February 17, 2010
 
ICS ACCEPTS THE MYSTERY OF A SERIOUS MAN

LOS ANGELES -- The Coen brothers’ profound and hilarious retelling of the Book of Job, set in a midwestern Jewish suburb in 1967 on the cusp of the Sexual Revolution, has won the ICS award for best film of 2009. Best director and original screenplay kudos also went to Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man, perhaps their most personal and certainly their most brilliant exploration of the relationship between God and Man.

Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, a disturbing tale of pre-Nazi German repression, took runner-up honors for film and director, as well as winning top prizes for Christian Berger’s evocative black-and-white cinematography and for best film not in the English language. 

The other big ICS winner was Fantastic Mr. Fox with three awards, including best animated film, the clever adapted screenplay by writer/director Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, and Nelson Lowry’s fantastically stylized and textured production design.

Top acting honors went to Colin Firth in A Single Man for his emotional, nuanced turn as a gay professor dealing with the loss of his long-time lover, and to Tilda Swinton in a tour-de-force alcoholic paean to dysfunctional maternal instinct as Julia. In memorable supporting roles, Christoph Waltz got a bingo for Inglourious Basterds, while Vera Farmiga seduced us with her honesty (or did she?) in Up in the Air.

Previously released nominations may be found here.



PICTURE
01. A Serious Man 
02. The White Ribbon 
03. Fantastic Mr. Fox 
04. Inglourious Basterds 
05. Tokyo Sonata 
06. 35 Shots of Rum 
07. The Hurt Locker 
08. District 9
09. Bright Star
10. Up In The Air

DIRECTOR
Ethan & Joel Coen – A Serious Man 
runner-up: Michael Haneke – The White Ribbon 

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
01. The White Ribbon
02. Tokyo Sonata
03. 35 Shots of Rum
04. Summer Hours 
05. Broken Embraces
06. Still Walking 
07. Lorna’s Silence 
08. The Beaches of Agnès 
09. Ponyo
10. O’Horten 
11. The Headless Woman 

ACTOR
Colin Firth – A Single Man 
runner-up: Michael Stuhlbarg – A Serious Man 

ACTRESS
Tilda Swinton – Julia
runner-up: Abbie Cornish – Bright Star 

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
runner-up: Peter Capaldi – In the Loop 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Vera Farmiga – Up In The Air
runners-up: Mo’Nique – Precious and Penélope Cruz – Broken Embraces

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
A Serious Man – Ethan & Joel Coen
runner-up: Inglourious Basterds – Quentin Tarantino 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Fantastic Mr. Fox – Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach 
runner-up: In the Loop – Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche 

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The White Ribbon – Christian Berger
runner-up: Inglourious Basterds – Robert Richardson 

EDITING
The Hurt Locker – Chris Innis & Bob Murawski
runner-up: Broken Embraces – José Salcedo 

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Fantastic Mr. Fox – Nelson Lowry 
runner-up: A Serious Man – Jess Gonchor

ORIGINAL SCORE
A Single Man – Abel Korzeniowski 
runner-up: Fantastic Mr. Fox – Alexandre Desplat 

ENSEMBLE
In the Loop
runner-up: The White Ribbon 

ANIMATED FILM
Fantastic Mr. Fox 
runner-up: Ponyo 

DOCUMENTARY
The Beaches of Agnès 
runner-up: Anvil! The Story of Anvil