Slumdog Millionaire Was Big Winner at 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards with Five Awards - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writer, Best Young Actor/Actress and Best Composer

Slumdog Millionaire Was Big Winner at 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards with Five Awards - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writer, Best Young Actor/Actress and Best Composer

SEAN PENN WINS TWO AWARDS - BEST ACTOR AND BEST ENSEMBLE - FOR HIS PERFORMANCE IN MILK

HEATH LEDGER IS HONORED POSTHUMOUSLY FOR HIS WORK IN THE DARK KNIGHT

WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT GALA AWARDS CEREMONY BROADCAST LIVE ON VH1 THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009 AT 9:00 PM (ET/PT)

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced the winners of the 14th annual Critics' Choice Awards at a star-studded ceremony earlier this evening at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and which aired live on VH1.

Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner with five wins for Best Picture, Best Director for Danny Boyle, Best Writer for Simon Beaufoy, Best Young Actor/Actress for Dev Patel and Best Composer for A.R. Rahman. Sean Penn and Milk received two awards, Best Actor and Best Ensemble. Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) and Meryl Streep (Doubt) tied in the lead actress category, marking only the second tie in a lead actor category.

Heath Ledger made history with his posthumous win for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Dark Knight, the first posthumous award in the history of Critics' Choice Awards. The Dark Knight also received the first Best Action Movie award.

Kate Winslet was honored with the Best Supporting Actress award for her work in The Reader. Bruce Springsteen received the award for Best Song for "The Wrestler" from The Wrestler. Wall-E received Best Animated Feature and Tropic Thunder won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Comedy. Best Picture Made for Television went to "John Adams," Best Foreign Language Film was bestowed to Waltz with Bashir, and Man on Wire won Best Documentary Feature.

Richard Gere, an international film star and an accomplished advocate for human rights, was presented with the second annual Joel Siegel Award. The BFCA created this award to honor those in the film community whose work both on and off screen inspires and contributes to the good of humanity. This special award pays homage to beloved "Good Morning America" film critic and BFCA member Joel Siegel, who lost his long struggle with cancer in June of 2007.

Nominees in attendance included: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Simon Beaufoy, Kate Beckinsale, Dustin Lance Black, Danny Boyle, Josh Brolin, Philippe Claudel, Patrick Creadon, Penelope Cruz, Viola Davis, Alexandre Desplat, Rosemarie DeWitt, Clint Eastwood, Aaron Eckhart, Danny Elfman, Dakota Fanning, Ari Folman, Anne Hathaway, Taraji P. Henson, Emile Hirsch, James Newton Howard, Ron Howard, Richard Jenkins, Angelina Jolie, Frank Langella, Melissa Leo, Peter Morgan, Christopher Morgan, Thomas Newman, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, A.R. Rahman, Mickey Rourke, John Patrick Shanley, Andrew Stanton, Ben Stiller, Marisa Tomei, Gus Van Sant, and Hans Zimmer.

Presenters at the gala included: Amy Adams, Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett, Kate Beckinsale, Kristen Bell, Corbin Bleu, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Josh Brolin, Amanda Bynes, Common, Laura Dern, Rosemarie DeWitt, Aaron Eckhart, Brendan Fraser, Sally Hawkins, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Lane, Melissa Leo, Eva Longoria, Chris Noth, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Katy Perry, Jason Segel, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Marisa Tomei.

Jason Alexander opened the show as Special Guest and the show featured the rock band Rooney as this year's house band.

The largest film critics' organization with more than 200 members in the United States and Canada on television, radio and the Internet, the BFCA selected nominees for awards in each of 17 categories. The Critics' Choice Awards were created by the BFCA to recognize excellence in cinematic achievement. Eligible films were released in 2008. The accounting firm of Gregory A. Mogab tallied the written ballots. Historically, the Critics' Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations.

A complete list of winners is available at http://criticschoice.vh1.com/. VH1's "Critics' Choice Awards" site is also home to celebrity interviews from the red carpet as well as the full televised broadcast.

The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards were sponsored by Wal-Mart, AT&T and Crest Whitening Expressions.

The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards was executive produced by Bob Bain for Bob Bain Productions, Joey Berlin for Berlin Entertainment and Lee Rolontz for VH1.

MEDIA:

For additional information on this event, contact Jamie Falkowitz or Kelly Krause of mPRm Public Relations at 323.933.3399 or CCA@mprm.com.

   Contacts:   Lori Bogin/VH1   212.846-7131   lori.bogin@vh1staff.com    Scott Acord/VH1   310.752-8075   scott.acord@vh1staff.com    Jamie Falkowitz or Kelly Krause/mPRm Public Relations   323.933-3399   CCA@mprm.com    WINNERS OF THE 14TH ANNUAL CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS    BEST PICTURE   Slumdog Millionaire    BEST ACTOR   Sean Penn - Milk    BEST ACTRESS - Tie   Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married   and   Meryl Streep - Doubt    BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR   Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight    BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS   Kate Winslet - The Reader    BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE   Milk    BEST DIRECTOR   Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire    BEST WRITER (Original or Adapted Screenplay)   Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire    BEST ANIMATED FEATURE   Wall-E    BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS (Under 21)   Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire    BEST ACTION MOVIE   The Dark Knight    BEST COMEDY   Tropic Thunder    BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION   "John Adams"    BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM   Waltz With Bashir    BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE   Man On Wire    BEST SONG (performer/writer, film)   "The Wrestler" - Bruce Springsteen/Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler    BEST COMPOSER   A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire    JOEL SIEGEL AWARD   Richard Gere  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: VH1

CONTACT: Lori Bogin, +1-212-846-7131, lori.bogin@vh1staff.com, Scott
Acord, +1-310-752-8075, scott.acord@vh1staff.com, both of VH1; or Jamie
Falkowitz or Kelly Krause, both of mPRm Public Relations, +1-323-933-3399,
CCA@mprm.com

Web Site: http://criticschoice.vh1.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment