Annual awards from National Society of Film Critics_English

BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Sean Penn, who stars in "Milk," and Sally Hawkins in "Happy-Go-Lucky," were named best actor and actress by the National Society of Film Critics Saturday in New York.

This helped positioning them as front-runners for February's Academy Awards, or Oscars, which are the world's top film awards given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Sean Penn, who stars in "Milk," and Sally Hawkins in "Happy-Go-Lucky," were named best actor and actress by the National Society of Film Critics Saturday in New York.

Jury President Sean Penn addresses his speech as he attends the awards ceremony at the 61st Cannes Film Festival May 25, 2008. Sean Penn, who stars in "Milk," and Sally Hawkins in "Happy-Go-Lucky," were named best actor and actress by the National Society of Film Critics Saturday in New York. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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Penn won the honor for his acclaimed performance as San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, a gay rights leader who was assassinated along with the city's mayor by a fellow politician in 1978.

"Happy-Go-Lucky," about a cheerily optimistic schoolteacher in North London, also won best director and best screenplay honors for Mike Leigh, as well as best supporting actor for Eddie Marsan.

In a surprising move, the association named Israeli director Ari Folman's "Waltz With Bashir" the best film as against "Slumdog Millionaire," "Milk" or "Wall-E" chosen by other associations

"Waltz With Bashir," in the words of The New York Times "an altogether amazing film," is Folman's memoir of fighting as a soldier in the 1982 Israeli war with Lebanon.

Best supporting actress went to veteran Hanna Schygulla for "The Edge of Heaven," while "Man on Wire," the story of a daredevil's walk across a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974, was named best documentary.

The society includes members from major newspapers in Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Chicago as well as from Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker and Salon.com.

Shut out of the 43rd annual awards were highly touted films including Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" and "The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button." Both are seen as front-runners in several Oscar categories.

(Agencies)