Time to honor my own choices for the best in film of 2017. I know we are in mid-February now, but here in the UK you have to wait around a bit if you want to catch as many of the awards season movies as possible. That said, I try to see as many movies as I can, and usually work between the second months of the year as the eligible twelve month window.
As per usual, the choices below reflected in many familiar categories are my own personal choices for the year. They represent not just what I believe is the best or essential cinema, but perhaps resonates with me or inspires, then, now, and for a long time to come. The categories and the nominees are below, which were announced Sunday evening on Twitter #FilmHonors2017 and now published on the Facebook page also.
The Handmaiden, released in the UK in April, and Dunkirk hit the big screen in July, meaning its what you might call early birds that head the pack of the 2017 Film Honors. That said, the likes of mother!, The Florida Project, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, In This Corner of the World, and Clash scored in many categories – including Motion Picture of the year. Blade Runner 2049, Call Me by Your Name, Logan, and Loving Vincent scored well without landing in the top group. On Body and Soul, The Salesman, and Loveless make up the 10 best films of 2017.
Winners announced Wednesday 28th February. Here are the shortlisted films in full:
Special Honor: Career Excellence
TBA
Special Honor: Female Filmmaking
TBA
Special Honor: World Cinema
TBA
Special Honor: LGBTQ Representation
TBA
Special Honor: Technical Excellence
TBA
Sound Design
Clash
Dunkirk
In This Corner of the World
The Villainess
Wonder Woman
Actor Support
Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
Barry Keoghan (The Killing of a Sacred Deer)
Benny Safdie (Good Time)
Patrick Stewart (Logan)
Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me by Your Name)
Film Editing
Clash
Dunkirk
The Handmaiden
mother!
The Villainess
Filmmaking Breakthrough
Macon Blair (I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore)
Julia Ducournau (Raw)
Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)
Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman (Loving Vincent)
Ben Young (Hounds of Love)
Set Design
Blade Runner 2049
The Handmaiden
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets
Actress Support
Taraneh Alidoosti (The Salesman)
Hong Chau (Downsizing)
Sylvia Hoeks (Blade Runner 2019)
Allison Janney (I, Tonya)
Michelle Pfeiffer (mother!)
Cinematography
Chung Chung-hoon (The Handmaiden)
Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049)
Anthony Dod Mantle (First They Killed My Father)
Zach Kuperstein (The Eyes of My Mother)
Hoyte van Hoytema (Dunkirk)
Animation
The Girl Without Hands
In This Corner of the World
Loving Vincent
The Night is Short, Walk On Girl
The Red Turtle
Costume Design
The Handmaiden
Murder on the Orient Express
Phantom Thread
Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets
Victoria and Abdul
Youth Breakthrough
Dafne Keen (Logan)
Garance Marillier (Raw)
Maggie Mulubwa (I Am Not a Witch)
Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project)
Sreymoch Sareum (First They Killed My Father)
Special Effects
Blade Runner 2049
Kong: Skull Island
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes
Wonder Woman
Acting Breakthrough
Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name)
Josh O’Connor (God’s Own Country)
Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth)
Ia Shughliashvili (My Happy Family)
Kim Tae-ri (The Handmaiden)
Song Composing
“If I Dare” (Battle of the Sexes)
“Kanashikute Yari Kirenai” (In This Corner of the World)
“Mystery Of Love” (Call Me by Your Name)
“Never Forget” (Murder on the Orient Express)
“Visions Of Gideon” (Call Me by Your Name)
Cast Ensemble
Clash
The Death Of Stalin
Land of Mine
Loving Vincent
The Party
Documentary
78/52
Icarus
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond
Kedi
Spielberg
Actor Lead
Shahab Hosseini (The Salesman)
Roland Møller (Land Of Mine)
Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)
Makis Papadimitriou (Suntan)
Robert Pattinson (Good Time)
Score Composing
Anne Dudley (Elle)
Jonny Greenwood (Phantom Thread)
Daniel Hart (A Ghost Story)
Jo Yeong-wook (The Handmaiden)
Hans Zimmer (Dunkirk)
Screenwriting Adapted
Alice Birch (Lady Macbeth)
Park Chan-wook, Chung Seo-kyung (The Handmaiden)
Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin, Peter Fellows (The Death Of Stalin)
James Ivory (Call Me by Your Name)
Loung Ung, Angelina Jolie (First They Killed My Father)
Actress Lead
Emma Booth (Hounds of Love)
Alexandra Borbély (On Body and Soul)
Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing Missouri)
Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)
Maryana Spivak (Loveless)
Screenwriting Original
Ildikó Enyedi (On Body and Soul)
Asghar Farhadi (The Salesman)
Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou (The Killing of a Sacred Deer)
Oleg Negin, Andrey Zvyagintsev (Loveless)
Rungano Nyoni (I Am Not a Witch)
Directing
Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden)
Mohamed Diab (Clash)
Ildikó Enyedi (On Body and Soul)
Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)
Andrey Zvyagintsev (Loveless)
Motion Picture
Clash (Mohamed Diab) Egypt
Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan) USA / UK / France / Netherlands
First The Killed My Father (Angelina Jolie) Cambodia / USA
The Florida Project (Sean Baker) USA
The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook) South Korea
In This Corner of the World (Sunao Katabuchi) Japan
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) Ireland / UK
Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev) Russia
On Body and Soul (Ildikó Enyedi) Hungary
The Salesman (Asghar Farhadi) Iran