Award Winners – 2013

These categories represent my own preferences. They are not an attempt to predict any established award ceremony’s nominees or victors.

Best Picture

1. 12 Years a Slave
2. The Hunt
3. Gravity
4. Wadjda
5. The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director

1. Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
2. Joshua Oppenheimer – The Act of Killing
3. Thomas Vinterberg – The Hunt
4. Martin Scorcese – The Wolf of Wall Street
5. Alphonso Cuaron – Gravity

Best Screenplay

1. Haifaa Al-Mansour- Wadjda
2. Destin Cretton – Short Term 12
3. Ryan Coogler – Fruitvale Station
4. Joel and Ethan Coen – Inside Llewyn Davis
5. Sally Potter – Ginger and Rosa

Best Documentary

1. The Act of Killing
2. Stories We Tell
3. The Square
4. Blackfish
5. 20 Feet From Stardom

Best Male Lead

1. Tom Hanks – Captain Richard Phillips in Captain Phillips
2. Matthew McConaughey – Ron Woodruff in Dallas Buyer’s Club
3. Chiwetel Ejiofor – Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave
4. Leonardo DiCaprio – Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street
5. Forest Whitaker – Cecil Gaines in The Butler

Best Supporting Male

1. Matthew McConaughey* – Mud in Mud
2. Jared Leto – Rayon in Dallas Buyer’s Club
3. Bradley Cooper – Richie Dimaso – American Hustle
4. Barkhad Abdi – Muse in Captain Phillips
5. Jonah Hill – Donnie Azoff in The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Female Lead

1. Elle Fanning – Ginger in Ginger and Rosa
2. Cate Blanchett – Jasmine in Blue Jasmine
3. Judi Dench – Philomena Lee in Philomena
4. Brie Larson – Grace in Short Term 12
5. Amy Adams – Sydney Prosser – American Hustle

Best Supporting Female

1. Octavia Spencer – Wanda – Fruitvale Station
2. Jennifer Lawrence – Rosalyn Rosenfeld – American Hustle
3. Melonie Diaz – Sophina – Fruitvale Station
4. Léa Seydoux – Emma in Blue Is The Warmest Color 
5. Reem Abdullah – Wadjda’s mother in Wadjda

Best Editing

1. The Grandmaster
2. Gravity
3. The Wolf of Wall Street
4. Stories We Tell
5. 12 Years a Slave

Best Cinematography

1. Gravity
2. The Hunt
3. The Grandmaster
4. Upstream Color
5. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

Best Visual Effects

1. Gravity
2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
3. Frozen
4. All Is Lost
5. Ender’s Game

Best Sound

1. Gravity
2. The Conjuring
3. The Grandmaster
4. Fruitvale Station
5. Upstream Color

Best Score

1. 12 Years a Slave
2. The Grandmaster
3. Wadjda
4. Short Term 12
5. The Wind Rises

Best Soundtrack

1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. Frozen
3. The Wolf of Wall Street
4. Gimme the Loot
5. Warm Bodies

* I am placing actors in categories based on their characters’ impact on the story, not on where they would likely be nominated.