12 Years a Slave was named Film of the Year by the UK’s regional film critics. In addition, Chiwetel Ejiofor was voted the regional critics’ Actor of the year for his performance as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave.

Director Steve McQueen’s visceral drama recently won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama. It is currently nominated for 9 Academy Awards® and 10 EE British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs).

Steve McQueen said: “I am thrilled that 12 Years a Slave has been named Best Picture by the UK regional film critics. This means so much to me. Thank you for your help in making the film such a success throughout the UK.”

The regional critics’ award for Director of the year went to Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity. This matches the recent choices of both the Directors’ Guild of America and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their Best Director Golden Globe. Alfonso Cuarón also has a Best Director nomination at the EE BAFTAs and Academy Awards.

Alfonso Cuarón said: “It’s particularly gratifying to receive this honour from the UK regional film critics. Your encouraging words helped pave the road for audiences to really embrace the film. Gravity was produced, shot and all the post-production done here in the UK. I had the privilege of working with hundreds of talented British artists and I share this with all of them. I’d like to single out everyone at Framestore; our incredible crew, particularly our cinematographer and my dear friend Chivo [Emmanuel Lubezki]; our visual effects supervisor Tim Webber; my producing partner, David Heyman; and my son and co-writer, Jonas. Lastly, I’d like to thank Sandra Bullock who fully conveyed the emotional journey of this character – the heartbeat of this story.”

In addition, Gravity scooped the ‘eye-popping’ Visual Effects regional film award for Tim Webber, its visual effects supervisor, at an event hosted by Miquita Oliver at the Café de Paris in London’s West End.

Cate Blanchett’s winning streak continued as she took the regional critics’ Best Actress award for her performance in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. The critics’ Screenwriter of the year was Spike Jonze for Her, which opens in UK cinemas on 14 February.

The regional critics’ British Breakthrough award went to George MacKay, who recently appeared in Sunshine on Leith, How I Live Now and For Those in Peril.

21 year-old George MacKay said: “It’s a real honour to have been awarded the British Breakthrough award at this year’s Regional Critics’ Film Awards and I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me. It’s very exciting to be involved in British filmmaking, I learned so much working on Sunshine on Leith and had such a brilliant time working on it.”

Regional critics’ awards:
Film of the Year – 12 Years a Slave
Director – Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Actress – Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Actor – Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Screenwriter – Spike Jonze, Her
British Breakthrough – George MacKay

Public votes:
Visual Effects – Gravity
Animation – Frozen
On-screen Duo – Emma Thompson/Tom Hanks, Saving Mr Banks
British Film – Philomena
Blogger – Ryan Lambie, Den of Geek!

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