SEFCA - How I voted.

So you've seen how the SEFCA awards turned out this year. And you know which films are on my personal top 10. But what about the rest of the categories?

Well, in order to establish a sense of transparency on my part, and to give you guys something to chew on this New Year's Eve, I thought I would do something I've never seen any movie awards voter do before: Share my ballot card.

Now the way this works is basically, if I give an actor, movie, writer, or director first place, they each get three points for that category. Second gets two points, and third gets one. Any questions?

If not, here are my votes.

BEST ACTOR

1. George Clooney, Michael Clayton

2. Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild

3. Brad Pitt, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

(Note: Where's Daniel Day-Lewis, you ask? Sure he was great in There Will Be Blood, but the legendary performer goes a little overboard during the Shining-esque finale.)


BEST ACTRESS

1. Ellen Page, Juno

2. Julie Christie, Away from Her

3. Keri Russell, Waitress


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

2. Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

3. J.K. Simmons, Juno


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone

2. Imelda Staunton, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

3. Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

(Note: For shame to the Golden Globes for giving a nomination to Julia Roberts over Imelda Staunton.)


BEST DIRECTOR

1. Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

2.Juan Antonio Bayona, The Orphanage

3. Andrew Dominik, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford


BEST DOCUMENTARY

1. No End in Sight

2. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

3. Kurt Cobain About a Son


(NOTE: Here's where things get a little complicated. You might have noticed that I ranked No End in Sight over The King of Kong. However, the latter made my top ten list while the former did not. My reason for this is because, in terms of documentaries, the video game documentary uses a cheat code or two. Facts are twisted in The King of Kong, and reality gets spliced in order to present the events in a certain light to demonize Billy Mitchel. No End in Sight on the other hand is far more concerned with presenting the truth as a form of entertainment instead of the other way around.)


BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1. The Orphanage

2. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

3. Black Book

(NOTE: I really, really loved The Orphanage, and it broke my heart a little to see that my favorite film of the year did not receive a single mention on the SEFCA list for no other reason than the fact that hardly anyone watched it. We all got the chance to watch it, but when it came down to the nitty gritty, no one seemed that interested. Hopefully it will fare much better when it comes out in more theaters.)


BEST ANIMATED FILM

1. Ratatouille

2. Meet the Robinsons

3. Beowulf


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. Diablo Cody, Juno

2. Adrienne Shelly, Waitress

3. Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg, Superbad


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. John Logan, Sweeney Todd

2. Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

3. Sean Penn, Into the Wild


The GENE WYATT AWARD for BEST FILM WITH A SOUTHERN THEME

1. Black Snake Moan

2. Waitress

3. Forgiving the Franklins

(NOTE: How could any film be considered more 'SOUTHERN' than Black Snake Moan? I mean to put it bluntly, that film is almost as countried-fried as a Moon Pie drinking an RC Cola. However, I am glad to see Waitress won in the end. It was the better film overall.)