Kansas City Film Critics Circle issues top awards

I am a member of the KCFCC, and last night we voted on our annual awards. It’s the big event of the year, where everyone gets together and talks film for hours and we get in heated debate about our favorites of the year. I couldn’t be more pleased with the selections. What do you think? Here’s the press release:KANSAS CITY, MO. – The 42nd annual vote of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle honored work ranging from the rise of a ruthless oil tycoon, the life of French singer Edith Piaf to a fanciful tale of a rat who longs to be a great chef.The 25 voting members of the organization – comprised of print, television, radio and online critics from the Greater Kansas City area – cast ballots in 12 categories on Jan. 6, 2008. Films were eligible if they held advance screenings or opened in the Kansas City area during 2007.The critics voted the following as the best of 2007:Best Film: “There Will Be Blood”Robert Altman Award for Directing: tie Paul Thomas Anderson: “There Will Be Blood” and Julian Schnabel: “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”Best Actress: Marion Cotilliard, “La Vie en Rose”Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton”Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, “Juno”Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”Best Animated Film: “Ratatouille”Best Foreign Language Film: “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”Best Documentary: “In the Shadow of the Moon” Vince Koehler Award for Outstanding Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Film: “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”The first movie to win the Kansas City Film Critics Circle award for Best Picture was “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in 1966. The group is the second oldest organization of film critics in the United States.For more information, go to www.kcfcc.org.