NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" was recognized as the Best Film of 2011 in Indiewire's annual year-end survey of critics, journalists and other tastemakers of the film world.
Malick also received the most mentions as the year's Best Director and the film was additionally singled out for Best Cinematography.
More than 160 critics named over 100 titles in their ranked lists of the year's best films. The results are Indiewire's top 10 films for 2011:
- "The Tree of Life"
- "Melancholia"
- "A Separation"
- "Drive"
- "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives"
- "Certified Copy"
- "Mysteries of Lisbon"
- "Hugo"
- "Margaret"
- "Meek's Cutoff"
With approximately 162 ballots submitted, the poll received more votes than ever before, resulting in one of the broadest assessments of the year's releases. Participants included Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times), J. Hoberman (Village Voice), Karina Longworth (L.A. Weekly), Dennis Lim (Moving Image Source), Jonathan Rosenbaum (jonathanrosenbaum.com), Amy Taubin (Film Comment), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone), Kenneth Turan (The Los Angeles Times), David Poland (Movie City News), B. Ruby Rich (author of the forthcoming "New Queer Cinema: The Directors' Cut") and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (MUBI, Ebert Presents At the Movies).
In addition to submitting top 10 lists for the best films of the year, critics also voted in nine additional categories, including Best Lead Performance, where Michael Shannon's role in "Take Shelter" tied with Michael Fassbender in "Shame."
In the category of Best Supporting Performance, Christopher Plummer received the most votes for his turn in "Beginners." Steve James' Sundance-acclaimed "The Interrupters" won Best Documentary. The Iranian drama "A Separation" won Best Screenplay. "Martha Marcy May Marlene" director Sean Durkin won for Best First Feature, while Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret" won Best Ensemble.
While only films that received at least a one-week run at a U.S. theater qualified for these categories, voters were also asked to submit unranked lists of the best undistributed films of the year. This year, Alex Ross Perry's acclaimed "The Color Wheel," which premiered earlier this year at the Sarasota Film Festival, received the most mentions for Best Undistributed Film.
"Since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, 'The Tree of Life' has remained a divisive movie that made mainstream audiences to throw up their hands," said Indiewire senior editor and chief film critic Eric Kohn. "However, it has maintained serious leverage among international critics in recent months, winning polls conducted by Film Comment and Sight & Sound last week ahead of Indiewire’s poll, which closed Friday.
"The films that received many votes might not interest readers as much as those that received only one. In every category, many critics chose to single out movies, performances, screenplays and technical feats that either nobody else saw or felt compelled to recognize."
Indiewire will feature more details from the year-poll throughout this week, including details analysis of various categories and reactions from some of the winners.
With the publication of the poll, Indiewire relaunched an interim version of its Criticwire network in anticipation of a new design that will launch next year.
About Indiewire:
Indiewire is the leading news, information, and networking site for independent-minded filmmakers, the industry and moviegoers alike for over 15 years, with award-winning reporting, film reviews, breaking news updates and in-depth coverage of the art, business and culture of indie films along with on-site reporting from major film festivals worldwide. It is the winner of the Webby Award for best film website, was lauded as a "must read" by Variety, branded the "online heartbeat of the world's independent film community" by Forbes and dubbed "best indie crossroads" by film critic Roger Ebert. In addition to its news site, Indiewire includes Criticwire, a portal and aggregator for many of the best film critics working today, and the Indiewire Blog Network, featuring blogs by the most acclaimed names in film and entertainment news and commentary. Indiewire is a SnagFilms company.