Streep Among 2009 New York Film Critic's Circle Award Winners

Meryl Streep is among the 2009 winners of the New York Film Critics Circle Award winners. Streep won the award for Best Actress for her performance as Julia Child in the Nora Ephron comedy "Julie & Julia."

The New York Film Critics Circle, is an organization of film reviewers from New York-based publications that exists to honor excellence in U.S. and world cinema.

Meryl Streep is the recipient of a record-breaking 15 Oscar nominations and has starred in highly acclaimed films such as Kramer vs. Kramer, for which she won her first Academy Award®, The Deer Hunter, Out of Africa, A Cry in the Dark, The Bridges of Madison County, The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia, Doubt and the recently released Julie & Julia.

Adapted from two best-selling memoirs, Julie Powell's Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, and Julia Child's My Life in France, Nora Ephron's film, Julie & Julia is the first major motion picture to be based on a blog. The film follows Powell, a temp secretary who spends one year attempting to cook every recipe in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Intertwined with Powell's story, Child's follows her and her husband, Paul's life in 1940s and 1950s Paris while he was working as a foreign diplomat.

The complete list of winners is as follows:

Best Picture
The Hurt Locker

Best Director
Katheryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker

 

Best Screenplay
In The Loop

Best Actress
Meryl Streep - Julie and Julia

Best Actor
George Clooney - Up In The Air / Fantastic Mr. Fox

Best Supporting Actress
Mo'Nique - Precious

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz - Inglorious Basterds

Best Cinematographer
Christian Berger - The White Ribbon

Best Animated Film
Fantastic Mr. Fox

Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary)
Of Time and The City

Best Foreign Film
Summer Hours

Best First Film
Hunger - Steve McQueen

Special Award
Andrew Sarris

Founded in 1935, the Circle's membership includes critics from daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, magazines, and qualifying on-line general-interest publications. Every year in December the organization meets in New York to vote on awards for the previous calendar year's films.

Among The categories: best picture, director, screenplay, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, cinematography, animated movie and best first film. Special stand-alone awards are also given to individuals and organizations that have made substantial contributions to the art of cinema, including producers, directors, actors, writers, critics, historians, film restorers and service organizations.

The Circle's awards are often viewed as harbingers of the Oscar nominations, which are announced each February. The Circle's awards are also viewed -- perhaps more accurately -- as a principled alternative to the Oscars, honoring esthetic merit in a forum that is immune to commercial and political pressures. A complete list of previous winners is available on this site, along with a list of current members with links to their publications.

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