Dublin Film Critics pick best films of 2016

The Dublin Film Critics Circle has made their choices on the best films of 2016 across a number of categories.

That includes Best Film, Best Director, Best Irish Film, Best Doc and a whole lot more. I wasn't as mad about Arrival as most but it scores highly here. It's great to see Anomalisa in there, as well as some strong Irish films - with a lot of competition at the top. Vive and The Young Offenders would be my personal faves.

Here's how they chose:

Best Film

1. I, Daniel Blake

2. Arrival

3. Hell or High Water

4. Spotlight

5. Anomalisa

6. Son of Saul/Paterson/Captain Fantastic/Train to Busan/Room/The Witch/The Revenant

Best Director

1. Denis Villeneuve, Arrival

2. Alejandro Inarritu, The Revenant

3. Ken Loach, I, Daniel Blake

4. Lenny Abrahamson, Room

5. Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals/ Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Evolution

Best Irish Film

1. A Date for Mad Mary

2. Sing Street

3. Room

4. Viva/The Young Offenders

5. The Survivalist/Mammal

Best Documentary

1. Weiner/ Mattress Men

2. 66 Days: Bobby Sands

3. Life, Animated

4. Magnus/Beatles Eight Days a Week/ Atlantic

5. Crash and Burn

Best Actor

1. Dave Johns, I, Daniel Blake

2. Leonardo di Caprio, The Revenant

3. Adam Driver, Paterson/ Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water

4. Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight/ Geza Rohrig, Son of Saul

5. Vincent Lindon, The Measure of a Man/Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic

Best Actress

1. Amy Adams, Arrival

2. Hayley Squires, I, Daniel Blake

3. Brie Larson, Room

4. Seana Kerslake, A Date for Mad Mary/ Kate Beckinsale, Love & Friendship

5. Isabelle Huppert, Things to Come

Best Screenplay

1. Eric Heisserer, Arrival

2. Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

3. Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water

4. Whit Stillman, Love & Friendship

5. S. Craig Zahler, Bone Tomahawk/ Emma Donoghue, Room/ Matt Ross, Captain Fantastic

Best Cinematography

1. Seamus McGarvey, Nocturnal Animals

2. Emmanuel Lubeszki, The Revenant

3. Bradford Young, Arrival

4. Jarin Blaschke, The Witch

5. Natasha Brier, The Neon Demon/ Mátyás Erdély, Son of Saul

BREAKTHROUGH

Irish - Seana Kerslake

International – Hayley Squires

You can also take this list as a handy reminder of some strong films you might have missed during 2016, and the Christmas break might be an ideal time to catch up!

-Daniel Anderson