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The Alternative Gay Oscars
With the Academy Award nominations just announced, we thought we’d nominate our own award winners, with a gay slant. If you have any nominations you'd like to make, we'd love it if you used the comment boxes below!
Best Film: Weekend
Gay romance gets a shot of realism in Andrew Haigh's tightly directed and beautifully realised film. A clear winner.
Best Actor: Tom Cullen in Weekend
Newcomer Tom Cullen turns in a perfectly rounded performance as one half of a gay weekend romance that changes both men's lives.
Best Actress: Olympia Dukakis in Cloudburst
Dukakis's performance as the potty-mouthed and unpredictable Stella in this lesbian road movie is a tour-de-force to be reckoned with.
Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black for J Edgar
Black, best known for his screenplay for ‘Milk' and his gay activism subtly shows how sexual repression can create a monster.
Best Supporting Actor: Armee Hammer for J Edgar
His aging make-up is laughable, but still Armee Hammer steals the show as J Edgar Hoover's longtime companion and FBI second-in-command, Clyde Tolson.
Best Supporting Actress: Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs
A welcome return to the big screen for Janet McTeer, providing an acute emotional heart to Glenn Close's gender-bending Dublin romance.
Best Original Song: Lay Your Head Down from Albert Nobbs
Composed by Brian Byrne with lyrics by Glenn Close, and sung by Sinéad O'Connor, it should never have missed out to Madonna at the Golden Globes.
Best Documentary: We Were Here
Directed David Weissman and Bill Weber, this film charting the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, can't fail to move.
Best Foreign Language Film: Tomboy
The French tale of an 11 year-old girl who moves to a new neighbourhood and pretends to be a boy, is funny, heartbreaking and ultimately life-affirming in all the right measures.
Best Director: Céline Sciamma for Tomboy
Céline Sciamma's perfectly pitched direction reveals the inner world of a young girl who identifies as a boy with grace and humour
Best Short Film: Hold On Tight
Produced by GAZE, in association with ABSOLUT Vodka and Filmbase Ireland, Anna Rodgers' delicious short about Irish same-sex couples and public displays of affection is a thing of beauty.
Have we missed out on your top picks? Let us know below!