Source: Press TV

The US National Board of Review of Motion Pictures (NBR) has listed Iran's Oscar-nominated Song of Sparrows among its best foreign language film. Majid Majidi's feature-length production, which represented Iran at the 81st Academy Awards, was selected along with The Maid, Revanche, Three Monkeys and The White Ribbon.

Song of Sparrows has won the Best Actor Silver Bear award of the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival for the brilliant performance of its lead actor, Reza Naji.

Founded in 1909, the NBR was the first group to choose the ten best English-language movies and the best foreign films of the year. It is still the first critical body to announce its annual awards.

Knowledgeable film enthusiasts, academics, filmmakers, and students in the New York metropolitan area vote to determine the annual NBR awards winners.

The complete list of this year's NBR award-winners is as follows:

Best Film

Up In The Air

Top Ten Films

An Education, (500) Days of Summer, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Bastards, Invictus, The Messenger, A Serious Man, Star Trek, Up, Where The Wild Things Are

Best Foreign Language Film

A Prophet

Top Five Foreign Films (In alphabetical order)

THE MAID, REVANCHE, SONG OF SPARROWS, THREE MONKEYS, THE WHITE RIBBON

Best Documentary

The Cove

Top Five Documentaries

Burma vj: Reporting From a Closed Country, Crude, Food, inc., Good Hair, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

Top Independent Films

Amreeka, District 9, Goodbye Solo, Humpday, In The Loop, Julia, Me and Orson Welles, Moon, Sugar, Two Lovers

Best Actor

George Clooney, Up In The Air; Morgan Freeman, Invictus

Best Actress

Carey Mulligan, An Education

Best Supporting Actor

Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

Best Supporting Actress

Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air

Best Ensemble Cast

It's Complicated

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor

Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress

Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut

Duncan Jones, Moon; Oren Moverman, The Messenger; Marc Webb, (500) Days of Summer

Best Director

Clint Eastwood, Invictus

Best Adapted Screenplay

Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air

Best Original Screenplay

Joel and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

Best Animated Feature

UP

Special Filmmaking Achievement

Wes Anderson, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

William K. Everson Award For Film History

Jean Picker Firstenberg

Freedom Of Expression

Burma vj: Reporting From a Closed Country, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Invictus

... Payvand News - 12/05/09 ... --