“Parasite” triumphed with three wins when The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) announced their top honorees for 2019 this evening. A darkly comedic South Korean thriller of class warfare from filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, “Parasite” won Best Film and Best Director, as well as Best Foreign Language Film.

WAFCA awarded Best Actor to Adam Driver for his poignant turn as a father navigating the tricky, often painful complexities of divorce in Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” while Best Actress went to Lupita Nyong’o for her gripping dual roles in Jordan Peele’s socially relevant horror film “Us.” Best Supporting Actor was awarded to Brad Pitt for his magnetic performance as a dedicated stuntman living in 1969 Los Angeles in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.” Best Supporting Actress went to Jennifer Lopez, a compelling standout as a seasoned stripper in Lorene Scafaria’s “Hustlers.”

Best Acting Ensemble accolades were awarded to Rian Johnson’s sharply written murder-mystery “Knives Out,” co-starring Ana de Armas, Toni Collette, Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Christopher Plummer and Michael Shannon.

Best Original Screenplay honors went to Noah Baumbach for his deeply human “Marriage Story,” while Best Adapted Screenplay was awarded to Greta Gerwig for her freshly envisioned adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.”

Josh Cooley’s “Toy Story 4” earned Best Animated Feature honors, while Tony Hale’s irresistible work as a plastic spork named Forky won Best Voice Performance. For the second consecutive year, Josh Brolin claimed the award for Best Motion Capture Performance for his intense turn as villain Thanos in “Avengers: Endgame,” following last year’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” Roman Griffin Davis clinched the Best Youth Performance category for his sensitive and endearing work as a young boy growing up in Nazi Germany in Taika Waititi’s satire “Jojo Rabbit.”

Best Documentary kudos went to “Apollo 11,” Todd Douglas Miller’s mesmerizing look at the fateful 1969 spaceflight wherein the first men walked on the moon. The picture is compiled solely from archival footage, including never-before-seen 70 mm film.

In technical categories, Best Production Design went to the immersive, Manson-era “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” Best Editing was awarded to car-racing drama “Ford v Ferrari,” Best Original Score was given to “Us,” and Best Cinematography went to riveting WWI drama “1917,” told entirely through elaborately orchestrated camera movements and impressive long takes.

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC, given each year in honor of one of WAFCA’s cherished late members, went to Scott Z. Burns’ “The Report.”

The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association comprises 64 DC-VA-MD-based film critics from television, radio, print and the Internet. Voting was conducted from December 6-December 8, 2019.

THE 2019 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:

Best Film:
Parasite

Best Director:
Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)

Best Actor:
Adam Driver (Marriage Story)

Best Actress:
Lupita Nyong’o (Us)

Best Supporting Actor:
Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood)

Best Supporting Actress:
Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Knives Out

Best Youth Performance:
Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit)

Best Voice Performance:
Tony Hale (Toy Story 4)

Best Motion Capture Performance:
Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame)

Best Original Screenplay:
Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Greta Gerwig; Based on the Novel by Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

Best Animated Feature:
Toy Story 4

Best Documentary:
Apollo 11

Best Foreign Language Film:
Parasite

Best Production Design:
Production Designer: Barbara Ling; Set Decorator: Nancy Haigh (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood)

Best Cinematography:
Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (1917)

Best Editing:
Michael McCusker, ACE and Andrew Buckland (Ford v Ferrari)

Best Original Score:
Michael Abels (Us)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:
The Report

About The Author

Dean Rogers

Editor-in-Chief/Entertainment Reporter

I knew early on that I wanted to take my place among the stars. One day, my mother saw me reading The Washington Post at a very young age. Who would have known that it would be the building blocks of my journey? Since that day, I dedicated my life to learn all that is learnable. I read everything from encyclopedias, to books, to dictionaries, to magazines. I’m also an avid consumer of television, with my favorite genre being game shows. If you’ve seen me on Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Wheel of Fortune, then you know that this interest has served me well!

My unique style of reporting began back in junior high school, when I started to chronicle the events that shaped my life. Whether it was the annual family vacation or the local science fiction convention, I shot numerous pictures and recorded my thoughts so I could truly appreciate the history. During my senior year at Friendly High, I wrote what was to be my first masterpiece, “Advanced Space Academy – A One Week Journey.” I sent the eleven-page article back to the U.S. Space Camp staff. The article was highly praised for being “one of the best written articles in the history of U.S. Space Camp.” From then on, I knew what I wanted to do for rest of my life — to be a reporter.

Since then, I have trained in Broadcast Journalism at Bowie State University (2008) in Bowie, MD earning a B.S. in Communications. I gained experience in news production and editing through field experiences with Bowie Community Media Corporation, Prince George’s Community Television, and Bowie State University Television. I also wrote scripts for a variety of quiz shows for over five years.

As a lifelong movie buff, I now see close to 100 films every year. I took this love of movies to the next step when I became a co-host for Eclipse Magazine TV in the fall of 2005. While at EMTV, I interviewed celebrities, worked red carpets, and attended a wide variety of movie screenings. In January 2009, I took a leap of faith and started my own entertainment news magazine, The Rogers Revue. Shortly afterward, my life-long journey of studying the silver screen and writing about what I learned finally earned me a place in the Washington Area Film Critics Association.

All of this has led me here, giving you the latest entertainment news for the DMV and the entire nation, and I am truly excited for whatever will come next.

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