The National Board Of Review (NBR) on Thursday (Dec 1) anointed Martin Scorsese’s homage to the filmmaking pioneers as its best film of the year and gave the directors award to the man himself.

Hugo is such a personal film by Martin Scorsese,” NBR president Annie Schulhof said. “It is a tribute to the early years of cinema that uses today’s cutting edge technology to bring the audience into a completely unique and magical world. It is visually stunning and emotionally engaging.”

George Clooney and Tilda Swinton earned best acting honours for The Descendants and We Need To Talk About Kevin, respectively.

Shailene Woodley was named best supporting actress for The Descendants and Christopher Plummer picks up the supporting actor award for Beginners. The awards gala will take place on Jan 10 2012 at Cipriani’s in New York.

Below is a full list of the awards given by the National Board Of Review:

Best Film: Hugo

Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Best Actor: George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Actress: Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Best Original Screenplay: Will Reiser, 50/50

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Best Animated Feature: Rango

Breakthrough Performance: Felicity Jones, Like Crazy

Breakthrough Performance: Rooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Debut Director: J C Chandor, Margin Call

Best Ensemble: The Help

Spotlight Award: Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class)

NBR Freedom of Expression: Crime After Crime

NBR Freedom of Expression: Pariah

Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation

Best Documentary: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Special Achievement in Filmmaking: The Harry Potter Franchise - a distinguished translation from book to film

Top Films (in alphabetical order)
The Artist

The Descendants

Drive

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

The Ides Of March

J. Edgar

Tree Of Life

War Horse

Top 5 foreign language films (in alphabetical order)
13 Assassins

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within

Footnote

Le Havre

Point Blank

Top five documentaries (in alphabetical order)
Born To Be Wild

Buck

George Harrison: Living In The Material World

Project Nim

Senna

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order)
50/50

Another Earth

Beginners

A Better Life

Cedar Rapids

Margin Call

Shame

Take Shelter

We Need To Talk About Kevin

Win Win