My own personal choices for the year. They reflect not just necessarily what I think is the best or essential cinema, but perhaps resonate with me or inspire, both at the time, and still today. Subject to alter choices based on viewings.
Special Honor: Career Excellence
Ellen Burstyn
Special Honor: Female Filmmaking
Ava DuVernay
Special Honor: World Cinema
Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Filmmaking Breakthrough
Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)
Jennifer Kent (The Babadook)
Mélanie Laurent (Breathe)
Gillian Robespierre (Obvious Child)
James Ward Byrkit (Coherence)
Actress Support
Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)
Agata Kulesza (Ida)
Elena Lyadova (Leviathan)
Melisa Sözen (Winter Sleep)
Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer)
Sound Design
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Edge of Tomorrow
Godzilla
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
Special Effects
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Godzilla
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
Snowpiercer
Actress Lead
Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)
Essie Davis (The Babadook)
Lisa Loven Kongsli (Force Majeure)
Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)
Mia Wasikowska (Tracks)
Screenwriting Adapted
Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice)
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ebru Ceylan (Winter Sleep)
Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)
Marion Nelson (Tracks)
Gillian Robespierre, Karen Maine, Anna Bean, Elisabeth Holm (Obvious Child)
Screenwriting Original
Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida)
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Oleg Negin & Andrey Zvyagintsev (Leviathan)
Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure)
Youth Breakthrough
Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood)
Mackenzie Foy (Interstellar)
Antoine Olivier Pilon (Mommy)
Zsófia Psotta (White God)
Noah Wiseman (The Babadook)
Cast Ensemble
Boyhood
White God
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Selma
Cinematography
Robert D. Yeoman (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski (Ida)
Darius Khondji (The Immigrant)
Mandy Walker (Tracks)
Gökhan Tiryaki (Winter Sleep)
Set Designing
Belle
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Immigrant
Mr. Turner
Snowpiercer
Special Honor: LGBTQ Representation
Pride
Costume Design
Belle
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
Picture Editing
The Babadook
Gone Girl
Inherent Vice
Interstellar
Whiplash
Acting Breakthrough
Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Beyond the Lights)
Jack O’Connell (Starred Up)
Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Jenny Slate (Obvious Child)
Agata Trzebuchowska (Ida)
Song Composing
"Lost Stars" from "Begin Again" "The Apology Song" from "The Book of Life" "I Love You Too Much" from "The Book of Life" "The Boxtrolls Song" from "The Boxtrolls" "Quattro Sabatino" from "The Boxtrolls" "Ryan's Song" from "Boyhood" "For The Dancing And The Dreaming" from "How to Train Your Dragon 2" "Hal" from "Only Lovers Left Alive" "Glory" from "Selma"
Score Composing
Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Rachel Portman (Belle)
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross (Gone Girl)
Garth Stevenson (Tracks)
Hans Zimmer (Interstellar)
Actor Support
Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)
Edward Norton (Birdman)
Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
Tom Wilkinson (Selma)
Actor Lead
Aleksey Serebryakov (Leviathan)
Tom Hardy (Locke)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)
David Oyelowo (Selma)
Haluk Bilginer (Winter Sleep)
Directing
Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Winter Sleep)
Xavier Dolan (Mommy)
David Fincher (Gone Girl)
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida)
Motion Picture
Boyhood (Richard Linklater) USA
Two Days, One Night (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne) Belgium / France / Italy
Gone Girl (David Fincher) USA
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson) USA / Germany / UK
Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski) Poland / Denmark / France / UK
Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) Turkey
Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev) Russia
The Wonders (Alice Rohrwacher) Italy / Switzerland / Germany
Mommy (Xavier Dolan) Canada
Tracks (John Curran) Australia