Back in 2006, Kathryn Jenson White, Preston Jones and I launched the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle (OFCC) to help promote film in our state. The organization has come a long way since then. As the OFCC does each year, along with most of the world’s film critics, we vote to award the best movies, performances and craftspeople of the year.
What follows is the OFCC’s news release for this year:
OKLAHOMA CITY, January 3, 2024—The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle (OFCC)
announced its 18th annual slate of award winners, with the Oklahoma-based Killers of the Flower Moon taking the title for Best Film of 2023 among the state’s film critics.
“Killers of the Flower Moon dominated this year’s OFCC awards, with Martin Scorcese’s epic cited in seven of the 10 categories it was eligible for. It won the Best Film prize and Best Actress award for Lily Gladstone by significantly wide margins, a sign of the film’s endurance within the state of Oklahoma,” said Jeff Huston, OFCC president.
In a year marked by strikes across the film and television industry, the OFCC
recognized a variety of films that brought together audiences and critics alike. In
addition to Killers of the Flower Moon, the Top 10 Films of 2023 are The Holdovers, Oppenheimer, Barbie, Past Lives, The Zone of Interest, Poor Things, May December, The Boy and the Heron and American Fiction.
“This year was marked by bold swings from notable directors like Martin Scorsese,
Greta Gerwig, Christopher Nolan, and Hayao Miyazaki and impressive debuts from first-time directors like Celine Song with Past Lives, Cord Jefferson with American Fiction, and Chloe Domont with Fair Play,” said Caleb Masters, OFCC vice president. “Also among this year’s great films was Fancy Dance, a feature film directorial debut from Erica Tremblay, set in Oklahoma and made by a largely Oklahoma crew. While the film has yet to be picked up for distribution, we believe the film showcases the exceptional talent making movies in our state.”
The 2023 film calendar spanned budgets, platforms, and genres in a catalog that held something for everyone. Highly anticipated titles like Maestro and The Exorcist: Believer fell to expectations, giving way to a swell of foreign language titles to find a place among the OFCC’s ranking of the year’s best films. With a pop culture phenomenon like Barbenheimer creating a sense of occasion in moviegoing again, casual and avid fans of cinema have reason to find themselves in front of the silver screen again.
Below is the complete list OFCC award winners for 2023:
Top !0
10. American Fiction
9. The Boy and the Heron
8. May December
7. Poor Things
6. The Zone of Interest
5. Past Lives
4. Barbie
3. Oppenheimer
2. The Holdovers
And the Best Film of 2023…
Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Actor
Winner: Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Runner-Up: Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Best Actress
Winner: Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Runner-Up: Emma Stone, Poor Things
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Runner-Up: Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Runner-Up: Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Best Director
Winner: Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Runner-Up: Greta Gerwig, Barbie
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Runner-Up: Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach, Barbie
Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Eric Roth & Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon (based on David
Grann’s book)
Runner-Up: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer (based on the book American
Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin)
Best Documentary
Winner: American Symphony
Runner-Up: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Best Animated Feature
Winner: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Runner-Up: The Boy and the Heron
Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: The Zone of Interest (UK/Poland)
Runner-Up: Godzilla Minus One (Japan)
Best Cinematography
Winner: Hoyte Van Hoytema, Oppenheimer
Runner-Up: Rodrigo Prieto, Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Score
Winner: Robbie Robertson, Killers of the Flower Moon
Runner-Up: Ludwig Göransson, Oppenheimer
Best Ensemble
Winner: Barbie
Runner-Up: Killers of the Flower Moon
Best First Feature
Winner: Past Lives, dir. Celine Song
Runner-Up: American Fiction, dir. Cord Jefferson
Best Body of Work
Winner: Actress Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest
Runner-Up: Director Wes Anderson, Asteroid City and four Roald Dahl shorts
Most Disappointing Film
Winner: Maestro
Runner-Up: The Exorcist: Believer
Special Citation
for Achievement in Oklahoma Independent Filmmaking
Fancy Dance, dir. Erica Tremblay
About OFCC:
A 501(c)7 organization founded in 2006, the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle (OFCC) is composed of Oklahoma-based professional film journalists, academics, and critics working in broadcast, print, and digital media. Media outlets include The Oklahoman, Oklahoma Gazette, Tulsa World, and Edmond Life & Leisure. Other outlets include television stations KOKH FOX 25 and News 9, radio stations KJYO/Clear Channel and Cumulus Media, and the websites flickattack.com, thewrap.com, thecinematropolis.com, icantunseethatmovie.com, nofilmschool.com, goodtrashmedia.com and screenrant.com.
Cutting to the Chase with Phil Bacharach 