La La Land, Moonlight Lead Phoenix Film Critics Society's 2016 Award Nominations

Phoenix (December 13, 2016)

The 2016 nominations for the Phoenix Film Critics Society’s annual awards have been announced.

"La La Land" led the field with 13 nominations, including best film, best director, best original screenplay and lead acting nominations for Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

"Moonlight" garnered 9 nominations including best film and best director, while "Manchester by the Sea" and "Hacksaw Ridge" tied for 8 nominations each.

The ten films nominated for best picture are:
"A Monster Calls," "Arrival," "Florence Foster Jenkins," "Hacksaw Ridge," "Hell or High Water," "La La Land," "Manchester By The Sea," "Moonlight," "Nocturnal Animals" and "Sing Street."

The nominees for Best Actor in a Leading Role are Andrew Garfield for "Hacksaw Ridge," Casey Affleck in "Manchester By The Sea," Denzel Washington in "Fences," Ryan Gosling in "La La Land." and Tom Hanks for "Sully."

The Best Actress in a Leading Role nominations include
Amy Adams –for “Arrival,” Emma Stone for “La La Land,” Meryl Streep for “Florence Foster Jenkins,” Natalie Portman for “Jackie” and Ruth Negga for “Loving.”

"While there's a lot of love for ‘La La Land’ among the membership, the diversity of films on this list from ‘Moonlight’ to ‘Sing Street’ shows that the big

winners were audiences,” says PFCS President Gayle Bass. “Because in the end, they're the ones who got a full buffet of entertainment in 2016."

The PFCS also nominated five films for its "Overlooked Film of the Year” Award. They include "Anthropoid," "Captain Fantastic," "Hunt for the Wilderpeople," "Sing Street" and "The Lobster." "It is our hope that people will see this list and seek these films out," said Bass, "because they deserve more sets of eyes on them."

There are six nominees for the Best Ensemble Acting award due to a tie. The nominees are “Fences,” “Hell or High Water,” “Hidden Figures,” “La La Land,” “Manchester by the Sea” and “Moonlight.”

Disney's "Finding Dory," "Moana" and "Zootopia" earned Best Animated Film nominations, as did "Trolls" and "Kubo and the Two Strings." 

Winners will be announced on Tuesday, December 20, 2016.

To see the complete list of nominations including Best Foreign Film, Best Documentary, Original and Adapted Screenplay and more, see here.

The Phoenix Film Critics Society presents an entire slate of awards each year. To qualify for the 2016 awards, films had to be screened in the Phoenix area by Friday, December 9, 2016. Only critic members of the Society may vote. The films must open in theaters prior to the end of the year to be eligible for awards consideration. The Phoenix Film Critics Society is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit, self-funded, independent organization consisting of professional film critics and film journalists in Arizona.

For more information, visit: https://www.phoenixfilmcriticssociety.org