American Splendor was voted best film of 2003 at the 38th NationalSociety of Film Critics Awards on Saturday (Jan 3), while Bill Murray won bestactor for Lost In Translation andCharlize Theron took actress honours for her acclaimed performance in Monster.

Clint Eastwood was namedbest director for Mystic Riverand best foreign film went to Ari Kaurismaki for The Man Without A Past, which saw off the challenge of Sylvain Chomet's TheTriplets Of Belleville and JiaZhangke's Unknown Pleasures.

American Splendor film-makers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulciniearned a second award for best screenplay while supporting acting honours wentto Peter Sarsgaard for Shattered Glass and Patricia Clarkson for both Pieces Of April and The Station Agent. Clarkson won this category last year for FarFrom Heaven.

Best documentary went toNicolas Philibert's To Be And To Have from France and in the cinematography category Russell Boyd won for MasterAnd Commander.

The society's 55 criticsused a weighted ballot system to decide their winners.

The awards in full (withvotes alongside):

BEST PICTURE

*1 American Splendor (Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini) 29

2 Mystic River (Clint Eastwood) 27

3 Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola) 19

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

*1 The Man Without A Past (Ari Kaurismaki) 38

2 The Triplets OfBelleville (Sylvain Chomet) 15

3 Unknown Pleasures (Jia Zhangke) 13

BEST DIRECTOR

*1 Clint Eastwood (MysticRiver) 35

2 Peter Jackson (The Lordof the Rings: The Return of the King)24

3 Sofia Coppola (Lost inTranslation) 19

BEST SCREENPLAY

*1 Shari Springer Berman andRobert Pulcini (American Splendor)43

2 Brian Helgeland (MysticRiver) 22

3 Craig Lucas (The SecretLives of Dentists) 14

BEST NONFICTION FILM

*1 To Be And To Have (Nicolas Philibert) 34

2 The Fog Of War (Errol Morris) 33

3 Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz) 18

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

*1 Russell Boyd (Masterand Commander: The Far Side Of The World) 37

2 Lance Acord (Lost inTranslation) 22

3 Harris Savides (Elephant) 21

BEST ACTOR

*1 Bill Murray (Lost In Translation) 71

2 Sean Penn (Mystic River) 49

3 Paul Giamatti (AmericanSplendor) 24

BEST ACTRESS

*1 Charlize Theron (Monster) 36

2 Hope Davis (AmericanSplendor & The Secret LivesOf Dentists) 24

3 Naomi Watts (21 Grams) 17

Best Supporting Actor

*1 Peter Sarsgaard (ShatteredGlass) 40

2 Tim Robbins (MysticRiver) 18

3 Alec Baldwin (TheCooler) 17

BestSupporting Actress

*1 Patricia Clarkson (TheStation Agent & Pieces OfApril) 37

2 Maria Bello (The Cooler) 18

3 Shohreh Aghdashloo (HouseOf Sand And Fog) 16

FILM HERITAGE AWARDS

1 Kino on Video for its"excellent DVD collections of F W Murnau, Erich von Stroheim, and the AmericanFilm Theatre Series."

2 Milestone Film and Videofor its "exemplary theatrical and/or DVD presentations of Michael Powell's TheEdge Of The World, E A Dupont's Piccadilly, Andre Antoine's La Terre, and Mad, the films of Evgeni Bauer".