Press release
Winners Announced in First Annual Seattle Film Critics Awards
December 19, 2002
Alarmed by the dearth of year-end movie awards, the film critics of the Puget Sound area have raised their voices in unison for the first time. Twenty-four of the area’s top critics have been polled for the first annual Seattle Film Critics Awards, and the results are in.
Todd Haynes’ FAR FROM HEAVEN proved close to critics’ hearts, winning in six categories, including best picture. The homage to the 1950s melodramas of director Douglas Sirk also won for Julianne Moore as best actress and two awards for Haynes, for best director and best original screenplay.
The Seattle critics also created a special annual category, the “Living Legend” award, which honors some long-cherished movie notable deserving of career recognition. This year’s award went to Maureen O’Hara, the Irish-born, flame-haired Hollywood star whose long career included her many collaborations with both John Wayne (THE QUIET MAN) and John Ford (HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY).
The awards were organized by a new Seattle organization, Parallax View: A Film Society, a group of film enthusiasts, professionals, and critics. The members of Parallax View are NOT the voters in the awards. A committee formed by Parallax View polled the area’s leading critics.
Herewith, the results of the 2002 Seattle Film Critics Awards:
2002 Seattle Film Critics Awards – Winners
Best Picture
Far From Heaven
Runner-up: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Best Director
Todd Haynes, Far From Heaven
Runner-up: Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Best Actress
Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven
Runner-up: Nicole Kidman, The Hours
Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
Runner-up: Michael Caine, The Quiet American
Best Supporting Actress
Bebe Neuwirth, Tadpole
Runner-up: Toni Collette, About a Boy
Best Supporting Actor
Chris Cooper, Adaptation
Runner-up: Dennis Quaid, Far From Heaven
Original Screenplay
Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes
Runner-up: Y Tu Mama Tambien; Alfonso Curaon, Carlos Curaon
Adapted Screenplay
The Hours, David Hare
Runner-up: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair
Documentary
The Kid Stays in the Picture
Runner-up: Standing in the Shadows of Motown
Foreign-Language Film
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Runner-up: The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat)
Cinematography
Far From Heaven, Edward Lachman
Runner-up: Gangs of New York, Michael Ballhaus
Music
Far From Heaven, Elmer Bernstein
Runner-up: Punch-Drunk Love, Jon Brion
Editing
Femme Fatale, Bill Pankow
Runner-up: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, D. Michael Horton
Production Design
Gangs of New York, Dante Ferretti
Runner-up: Far From Heaven, Mark Friedberg
Living Treasure
Maureen O’Hara
PARALLAX VIEW: A FILM SOCIETY is a newly-formed group of Seattle film professionals, enthusiasts, teachers, and critics. Our goal is to champion the cause of film literacy, foster public discussion of the place of movies in society, and promote the serious, sometimes delirious cause of film as art. To that end, we sponsor public events featuring filmmakers and critics, publish provocative writing about film, and present the annual Seattle Film Critics Awards, voted on each December.
Critics polled in the 2002 Seattle Film Critics Awards:
Soren Andersen – Tacoma News Tribune
William Arnold – Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker – freelance/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sheila Benson – freelance/Seattle Weekly
Jim Emerson – freelance/cinepad.com
Gillian Gaar – freelance/Tablet
Shannon Gee – freelance/Seattle Weekly
John Hartl – freelance/Seattle Times
Robert Horton – Everett Herald/KUOW-FM
Richard T. Jameson – freelance/Pacific Press Newspapers
Moira Macdonald – Seattle Times
Derich Mantonela (Mike Anderton) – Seattle Gay News
Michael Medved – freelance/syndicated
Brian Miller – Seattle Weekly
Kathleen Murphy – freelance/SteadyCam
Paula Nechak – freelance/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Nelson – The Stranger
Mark Rahner – Seattle Times
Bruce Reid – freelance
Jeff Shannon – freelance/Amazon.com
Steven Shaviro – freelance/shaviro.com
Keith Simanton – Internet Movie Database
Andy Spletzer – freelance
Tom Tangney – KIRO-AM