It's awards season in the film world, and that includes Utah. The Utah Film Critics Association has named its 2009 winners, and Up in the Air tops the list. ---
The George Clooney drama -- about a freelance deliverer of bad news to laid-off employees -- won Best Picture in Thursday night's voting. The film's director, Jason Reitman, also won for Best Achievement in Directing.
In the acting categories, Viggo Mortensen won Best Male Lead Performance for The Road, while Carey Mulligan took top honors for An Education in Best Female Lead Performance. In the supporting categories, winners were Mo'Nique for Precious and Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles.
In a fluke of scheduling, three of the honored films open today in Salt Lake City: Up in the Air, The Road and Me and Orson Welles.
Here's the full list of winners:
BEST PICTURE: Up in the Air (runners-up: The Hurt Locker; Inglourious Basterds)
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING: Jason Reitman, Up in the Air (runner-up: John Hillcoat, The Road)
BEST MALE LEAD PERFORMANCE: Viggo Mortensen, The Road (runner-up: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker)
BEST FEMALE LEAD PERFORMANCE: Carey Mulligan, An Education (runner-up: Maya Rudolph, Away We Go)
BEST MALE SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE: Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles (runner-up: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds)
BEST FEMALE SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE: Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (runner-up: Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air)
BEST SCREENPLAY: Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, Fantastic Mr. Fox (runners-up: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Fantastic Mr. Fox (runner-up: Up)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: The Cove (runner-up: Anvil! The Story of Anvil)
BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FEATURE: Thirst (runner-up: Sin Nombre)