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This year's John Garfield Award recipient for Best Actor in a Film: David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma. |
By John Esther
This week an anonymous member of the Academy declared "Selma has no art to it," and that the decision of its filmmakers to wear a "I Can't Breathe" t-shirt in memorial to Eric Garner's death at the film's premiere was "offensive."
Nevermind, for a moment, that this member of an organization that is reportedly 94 percent white is complaining about a protest against police brutality on unarmed black people at the filmmakers' own premiere of their film. Or that Selma is a film about a man, and many others, who stood up against police brutality and were indeed victims of police brutality. Forget that for a second because he or she does not know what he or she is talking about. Selma has plenty of art to it. Otherwise there is no way the James Agee Critics Circle could have awarded it the Trumbo for Best Picture of the year and the film's lead, David Oyelowo the Garfield Award for Best Actor in a film released in the U.S. 2014.
That would not be possible. (This person probably thinks the woefully offensive Last Days in Vietnam is one of the best documentaries of the year.)
Here are the other winners of the 8th Annual Progies -- in Blue.
THE TRUMBO: The Progie Award for BEST PICTURE is named after Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, a member of the Hollywood Ten, who was imprisoned for his beliefs and refusing to inform. Trumbo helped break the Blacklist when he received screen credit for Spartacus and Exodus in 1960.
Winner: Selma.
Other nominations:
Birdman;
Cesar Chavez;
The Congress;
Goodbye to Language;
The Liberator;
Pride;
Two Days, One Night
THE GARFIELD: The Progie Award for BEST ACTOR is named after John Garfield, who starred in pictures such as Gentleman’s Agreement and Force of Evil, only to run afoul of the Hollywood Blacklist.
Winner: David Oyelowo in Selma.
Other nominees:
Benedict Cumbert, The Imitation Game;
Harvey Keitel, The Congress;
Michael Keaton, Birdman;
Eddie Ramierez, The Liberator;
Jeremy Renner, Kill the Messenger;
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything;
Channing Tatum, Foxcatcher;
KAREN MORLEY AWARD: The Progie Award for BEST ACTRESS in a film is named for Karen Morley, co-star of Scarface (1932) and Our Daily Bread (1934). Morley was driven out of Hollywood in the 1930s for her leftist views.
Winner: Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night.
Other nominees:
American Ferrara, Cesar Chavez;
Juianne Moore, Still Alice;
Tilda Swinton, Snowpiercer;
Tessa Thompson, Dear White People;
THE RENOIR: The Progie Award for BEST ANTI-WAR FILM is named after the great French filmmaker Jean Renoir, who directed the 1937 anti-militarism masterpiece, Grand Illusion.
Winner: The Imitation Game.
Other nominations:
The Kill Team;
The Unknown Known;
Zero Motivation;
THE GILLO: The Progie Award for BEST PROGRESSIVE FOREIGN FILM is named after the Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo, who lensed The Battle of Algiers and Burn!
Winner: Goodbye to Language.
Other nominations:
The Circle;
Human Capital;
The Liberator;
Norte, the End of History;
Two Days, One Night;
Winner: Citizenfour.
Other nominations:
The Case Against 8;
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia;
The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz;
To Be Takei;
Whitey: The United States of America vs. James J. Bulger;
Winner: Pride.
Other nominations:
Cesar Chavez;
The Liberator;
Snowpiercer;
Two Days, One Night;
THE ROBESON: The Progie Award for the BEST PORTRAYAL OF PEOPLE OF COLOR that shatters cinema stereotypes, in light of their historically demeaning depictions onscreen. It is named after courageous performing legend, Paul Robeson, who starred in Song of Freedom and The Proud Valley.
Winner: Dear White People.
Other nominations;
Big Hero 6;
Cesar Chavez;
The Liberator;
Memphis;
A Most Violent Year;
Selma;
THE BUNUEL: The Progie Award for the MOST SLYLY SUBVERSIVE SATIRICAL CINEMATIC FILM in terms of form, style and content is named after Luis Bunuel, the Spanish surrealist who directed The Andalusian Dog, Belle de Jour and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.
Winner (four-way tie): Birdman; Inherent Vice; Nightcrawler; A Trip to Italy.
Other nominations:
The Congress;
Selma;
THE PASOLINI: The Progie Award for BEST PRO-GAY RIGHTS film is named after Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini, who directed The Gospel According to St. Matthew, The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales.
Winner: Pride.
Other nominations:
The Circle;
The Imitation Game;
Love is Strange;
To Be Takei;
The Way He Looks;
THE LAWSON: The Progie Award for BEST ANTI-FASCIST FILM is named after John Howard Lawson, screenwriter of 1938’s anti-Franco Blockade and the 1940s anti-nazi films Four Sons, Action in the North Atlantic, Sahara and Counter-Attack, and one of the Hollywood Ten.
Winner: Snowpiercer.
Other nominations:
Most Wanted Man;
The Lego Movie;
Norte, the End of History;
Selma;
Winner: Harry Belafonte.
