Chicago Film Critics Choose "Zero Dark Thirty" as 2012's Best

The Chicago Film Critics Association is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization that hands out the Chicago Film Critics Awards, hold critics roundtables, and takes on industry and artists’ rights issues. The parent association was founded in 1990 by film critic Sue Kiner after the successful launch of the Chicago Film Critics Awards in 1989.

2012 Chicago Film Critics Awards winners (in bold) and nominees:

Best Picture
WINNER - Zero Dark Thirty
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Lincoln
The Master

Best Director
WINNER - Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Ben Affleck, Argo
Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor
WINNER - Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Denis Lavant, Holy Motors
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Actress
WINNER - Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Best Supporting Actor
WINNER - Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Jason Clarke, Zero Dark Thirty
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Best Supporting Actress
WINNER - Amy Adams, The Master
Emily Blunt, Looper
Judi Dench, Skyfall
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables

Best Original Screenplay
WINNER - Zero Dark Thirty by Mark Boal
Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino
Looper by Rian Johnson
The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson
Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola

Best Adapted Screenplay
WINNER - Lincoln by Tony Kushner
Argo by Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Silver Linings Playbook by David O. Russell

Best Foreign Language Film
WINNER - Amour (Austria)
Holy Motors (France)
The Intouchables (France)
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Turkey)
Rust & Bone (France/Belgium)

Best Documentary
WINNER - The Invisible War
The Central Park Five
The Queen of Versailles
Searching For Sugar Man
West of Memphis

Best Animated Feature
WINNER - ParaNorman
Brave
Frankenweenie
The Secret World of Arrietty
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Cinematography
WINNER - Mihai Malaimare Jr., The Master
Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi
Janusz Kaminski, Lincoln
Roger Deakins, Skyfall
Greig Fraser, Zero Dark Thirty

Best Original Score
WINNER - Jonny Greenwood, The Master
Alexandre Desplat, Argo
Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Alexandre Desplat, Moonrise Kingdom
Alexandre Desplat, Zero Dark Thirty

Best Art Direction
WINNER - Moonrise Kingdom
Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
The Master

Best Editing
WINNER - William Goldenberg & Dylan Tichenor, Zero Dark Thirty
Willian Goldenberg, Argo
Alexander Berner, Cloud Atlas
Leslie Jones & Peter McNulty, The Master
Stuart Baird, Skyfall

Most Promising Performer
WINNER - Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Samantha Barks, Les Misérables
Kara Hayward, Moonrise Kingdom
Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Tom Holland, The Impossible

Most Promising Filmmaker
WINNER - Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods
Nicholas Jarecki, Arbitrage
Colin Trevorrow, Safety Not Guaranteed