Pain and Glory Makes a Splash at 17th ICS Awards
Honoring films released worldwide in 2019.
For the 17th annual edition of our awards, ICS has created a brand new format: a single announcement of the winners, runners-up and other finalists. Our Best Picture list now comprises 25 films released in various countries throughout the world, allowing us to discontinue the Non-English Language list and the Unreleased Films list. We have also added two new categories: Debut Feature and Sound Design.
Pedro Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical masterwork Pain and Glory took top honors this year, winning best picture and best actor. The film showcases Antonio Banderas in a vulnerable, nuanced turn as the director’s alter ego, struggling with the piss and jasmine of middle age, lost relationships and a lifelong devotion to cinema.
Best director went to Céline Sciamma for her lovely and intelligent Portrait of a Lady on Fire, while Adèle Haenel, as the titular lady, earned the supporting actress prize. Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite was another hot ICS favorite, infiltrating our ranks to nab original screenplay, ensemble and production design awards on its underdog path to the Oscars.
Lead actress winner Vitalina Varela displayed amazing power and grace as a Cape Verde widow learning some hard truths about her deceased husband’s immigrant life in Portugal, as she became the haunted face of Pedro Costa’s Vitalina Varela. The film also won best cinematography thanks to Leonardo Simões’ dark, poetic lensing. And ageing gangster Joe Pesci fought off old salt Willem Dafoe to take supporting actor honors for The Irishman.
Speaking of underdogs, Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, in which obsessive cinephile Frank Beauvais survives depression via an astonishing montage of movie clips, spun our heads in the documentary, editing and debut feature categories. The full list of ICS winners and nominees appears below.
PICTURE
01. Pain and Glory
02. Parasite
03. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
04. Synonyms
05. Long Day’s Journey Into Night
06. The Irishman
07. Vitalina Varela
08. Marriage Story
09. Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream
10. An Elephant Sitting Still
11. Little Women
12. Transit
13. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
14. The Image Book
15. Uncut Gems
16. Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo
17. La Llorona
18. I Was at Home, But
19. La Flor
20. High Life
21. Martin Eden
22. The Souvenir
23. Leto
24. A Hidden Life
25. Ash is Purest White
DIRECTOR
Winner: Céline Sciamma – Portrait of a Lady on Fire
RU: Pedro Almodóvar – Pain and Glory
• Bi Gan – Long Day’s Journey Into Night
• Bong Joon Ho – Parasite
• Pedro Costa – Vitalina Varela
• Nadav Lapid – Synonyms
ACTOR
Winner: Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory
RU: Tom Mercier – Synonyms
• Adam Driver – Marriage Story
• Luca Marinelli – Martin Eden
• Joaquin Phoenix – Joker
• Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems
ACTRESS
Winner: Vitalina Varela – Vitalina Varela
RU: Zhao Tao – Ash is Purest White
• Virginie Efira – Sibyl
• Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story
• Noémie Merlant – Portrait of a Lady on Fire
• Lupita Nyong’o – Us
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Joe Pesci – The Irishman
RU: Willem Dafoe – The Lighthouse
• Tom Burke – The Souvenir
• Asier Etxeandia – Pain and Glory
• Al Pacino – The Irishman
• Song Kang-ho – Parasite
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Adèle Haenel – Portrait of a Lady on Fire
RU: Cho Yeo-jeong – Parasite
• Laura Dern – Marriage Story
• Sandra Hüller – Sibyl
• Margarita Kenéfic – La Llorona
• Fatma Mohamed – In Fabric
ENSEMBLE
Winner: Parasite
RU: La Flor
• The Irishman
• La Llorona
• Little Women
• Pain and Glory
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: Parasite – Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won
RU: Pain and Glory – Pedro Almodóvar
• Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach
• Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma
• Synonyms – Nadav Lapid, Haim Lapid
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: Transit – Christian Petzold
RU: Little Women – Greta Gerwig
• Asako I & II – Sachiko Tanaka, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
• An Elephant Sitting Still – Hu Bo
• The Irishman – Steven Zaillian
• Martin Eden – Maurizio Braucci, Pietro Marcello
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: Vitalina Varela – Leonardo Simões
RU: Long Day’s Journey Into Night – Yao Hung-i, Dong Jingsong, David Chizallet
• 1917 – Roger Deakins
• Atlantique – Claire Mathon
• The Lighthouse – Jarin Blaschke
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Claire Mathon
EDITING
Winner: Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream – Thomas Marchand
RU: Parasite – Yang Jin-mo
• The Image Book – Jean-Luc Godard
• The Irishman – Thelma Schoonmaker
• Synonyms – Neta Braun, François Gédigier, Era Lapid
• Uncut Gems – Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Winner: Parasite – Lee Ha-jun
RU: Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – Barbara Ling
• High Life – François-Renaud Labarthe
• The Lighthouse – Craig Lathrop
• Little Joe – Katharina Wöppermann
• Pain and Glory – Antxón Gómez
SCORE
Winner: A Hidden Life – James Newton Howard
RU: Pain and Glory – Alberto Iglesias
• Ad Astra – Max Richter
• Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir
• Marriage Story – Randy Newman
• Uncut Gems – Daniel Lopatin
SOUND DESIGN
Winner: Ad Astra – Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Mark Ulano
RU: Climax – Ken Yasumoto
• 1917 – Oliver Tarney, Rachael Tate, Mark Taylor, Stuart Wilson
• The Lighthouse – Mariusz Glabinski, Damian Volpe
• Monos – Eduardo Castillo, Lena Esquenazi, Javier Farina, Javier Umpierrez
• Uncut Gems – Warren Shaw
ANIMATED FILM
Winner: I Lost My Body – Jérémy Clapin
RU: Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles – Salvador Simó Busom
• Bombay Rose – Gitanjali Rao
• Children of the Sea – Ayumu Watanabe
• No. 7 Cherry Lane – Yonfan
• Toy Story 4 – Josh Cooley
DOCUMENTARY
Winner: Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream – Frank Beauvais
RU: Honeyland – Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska
• Apollo 11 – Todd Douglas Miller
• For Sama – Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts
• M – Yolande Zauberman
• Varda by Agnès – Agnès Varda
DEBUT FEATURE
Winner: Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream – Frank Beauvais
RU: An Elephant Sitting Still – Hu Bo
• Atlantique – Mati Diop
• The Chambermaid – Lila Avilés
• End of the Century – Lucio Castro
• The Last Black Man in San Francisco – Joe Talbot