As I posted a few weeks back I was extremely happy with our film nominations for the Dorians, aka the awards that my critics group GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics hand out every year -- we did good then and I am happy to report that we did good again with our winners. Much better than a lot of critics groups have! And I don't just say that because we handed three major prizes to my favorite movie of 2023, Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers... although I don't not say it because of that either. Strangers won both our "Film of the Year" award and our "LGBTQ Film of the Year" award, plus the award for "Best LGBTQ Screenplay" to Haigh, as well it damn should. But I'm happy with the rest of our prizes -- I mean, Lily Gladstone and Charles Melton as our (lead and supporting) acting winners?
Can you beat that? (In related news I'm extremely annoyed that this awards season doesn't seem to have offered the two of them a chance to take a photo together for me to use here -- I would like to see that. They would look gorgeous together. Somebody get a photo of them together for us please.) I'm not even annoyed that Greta Gerwig won for Best Director for Barbie, even though I'm not a fan of Barbie, because it's a nice fuck you to the Oscars and I will never pass one of those up. Anyway good on us this year! Hit the jump for the entire press release and winners list...
'All of Us Strangers’ Takes Top Film Prize in LGBTQ Critics’ Dorian Awards
Gerwig Wins Director of the Year, Gladstone Grabs Best Performance Honors for ‘Flower Moon'
Colman Domingo, Todd Haynes Score Trademark Accolades
— Group's 'Timeless Star’ Career Achievement Award Goes to Jodie Foster —
February 26, 2024 - Los Angeles, Ca. - For its 15th Dorian Film Awards, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics fully embraced All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh's fantastical and tear-inducing tale of two troubled souls falling for each other in lonely London. The 500-members strong GALECA, one of the largest entertainment journalists organizations in the world, named Strangers both Film of the Year and LGBTQ Film of the Year, and also awarded Haigh LGBTQ Screenplay of the Year.
“Twelve years ago, Andrew Haigh’s fresh and observant queer romance Weekend ruled our Dorians as well,” said GALECA President Walt Hickey. “So the fact that Strangers obviously touched many of our members’ hearts as well counts as sort of a sweet homecoming to our organization.”
In a tight race for Film Director of the Year (so tight, even Martin Scorsese didn’t make GALECA’s Dorians short list), Greta Gerwig proved the ultimate champion for helming the spectacular crowd-pleaser Barbie. Spreading the appreciation judiciously, the group gave overall screenplay honors to newcomer Sami Burch for May December, a cunningly observed riff on a true-life American scandal of the 1990s. Another scintillating drama, the whydunnit Anatomy of a Fall, earned Non-English Language Film of the Year.
GALECA’s inaugural Genre Film of the Year winner: Director Yorgos Lanthimos and screenwriter Tony McNamara’s Poor Things, an equity-empowering twist on Frankenstein that also took Visually Striking Film. And Dorian voters, obviously fans of powerful female humanoids, crowned the cheeky horror flick M3GAN as Campiest Flick.
As for the group’s trademark individual honors, Rustin actor Colman Domingo was named LGBTQIA+ Film Trailblazer “for creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity.” Meanwhile, May December (and past Dorian winners Carol and A Single Man) director Todd Haynes landed the Wilde Artist Award, going to “a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment.”
Jodie Foster, who at age 61 is earning raves for her work in the feature film Nyad and HBO smash True Detective, was named Timeless Star. The career achievement honor, hailing "an exemplary career marked by character, wisdom and wit,” has in years past gone to the likes of Sir Ian McKellen, Angela Lansbury, Jane Fonda, George Takei, Nathan Lane and Meryl Streep.
GALECA’s Dorian Awards go to the best in film, TV and Broadway / Off-Broadway, mainstream to LGBTQ+, at separate times of the year. The group’s members work for a wide range of notable media outlets, and vote on their favorites in entertainment in purely democratic fashion. For more info, visit galeca.org and search for GALECA’s official Dorian Awards pages on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and more.
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ 15th Dorian Film Awards—Full List of Winners:
Film of the Year
🏆 All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Barbie (Warner Bros.)
May December (Netflix)
Past Lives (A24)
Poor Things (Searchlight)
LGBTQ Film of the Year
🏆 All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Bottoms (MGM)
Passages (MUBI, SBS)
Rustin (Netflix)
Saltburn (Amazon MGM)
Director of the Year
🏆 Greta Gerwig, Barbie (Warner Bros.)
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Todd Haynes, May December (Netflix)
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer (Universal)
Celine Song, Past Lives (A24)
Screenplay of the Year
Original or adapted
Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, Barbie (Warner Bros.)
🏆 Samy Burch, May December (Netflix)
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Arthur Harari, Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Celine Song, Past Lives (A24)
LGBTQ Screenplay of the Year (new)
🏆 Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Arthur Harari, Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Dustin Lance Black, Julian Breece, Rustin (Netflix)
Arlette Langmann, Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias, Passages (MUBI)
Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott, Bottoms (MGM)
Non-English Language Film of the Year
🏆 Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
The Boy and the Heron (GKIDS)
Godzilla Minus One (Toho)
Past Lives (A24)
The Zone of Interest (A24)
LGBTQ Non-English Language Film of the Year
Afire (Janus Films, Sideshow)
🏆 Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Cassandro (Amazon MGM)
Monster (Well Go USA, Gaga, Toho)
Rotting in the Sun (MUBI)
Unsung Film of the Year
To an exceptional movie worthy of greater attention
🏆 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)
Monica (IFC)
Origin (NEON)
Theater Camp (Searchlight)
A Thousand and One (Focus Features)
Film Performance of the Year
Colman Domingo, Rustin (Netflix)
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers (Focus Features)
🏆 Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple)
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Greta Lee, Past Lives (A24)
Trace Lysette, Monica (IFC)
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer (Universal)
Natalie Portman, May December (Netflix)
Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Emma Stone, Poor Things (Searchlight)
Supporting Film Performance of the Year
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer (Universal)
Jodie Foster, Nyad (Netflix)
Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Ryan Gosling, Barbie (Warner Bros.)
Rachel McAdams, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)
🏆 Charles Melton, May December (Netflix)
Paul Mescal, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Rosamund Pike, Saltburn (Amazon MGM)
Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers (Focus Features)
Documentary of the Year
American Symphony (Netflix)