Descendants, Malick, Fassbender thrill LAFCA

The best picture win for The Descendants brings a record seventh LAFCA honour for Alexander Payne, who previously earned best picture, director and screenplay (shared) for Sideways, best picture and screenplay (shared) for About Schmidt and a shared New Generation award for Election and Citizen Ruth.

Werner Herzog, a winner in the documentary category for Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, previously won in 2005 for Grizzly Man. The Tree Of Life cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki previously triumphed in 2006 for Children Of Men.

A Separation has become the first foreign film to win LAFCA’s screenplay prize.

Best picture: The Descendants
Runner-up: The Tree Of Life

Best director: Terrence Malick, The Tree Of Life
Runner-up: Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Best actor: Michael Fassbender, A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class
Runner-up: Michael Shannon, Take Shelter

Best actress: Yun Jung-Lee, Poetry
Runner-up: Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia

Best supporting actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Runner-up: Patton Oswalt, Young Adult

Best supporting actress: Jessica Chastain: Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, The Tree Of Life
Runner-up: Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Best screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
Runner-up: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, The Descendants

Animation: Rango
Runner-Up: The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn

Foreign Language Film: City Of Life And Death
Runner-up: A Separation

Documentary / Non-Fiction Film: Cave Of Forgotten Dreams
Runner-up: The Arbor

New Generation: Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond, Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree Of Life
Runner-up: Cao Yu, City Of Life And Death

Production Design: Dante Ferretti, Hugo
Runner-up: Maria Djurkovic, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Music/Score: The Chemical Brothers, Hanna
Runner-up: Cliff Martinez, Drive

Douglas E Edwards Independent/Experimental Film/Video: Spark Of Being

Career Achievement: Doris Day.

• The Boston Society Of Film Critics awarded best picture to The Artist and best foreign language picture to Incendies. Martin Scorsese was named best director for Hugo, while Moneyball’s Brad Pitt and My Week With Marilyn’s Michelle Williams won lead acting honours.
• San Francisco Critics Circle named The Tree Of Life best film and Terrence Malick best director, awarding top acting honours to Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Tilda Swinton for We Need To Talk About Kevin.