Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Name the "Best" Film and TV of the Year
Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at 4:23PM
NATHANIEL R in A Fantastic Woman, BPM, Call Me By Your Name, GALECA, God's Own Country, Michelle Pfeiffer, Professor Marston, Thelma, Wonderstruck, film critics, precursor awards

by Nathaniel R

The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (aka GALECA) have announced their annual Dorian Award nominations. We thought we'd share the list here since a few of us at Team Experience are members. Though you might feel like I determined the nominees singlehandedly (PFEIFFER ALERT !!!) I am but one vote among many so I'm relieved that other voters chose the perpfect thing, while voting.

Perhaps it's no surprise that Call Me By Your Name led the nominees with 9 votes. Shape of Water was close behind with 7 nods. What was a surprise was 5 nominations for the still wildly underseen French drama BPM (Beats Per Minute) already shunned by Oscar in the category it should have been frontrunning in. 

I personally don't vote in every category, abstaining from the ones I feel are most problematic (does anyone actually agree on what "camp" means in 2018?) or in categories where I feel like I have not seen enough (like documentary though I love almost all the nominees they named this year in that category.)  The list with a few notes is after the jump...

FILM OF THE YEAR

 

So pleased to see BPM make the big list. I often felt like I alone had seen it given its absolutely dismal box office

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR (FILM OR TELEVISION)

 

There must have been a tie somewhere since there are six nominations. Interesting that Christopher Nolan surfaced for Dunkirk. There's only one gay director in the list: Luca Guadagnino.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTRESS

 

 Not quite the usual suspects with Daniela Vega taking the spot Oscar pundits always reserve for Meryl Streep.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTOR

A big big showing for BPM all told with 5 nominations including Best Actor. I was sad not to see Jake Gyllenhaal included for Stronger but you can't have everything 

SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR — ACTRESS

 

Lemonade anyone? Can you believe La Pfeiffer pfinally made a list? Well done fellow queer opinion makers. 

SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR -- ACTOR 

Two for Call Me By Your Name --- reminding us that gay critics are as easily duped as straight critics when it comes to "supporting" games to win nominations -- hi Armie! 

LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR

 

A wonderful set of films, truly. I counted up the LGBT films released in 2017 for another post I'm working on and it was large... I think 14 films or so? 2018 has a lot to live up to!). I hope you will seek all of these films out.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

Another awards season showing for Thelma which previously has only surfaced at the Critics Choice Awards for Best Foreign Film (if I'm recalling correctly) and won the Houston Film Critics prize in foreign film. 

SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR (ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED) 

I remain forever glad that Oscar doesn't combine the categories because they really are different muscles for writers, adapting versus creating from whole cloth. In the end I will always favor creating from whole cloth so this might be the only time in my life I'll ever vote against my lifelong hero James Ivory.

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
(theatrical release, TV airing or DVD release)

 

Great list! I think the Marsha P Johnson doc is easily the weakest of these but it's still fairly interesting and it is the gayest so it's placement here makes sense.  And I'm still so angry that Kedi didn't make the Oscar doc finals. 

VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR
(honoring a production of stunning beauty, from art direction to cinematography)

It's always bugged me that we only have one eye-candy category. How do other gays survive without Costume Design? I don't get it!

UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR

I voted for Professor Marston here because I thought if any film is "undersung" it's gotta be that one! Disappointed not to see my other vote for Princess Cyd show up but Stephen Cone's films have yet to really break through to wide recognition. 

CAMPY FLICK OF THE YEAR

 

Define camp. 

TV DRAMA OF THE YEAR

Where is Mindhunter?

TV COMEDY OF THE YEAR 

GLOW makes me so happy. You?

TV PEFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTRESS

A murderer's row of talent.

TV PEFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTOR


Yay, my Groff! 

TV CURRENT AFFAIRS SHOW OF THE YEAR

TV MUSICAL PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

When the time comes to vote at GALECA I always regret that I dont keep a running list of these things during the year. I abstain from this category even though I think it's a fun category. That said I think the gay episode of Big Mouth was one of its very weakest. 

LGBTQ SHOW OF THE YEAR

UNSUNG TV SHOW OF THE YEAR

CAMPY TV SHOW OF THE YEAR

Define camp.

‘WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!’ RISING STAR AWARD

 

Beautiful. Just beautiful, don'cha think?

WILDE WIT OF THE YEAR AWARD 
(honoring a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse) 

I can never remember who was nominated the year before for this prize so I never know who to vote for.

WILDE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
(honoring a truly groundbreaking force in the fields of film, theater and/or television)

Artist of the Year. Such an overwhelming title to think about. Who should I vote for?

The Dorian Award winners, including GALECA’s pick for Timeless Star, (a career achievement honor), will be announced Jan. 31. On Feb. 24, the group will gather in Los Angeles to toast the winners.

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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