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