'The Rider' Named Best Picture by the National Society of Film Critics

Ethan Hawke and Olivia Colman, meanwhile, won the critics group's highest acting prizes.


The Rider, Chloe Zhao's low-budget feature, and Roma, Alfonso Cuaron's black-and-white period piece, won big at the National Society of Film Critics Awards on Saturday.


The Rider took home the top prize, best picture, while director Zhao was a runner-up in the best director category. Roma won the most accolades, three in total, including best director and best cinematography for Cuaron, as well as best foreign film; it was also a runner-up for best picture. Every other film won just one prize, not including runner-up slots.


First Reformed's Ethan Hawke and The Favourite's Olivia Colman nabbed best actor and best actress, respectively. Steve Yeun of Burning and Regina King of If Beale Street Could Talk won supporting actor and actress prizes. Best screenplay went to Armando Iannucci's historical satire The Death of Stalin, while best nonfiction film was given to Bing Liu's skateboarding doc Minding the Gap.


As the group's 64 members deliberated at New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center, NSFC chair Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times tweeted the winners and runners-up live at @ natSocFilmCrix.


Last year, Lady Bird won big at the ceremony, nabbing four wins, including for best picture, best director and best screenplay for Greta Gerwig and best supporting actress for Laurie Metcalf.


Founded in 1966, the NSFC elects its critics from papers and prominent online outlets across the U.S., including The New Yorker, The Boston Herald, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Slate and Buzzfeed, among others. This year's awards vote marked the society's 53rd edition; it does not host an awards party.


Best picture: The Rider
 | Runners-up: Roma, Burning

Best actor: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed | Runners-up: 
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity's Gate; Ben Foster, Leave No Trace; John C. Reilly, The Sisters Brothers and Stan & Ollie

Best actress: Olivia Colman, The Favourite | Runners-up: Regina Hall, Support the Girls; Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best supporting actress: 
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk | Runners-up: Elizabeth Debicki, Widows; Emma Stone, The Favourite

Best supporting actor: Steve Yeun, Burning 
| Runners-up: Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Brian Tyree Henry, Widows and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best director: 
Alfonso Cuaron, Roma | Runners-up: Lee Chang-dong, Burning; Chloe Zhao, The Rider

Best screenplay: Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin, The Death of Stalin | Runners-up: Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, The Favourite

Best cinematography: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma | Runners-up: James Laxton, If Beale Street Could Talk; Lukasz Zal, Cold War

Best foreign-language film: Roma | Runners-up: Cold War; Burning; Shoplifters

Best non-fiction film: Minding the Gap | Runners-up: Shirkers, Amazing Grace

Special citation for a film awaiting U.S. distribution: A Family Tour (Ying Liang, Taiwan/Hong Kong/Singapore/Malaysia)

Best experimental film: Good Luck

Film heritage award: The team behind the release of Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind

Film heritage award: The Museum of Modern Art for its restoration of Ernst Lubitsch's Rosita