bull”
Michael McDonough, “Sunset Song”
Linus Sandgren, “La La Land”
Peter Zeitlinger, “Into the Inferno”
BEST EDITING
Tom Cross, “La La Land”
Austin Reedy, “Tower”
Joi McMillon & Nat Sanders, “Moonlight”
Sebastián Sepúlveda, “Jackie”
Brian Ufberg, “The Blackcoat’s Daughter”
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Erin Benach, “The Neon Demon”
Anna Biller, “The Love Witch”
Consolata Boyle, “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Tiziana Corvisieri, “Sing Street”
Gitti Fuchs, “Toni Erdmann”
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Thierry Flamand, “Beauty and the Beast”
Mark Friedberg, “Paterson”
Jason Kisvarday, “Swiss Army Man”
Ryu Seong-hie, “The Handmaiden”
David Wasco, “La La Land”
BEST SCORE
Dickon Hinchliffe, “Little Men”
Justin Hurwitz, “La La Land”
Danny Bensi & Saunder Jurriaans, “The Fits”
Mark Korven “The Witch”
Cliff Martinez, “The Neon Demon”
BEST SONG
“Brides for Sale,” Sonita
“City of Stars,” La La Land
“Montage,” Swiss Army Man
“No Dames!”, Hail, Caesar!
“Try Everything,” Zootopia
BEST SOUND
Allied
The Blackcoat’s Daughter
La La Land
10 Cloverfield Lane
Under the Shadow
BEST MAKEUP
Green Room
Raw
Swiss Army Man
The Wailing
The Witch
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Arrival
The BFG
Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
Pete’s Dragon
Eleven Special Mentions
BEST SHORT FILM
Ship Dreams
BEST TV MINISERIES DRAMA
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
BEST TV MINISERIES DOCUMENTARY
O.J.: Made in America
BEST DISCOVERY
Julia Sarah Stone in “Weirdos” (and 2014’s “Wet Bum”)
BEST REDISCOVERED CLASSIC
Only Yesterday
BEST ENSEMBLE
Don’t Think Twice
BEST EXPERIMENTATION WITH THE FORM
Kate Plays Christine
BEST HEAD TRIP
Kaili Blues
BEST TRAIN WRECK
Weiner
BEST RUNNING GAG
Sigourney Weaver in “Finding Dory”
WORST FILM OF THE YEAR
Suicide Squad
