Winners of the 2007 Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards.

Voted for the 2007 SEFCA awards on Saturday, and before I had time to digest some of the radical decisions I had made, the winners were annonced this morning. I thought I would share this press release with you guys. Strangely, the movie I picked for my number one film of the year didn't make this list in any form, shape, or fashion. What movie would that be, you ask? You'll have to wait until Friday to find out.

All in all, there were five of my top 10 which made SEFCA's list, and only two other awards wherein my votes matched the winners ("Best Animated Feature," "Best Documentary" & "Best Original Screenplay").

Press release after the colon:


NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN WINS TOP SEFCA HONOR

DECEMBER 17 - The Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) yesterday named No Country for Old Men the Best Picture of 2007 in its 16th annual voting. The powerful crime thriller, based on Cormac McCarthy's novel, earned a total of four awards, its other victories coming in the categories of Best Director (Joel & Ethan Coen), Best Adapted Screenplay (also the Coens) and Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem).

No Country for Old Men proved to be the only multiple winner, as the rest of the association's awards were split up among several pictures.

Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor for his mesmerizing turn as a ruthless oil baron in There Will Be Blood, while Julie Christie earned Best Actress for her poignant performance as an Alzheimer's patient in Away from Her.

In the closest race of the day, Amy Ryan snagged the Best Supporting Actress award for her work in Gone Baby Gone; she beat runner-up Cate Blanchett (competing for I'm Not There) by one point.

In other contests, Diablo Cody received Best Original Screenplay for Juno, while the French production The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was cited as Best Foreign Language Film. The Best Documentary prize went to the Iraq War
analysis No End In Sight, and the summer blockbuster Ratatouille nabbed the honors as Best Animated Film.

In its third year, the Wyatt Award went to Waitress, a comedy-drama by the late writer-director-actress Adrienne Shelly. Named after the late SEFCA member Gene Wyatt, the prize seeks to honor one film each year that best
embodies the essence of the South.

In addition to naming its Best Picture, SEFCA also releases (in order) its Top 10 for the year. The complete list follows.

BEST PICTURE
1. No Country for Old Men
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Atonement
4. Juno
5. Michael Clayton
6. Zodiac
7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
8. Gone Baby Gone
9. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
10. Into the Wild

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
* Runner-up: George Clooney - Michael Clayton

BEST ACTRESS
Julie Christie - Away from Her
* Runner-up: Ellen Page - Juno

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
* Runner-up: Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward
Robert Ford

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
* Runner-up: Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There

BEST DIRECTOR
Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
* Runner-up: Joe Wright - Atonement

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody - Juno
* Runner-up: Tamara Jenkins - The Savages

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
* Runner-up: Christopher Hampton - Atonement

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France)
* Runner-up: La vie en rose (France)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
No End in Sight
* Runner-up: Sicko

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Ratatouille
* Runner-up: The Simpsons Movie

WYATT AWARD
Waitress
* Runner-up: Black Snake Moan