Not the Oscars … the Guardian Film Awards longlist announced

Posted on January 21, 2014

12 Years a Slave may have been just pipped to the post at this year’s Oscar nominations, but there is consolation for Steve McQueen: his film dominates the longlist for the first ever Guardian Film Awards.

The awards, which aim to act as an antidote rather than an addition to the established slate of ceremonies, will be handed out at a winners-only event in London just after this year’s Academy Awards. The awards reflect Guardian values in two ways: first in terms of categories – Best Actor, for instance, is open to both genders, reflecting Guardian practice of also referring to women by that term; Best Film doesn’t discriminate between fact, fiction and foreign language. And, secondly, in devolving much of the voting responsibility to readers.

A longlist of 10 in each field was announced today; readers can vote online for their pick and the top five selected will progress to the shortlist, to be announced on 19 February. This will be voted on by a panel that includes Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, film critics Peter Bradshaw and Xan Brooks, Claudia Winkleman, host of the BBC Film Show, and the acclaimed documentary film-maker Adam Curtis.

The readers’ favourite in each category will also count for a vote, and there are an additional two prizes to be decided solely by the public.

Said Peter Bradshaw: “The Guardian Film Awards offer a new slant on the awards season; they will be enjoyable, unpretentious, and user-friendly and let the reader and movie-goer connect more directly with the glittering prizes themselves.”

Other categories include best scene, best line of dialogue, best marketing campaign, best cinema and biggest game-changer.

Steve McQueen’s drama is nominated in eight categories on the longlist, with Paulo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty and Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra trailing on five apiece. The first Saudi film shot by a woman, Wadjda, is up for four awards, alongside Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, Spike Jonze’s Her and Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight.

The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer’s Oscar-nominated documentary about the Indonesian death squads of the 1960s, was named Guardian film of the year in 2013. Here, it’s in the running for best picture, best director and biggest game-changer.

Philomena is up for two awards; it will be competing against Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa for best marketing campaign. Surprisingly, Coogan’s Oscar-nominated drama beats his sitcom spin-off for a shot at the best line of dialogue award. Other contenders in that category include “Do you mind if I communicate with Alan post-verbally?” from the cyber-romance Her, and Cate Blanchett’s cautionary wisdom from Blue Jasmine: “Anxiety, nightmares and a nervous breakdown, there’s only so many traumas a person can withstand until they take to the streets and start screaming.”

Sourced from theguardian.com