Awards And Noms

With 2006 now behind us, more and more distinguished bodies dedicated to cinema are naming and nominating their choices for the best films over the last 365 days.



The African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) is up first and Stuart Levine of Variety has all of the details:

The African-American Film Critics have tabbed "Dreamgirls" as its best picture of 2006.

On the acting side, the org selected Forest Whitaker and Helen Mirren as top lead actor and actress, respectively, for their roles in "The Last King of Scotland" and "The Queen."

"Dreamgirls" dominated the rest of the selections, with Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson winning for their supporting roles and Bill Condon taking home the director prize.

A Special Achievement Honor was given to Spike Lee, who directed HBO's "When the Levees Broke" and the bigscreen "Inside Man," which was his first film to reach $100 in domestic box office.

Other pics in the group's top 10 of the year were, in order, "The Last King of Scotland," "The Departed," "Akeelah and the Bee," "Catch a Fire," "Idlewild," "Bobby," "The Devil Wears Prada," "The Pursuit of Happyness" and "Inside Man."

Click here for the complete list of AAFCA winners

The Producers Guild of America, meanwhile, chose their list of 2006 "Best" nominees for both film and TV...The winners decided in a couple of weeks. On the film side of the PGA coin...

Variety's Dave McNary:

The Producers Guild of America has tapped Paramount Vantage's "Babel," Warner Bros.' "The Departed," Paramount/DreamWorks' "Dreamgirls," Fox Searchlight's "Little Miss Sunshine" and Miramax's "The Queen" as best picture nominees.

The PGA, with over 3,000 members, will announce the winner of its Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year kudo in ceremonies Jan. 20 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.

Nominated producers are Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Steve Golin and Jon Kilik for "Babel;" Graham King for "The Departed;" Laurence Mark for "Dreamgirls;" Marc Turtletaub, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf and Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa for "Little Miss Sunshine" and Andy Harries, Christine Langan and Tracey Seaward for "The Queen."

The PGA's top feature award has differed from the Best Picture Oscar for the past two years. The org selected "Brokeback Mountain last year while the Academy Award went to "Crash," and in 2005, the PGA opted for "The Aviator" while "Million Dollar Baby" won the Best Picture Oscar.

However, 11 of the previous 15 PGA winners went on to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Here's the full list of PGA nominees...