The London Film Critics' Circle is the name by which the Film Section of The Critics' Circle is known internationally.
The word London was added because it was thought the term Critics' Circle Film Awards lacked meaning — for people in LA for example — and the Film Section wished its annual Awards to be recognised on film advertising, especially in the United States, and in production notes.
The Critics' Circle, founded in 1913, is an association for working British critics. Film critics first became eligible for membership of the Circle in 1926. The Film section now has more than 120 members drawn from publications and the broadcasting media throughout the United Kingdom.
Film section members of the Critics' Circle will have worked as a critic or have written or broadcast informed analytical features or programmes about film for British publications and media for at least a year, their income mostly derived from reviewing and writing about film.
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The Critics' Circle Film Awards, instituted in 1980 and known for several years as the ALFS, are awarded annually by the Film section of the Critics' Circle.
Voted for by all members of the Film section, the Awards have become a major event in London, presented at a dinner dance held in a large West End hotel. Since 1995 they have been a charity event in aid of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
Over time the Award categories have gradually changed, some added, some dropped. For some categories this means that winners were not necessarily declared or listed in each of the Awards year.
In 2007, following widespread objections from Irish actors and filmmakers at being nominated for "Best British" awards, it was decided that Irish filmmakers, actors and others involved in the film industry would be eligible for awards which do not have the word "British" in the title. To that end the titles of several of the awards were amended to exclude the word "British". The Attenborough Award now goes to the best "British" and/or "Irish" film of the year, while the two British Supporting Actor awards lost the word "British" so that actors who regard themselves as either British and Irish (or both) are eligible for the supporting acting awards. Since 2007, the Newcomer Award was divided into two Breakthrough Awards, one for Acting, the other for Filmmaking. Previously filmmakers and actors had competed against each other for the Newcomer award.
Past and present award categories include:
(Partial list of ceremonies):
Woody Allen - Hannah and Her Sisters
Alan Bennett - Prick Up Your Ears
Stanley Kubrick - Full Metal Jacket
Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot
Christopher Hampton - Dangerous Liaisons
Philippe Noiret - Cinema Paradiso
Woody Allen - Crimes and Misdemeanors
Woody Allen - Crimes and Misdemeanors
Gerard Depardieu - Cyrano de Bergerac
Susan Sarandon - Thelma & Louise, White Palace
Alan Rickman - Close My Eyes, Truly, Madly, Deeply, Quigley Down Under, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Roddy Doyle - The Commitments
Ridley Scott - Thelma & Louise
Judy Davis - Husbands and Wives, Barton Fink, Naked Lunch
Daniel Day-Lewis - The Last of the Mohicans
Baz Luhrmann - Strictly Ballroom
Anthony Hopkins - The Remains of the Day
James Ivory - The Remains of the Day
Quentin Tarantino - Reservoir Dogs
Harold Ramis, Danny Rubin - Groundhog Day
Kate Maberly - The Secret Garden
Linda Fiorentino - The Last Seduction
Ralph Fiennes - Schindler's List
Crissy Rock - Ladybird, Ladybird
Mike Newell - Four Weddings and a Funeral
Duncan Kenworthy - Four Weddings and a Funeral
Richard Curtis - Four Weddings and a Funeral
Steven Spielberg - Schindler's List
Jim Carrey - The Mask, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Quentin Tarantino - Pulp Fiction
Hugh Grant - Four Weddings and a Funeral
Johnny Depp - Ed Wood, Don Juan DeMarco
Nigel Hawthorne - The Madness of King George
Kate Winslet - Heavenly Creatures
Alan Bennett - The Madness of King George
Peter Jackson - Heavenly Creatures
Paul Attanasio - Quiz Show, Disclosure
Ian McKellen - Richard III Ewan McGregor - Trainspotting, Brassed Off, Emma, The Pillow Book
Brenda Blethyn - Secrets & Lies
Emily Watson - Breaking the Waves
Andrew Macdonald - Trainspotting
Emma Thompson - Sense and Sensibility
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