Zama Awaits its Fate, While Burning Catches Fire at ICS Awards
Honoring films released in the USA in 2018.
The 16th ICS Awards saw two international films dominate the nominations with 9 apiece. In Zama, Lucrecia Martel’s magnificent critique of Spanish colonialism, Crown official Don Diego de Zama (Daniel Giménez Cacho) is wasting his life in perpetual longing and cruel condescension while the Native rhythms of 18th-century Paraguay ebb and flow beneath his oblivious stare. His tale begins with a hopeful gaze out to sea, regresses through years of bureaucratic delay, and concludes with a surreal expedition into the heart of darkness. Diego, when will you return?
South Korean director Lee Chang-dong took a Murakami short story and, by some wondrous alchemy, turned it into Burning, also blazing its way to 9 nominations. This twisted triangle pits an awkward writer (Yoo Ah-in) against his alter ego, a sophisticated and enigmatic playboy (Steven Yeun), all for love of a strange girl (Jeon Jong-seo) who disappears – or does she? Who is actually writing this story? It’s all in how you peel the imaginary orange.
Rounding out the best director category were Alfonso Cuarón for Roma, Bertrand Mandico for The Wild Boys, Alice Rohrwacher for Happy as Lazzaro and Chloé Zhao for The Rider. Significantly, this marks the first time we’ve seen equal representation for female directors in the ICS lineup.
In keeping with ICS tradition, the Unreleased Films list features a group of underseen films that our members were lucky enough to catch at festivals on five continents, and for which they voted passionately, but which failed to receive theatrical distribution in the USA in 2018.
Winners of the 16th ICS Awards will be announced on February 3, 2019.
PICTURE
• A Bread Factory
• Burning
• The Favourite
• First Reformed
• If Beale Street Could Talk
• Madeline’s Madeline
• The Other Side of the Wind
• The Rider
• Roma
• Shoplifters
• The Wild Boys
• Zama
DIRECTOR
• Alfonso Cuarón – Roma
• Lee Chang-dong – Burning
• Bertrand Mandico – The Wild Boys
• Lucrecia Martel – Zama
• Alice Rohrwacher – Happy as Lazzaro
• Chloé Zhao – The Rider
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
• Burning
• Cold War
• Happy as Lazzaro
• A Paris Education
• Roma
• Shoplifters
• Sicilian Ghost Story
• Western
• The Wild Boys
• Zama
Honorable Mentions: The Day After, Lover for a Day, 24 Frames, Let the Sunshine In, Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc, On Body and Soul, Claire’s Camera, Border, Museo, Mrs. Hyde.
ACTOR
• Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate
• Daniel Giménez Cacho – Zama
• Ethan Hawke – First Reformed
• Meinhard Neumann – Western
• Lakeith Stanfield – Sorry to Bother You
• Yoo Ah-in – Burning
ACTRESS
• Sakura Andô – Shoplifters
• Juliette Binoche – Let the Sunshine In
• Olivia Colman – The Favourite
• Tyne Daly – A Bread Factory
• Helena Howard – Madeline’s Madeline
• Joanna Kulig – Cold War
SUPPORTING ACTOR
• Hugh Grant – Paddington 2
• Brian Tyree Henry – If Beale Street Could Talk
• Russell Hornsby – The Hate U Give
• Juan Minujín – Zama
• Steven Yeun – Burning
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• Isabelle Adjani – The World is Yours
• Lola Dueñas – Zama
• Jeon Jong-seo – Burning
• Kirin Kiki – Shoplifters
• Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk
• Rachel Weisz – The Favourite
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
• A Bread Factory – Patrick Wang
• The Favourite – Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
• First Reformed – Paul Schrader
• Happy as Lazzaro – Alice Rohrwacher
• Shoplifters – Hirokazu Koreeda
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
• Burning – Oh Jung-mi, Lee Chang-dong
• The Death of Stalin – Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin
• If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins
• Leave No Trace – Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini
• Zama – Lucrecia Martel
CINEMATOGRAPHY
• Burning – Hong Kyung-pyo
• Cold War – Lukasz Zal
• Madeline’s Madeline – Ashley Connor
• Roma – Alfonso Cuarón
• Zama – Rui Poças
EDITING
• Hale County This Morning, This Evening – RaMell Ross
• Madeline’s Madeline – Harrison Atkins, Josephine Decker, Elizabeth Rao
• The Other Side of the Wind – Bob Murawski, Orson Welles
• Roma – Alfonso Cuarón, Adam Gough
• You Were Never Really Here – Joe Bini
PRODUCTION DESIGN
• The Favourite – Fiona Crombie
• Isle of Dogs – Paul Harrod, Adam Stockhausen
• Roma – Eugenio Caballero, Barbara Enriquez
• The Wild Boys – Astrid Tonnelier
• Zama – Renata Pinheiro
SCORE
• Annihilation – Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury
• Burning – Mowg
• First Man – Justin Hurwitz
• If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell
• Suspiria – Thom Yorke
• You Were Never Really Here – Jonny Greenwood
ENSEMBLE
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
• A Bread Factory
• The Favourite
• A Paris Education
• Shoplifters
ANIMATED FILM
• Have a Nice Day
• Isle of Dogs
• Mary and the Witch’s Flower
• Mirai no Mirai
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
DOCUMENTARY
• Dead Souls
• El mar la mar
• Hale County This Morning, This Evening
• Minding the Gap
• Shirkers
BEST PICTURE NOT RELEASED IN 2018
• 3 Faces
• Asako I & II
• Ash is Purest White
• Birds of Passage
• Climax
• Diamantino
• Diane
• Dogman
• An Elephant Sitting Still
• Grass
• High Life
• The Image Book
• Joy
• Knife + Heart
• La Flor
• Leto
• Long Day’s Journey Into Night
• Manta Ray
• Memories of My Body
• Ray & Liz
• Real Love
• Rojo
• Transit
• What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire?
• The Wild Pear Tree