The National Society of Film Critics has proclaimed "Spotlight" as the best picture of 2015 as well as the best screenplay award, which was given to the film's co-writers Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy. This year marks their 50th annual meeting, which was dedicated to the memory of the late Time critic Richard Corliss.
Spotlight is an investigative journalism tale about the Boston Globe editor Marty Baron assigning a group of journalists to investigate allegations against a particular John Geoghan, who is believed to be a priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys. It represents the true story of how they uncovered the scandal and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese and how this shook the entire Catholic Church to its core.
The film was first released in the USA on November 16, 2015. Since then, it has received a number of awards, including the following: Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Feature Film, Satellite Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble, Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award, and Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay. Actor Michael Keaton also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor award.
The society gives out at least eight major awards per year. Furthermore, they are composed of 53 film critics from around the country. For this year, eight critics opted to disqualify themselves from voting as they were not able to watch every film. The chair for the society is Variety's Justin Chang.
The National Society of Film Critics also took to Twitter to post the winners of different awards as they were decided. The complete list are as follows (with their corresponding votes):
Picture: "Spotlight" (23)
Runners-up: "Carol" (17), "Mad Max: Fury Road" (13)
Director: Todd Haynes, "Carol" (21)
Runners-up: Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight" (21); George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road" (20)
(McCarthy received as many points as Haynes, but did not appear on a majority of ballots.)
Actor: Michael B. Jordan, "Creed" (29)
Runners-up: Geza Rohrig, "Son of Saul" (18); Tom Courtenay, "45 Years" (15)
Actress: Charlotte Rampling, "45 Years" (57)
Runners-up: Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn" (30); Nina Hoss, "Phoenix" (22)
Supporting actor: Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies" (56)
Runners-up: Michael Shannon, "99 Homes" (16); Sylvester Stallone, "Creed" (14)
Supporting actress: Kristen Stewart, "Clouds of Sils Maria" (53)
Runners-up: Alicia Vikander, "Ex Machina" (23); Kate Winslet, "Steve Jobs" (17)
Screenplay: Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight" (21)
Runners-up: Charlie Kaufman, "Anomalisa" (15); Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, "The Big Short" (15)
Cinematography: Ed Lachman, "Carol" (25)
Runners-up: Mark Lee Ping-bin, "The Assassin" (22); "Mad Max: Fury Road" (12)
Foreign-language film: "Timbuktu" (22)
Runners-up: "Phoenix" (20); "The Assassin" (16)
Non-fiction film: "Amy" (23)
Runners-up: "In Jackson Heights" (18); "Seymour: An Introduction" (15)
Film Heritage awards:
Film Society of Lincoln Center and the programmers Jake Perlin and Michelle Materre for the series "Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York, 1968-1986"
The Criterion Collection and L'Immagine Ritrovata for the restoration and packaging of the reconstructed version of "The Apu Trilogy" by Satyajit Ray
Association Chaplin for supervising the digital restoration of Charlie Chaplin's Essanay Films
Special citation for a film awaiting American distribution: Radu Muntean's "One Floor Below"
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