Award
The IndieWire Critics Poll is an annual poll by American film industry and film criticism website IndieWire that recognizes the best in American and international films in a ranking of ten or five films across different categories.
The winners are chosen by the votes of the critics from IndieWire and other invited critics from around the world. The poll began in 2006.
Categories
As of 2024, rankings for nine categories were presented:
Current
Best Film
Best Director
Best Performance
Best Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best International Film
Best Documentary
Best First Feature
Best Film Opening Next Year
Discontinued
Best Lead Performance (Best Actor and Best Actress)
Best Supporting Performance (Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress)
Best Undistributed Film
Best Original Score/Soundtrack
Best Editing
Best Overlooked Film
Most Anticipated Film
Best Editing
Best Animated Film
Best Ensemble
Editions
Winners and nominees
Best Film
Best Director
Best Screenplay
Year
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
4th Place
5th Place
6th Place
7th Place
8th Place
9th Place
10th Place
2006
The Queen (Peter Morgan )
The Departed (William Monahan )
A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater ) A Cock and Bull Story (Martin Hardy)
Brick (Rian Johnson )
—
2007
There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson )
Margot at the Wedding (Noah Baumbach )
Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy )
Zodiac (James Vanderbilt )
No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen )
—
2008
Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman )
A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin , Emmanuel Bourdieu )
Rachel Getting Married (Jenny Lumet ) Burn After Reading (Joel and Ethan Coen ) In Bruges (Martin McDonagh ) Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh )
—
2009
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen )
In the Loop (Armando Iannucci , Jesse Armstrong , Tony Roche , Simon Blackwell ) Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino )
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson , Noah Baumbach )
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman , Sheldon Turner )
Duplicity (Tony Gilroy ) Police, Adjective (Corneliu Porumboiu )
—
2010
The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin )
Everybody Else (Maren Ade )
Carlos (Olivier Assayas , Dan Franck )
Another Year (Mike Leigh ) The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko , Stuart Blumberg )
Mother (Bong Joon-Ho , Eun-kyo Park) Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong )
—
2011
A Separation (Asghar Farhadi )
Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan )
Moneyball (Steven Zaillian , Aaron Sorkin )
Young Adult (Diablo Cody )
Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami ) A Dangerous Method (Christopher Hampton ) Mysteries of Lisbon (Carlos Saboga)
—
2012
Lincoln (Tony Kushner )
Zero Dark Thirty (Mark Boal )
The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson )
Moonrise Kingdom (Roman Coppola , Wes Anderson )
Looper (Rian Johnson ) Amour (Michael Haneke )
—
2013
Before Midnight (Richard Linklater , Ethan Hawke , Julie Delpy )
Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen )
Her (Spike Jonze )
12 Years a Slave (John Ridley )
Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach )
American Hustle (Eric Warren Singer )
The World's End (Edgar Wright , Simon Pegg )
Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski )
Nebraska (Bob Nelson )
Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen )
2014
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson , Hugo Guinness )
Boyhood (Richard Linklater )
Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson )
Listen Up Philip (Alex Ross Perry )
Birdman (Alejandro G. Iñárritu , Alexander Dinelaris , Nicolás Giacobone , Armando Bo )
Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn )
Whiplash (Damien Chazelle )
Force Majure (Ruben Östlund )
Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy )
Calvary (John Michael McDonagh )
2015
Spotlight (Josh Singer , Tom McCarthy )
Carol (Phyllis Nagy )
Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman )
Inside Out (Pete Docter , Ronnie del Carmen , Meg LeFauve , Josh Cooley )
Steve Jobs (Aaron Sorkin )
Brooklyn (Nick Hornby )
Ex Machina (Alex Garland )
Mistress America (Noah Baumbach , Greta Gerwig )
45 Years (Andrew Haigh )
Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas )
2016
Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan )
Moonlight (Barry Jenkins )
Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman )
Hell or High Water (Taylor Sheridan )
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos , Efthimis Filippou )
Arrival (Eric Heisserer )
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade )
Jackie (Noah Oppenheim )
Paterson (Jim Jarmusch )
La La Land (Damien Chazelle )
2017
Get Out (Jordan Peele )
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig )
Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson )
Call Me by Your Name (James Ivory )
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh )
—
2018
The Favourite (Tony McNamara )
First Reformed (Paul Schrader )
Roma (Alfonso Cuarón )
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Nicole Holofcener , Jeff Whitty )
Burning (Oh Jung-mi, Lee Chang-dong )
—
2019
Parasite (Bong Joon-ho , Han Jin-won)
Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach )
Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino )
The Irishman (Steven Zaillian )
Knives Out (Rian Johnson )
Little Woman (Greta Gerwig )
Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar )
Uncut Gems (Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie , Ronald Bronstein )
The Farewell (Lulu Wang )
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma )
2020
I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman )
First Cow (Jonathan Raymond , Kelly Reichardt )
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman )
Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell )
Mank (Jack Fincher )
Fourteen (Dan Sallitt )
Minari (Lee Isaac Chung )
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin )
One Night in Miami... (Kemp Powers )
Kajillionaire (Miranda July )
2021
Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi , Takamasa Oe )
Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson )
The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson )
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion )
A Hero (Asghar Farhadi )
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Ryusuke Hamaguchi )
The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal )
Pig (Michael Sarnoski , Vanessa Block )
The Worst Person in the World (Eskil Vogt , Joachim Trier )
Berman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve )
2022
Tár (Todd Field )
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh )
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert )
Aftersun (Charlotte Wells )
Women Talking (Sarah Polley )
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg , Tony Kushner )
Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg )
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson )
Saint Omer (Alice Diop , Amrita David, Marie NDiaye )
The Eternal Daughter – (Joanna Hogg ) After Yang – (Kogonada )
2023
May December (Samy Burch , Alex Mechanik )
Past Lives (Celine Song )
Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet , Arthur Harari )
The Holdovers (David Hemingson )
American Fiction (Cord Jefferson )
Killers of the Flower Moon (Eric Roth , Martin Scorsese )
Poor Things (Tony McNamara )
Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan )
Barbie (Greta Gerwig , Noah Baumbach ) The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer )
Asteroid City (Wes Anderson , Roman Coppola )
2024
Anora (Sean Baker )
A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg )
The Brutalist (Brady Corbet , Mona Fastvold )
Challengers (Justin Kuritzkes )
Conclave (Peter Straughan )
The Substance (Coralie Fargeat )
All We Imagine as Light (Payal Kapadia )
Janet Planet (Annie Baker )
Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross , Joslyn Barnes )
I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun )
Best Cinematography
Best International Film
Best Documentary
Best First Feature
Films Opening Next Year
Discontinued categories and special awards
Best Undistributed Film
Best Original Score or Soundtrack
Year
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
4th Place
5th Place
6th Place
7th Place
8th Place
9th Place
10th Place
2012
The Master (Jonny Greenwood )
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Dan Romer , Benh Zeitlin)
Moonrise Kingdom (Alexandre Desplat )
Django Unchained
The Turin Horse (Mihály Víg ) Zero Dark Thirty (Alexandre Desplat )
—
2013
Inside Llewyn Davis (T Bone Burnett )
Spring Breakers (Skrillex , Cliff Martinez )
Upstream Color (Shane Carruth )
12 Years a Slave (Hans Zimmer )
Her (Arcade Fire , Owen Pallett )
Gravity (Steven Price )
Bastards (Stuart A. Staples )
American Hustle (Danny Elfman )
Ain't Them Bodies Saints (Daniel Hart )
Frozen (Christophe Beck )
2014
Under the Skin (Mica Levi )
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Alexandre Desplat )
Inherent Vice (Jonny Greenwood )
Gone Girl (Trent Reznor , Atticus Ross )
Birdman (Antonio Sánchez )
Interstellar (Hans Zimmer )
Whiplash (Justin Hurwitz )
Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch , Carter Logan, Shane Stoneback, Jozef van Wissem )
Boyhood
Guardians of the Galaxy (Tyler Bates )
2015
Carol (Carter Burwell )
The Hateful Eight (Ennio Morricone )
Mad Max: Fury Road (Tom Holkenborg )
It Follows (Disasterpeace )
Sicario (Jóhann Jóhannsson )
The Duke of Burgundy (Faris Badwan , Rachel Zeffira )
The Revenant (Ryuichi Sakamoto , Bryce Dessner , Alva Noto )
Love & Mercy (Atticus Ross )
Inside Out (Michael Giacchino )
Creed (Ludwig Göransson )
2016
Jackie (Mica Levi )
La La Land (Justin Hurwitz )
Moonlight (Nicholas Britell )
Arrival (Jóhann Jóhannsson )
The Neon Demon (Cliff Martinez )
Sing Street
The Childhood of a Leader (Scott Walker )
American Honey The Handmaiden (Yeong-wook Jo )
The Fits (Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans)
Best Editing
Best Animated Film
Most Anticipated Film
Best Film of the Decade
Best Ensemble
Best Overlooked Film
Notes
^ While the film was released in 1969 in France and in 1970 in Italy, it was not released in the United States until 2006.
^ While the film premiered at Whitney Museum in 1978, it was not released in American theaters until 2007.
References
^ Hernández, Eugene (December 31, 2007). "CRITICS' POLL '07: "There Will Be Blood" Hailed as Best of 2007 in iW Poll of 100+ Critics; "No End" " . IndieWire . Retrieved January 11, 2025 .
^ "iW CRITICS POLL '08: The Complete Results" . IndieWire . December 24, 2008. Retrieved January 11, 2025 .
^ Hernández, Eugene (December 22, 2009). " "Summer Hours" Wins indieWIRE '09 Critics Poll; "Mulholland Dr." is Best of Decade" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ "IndieWire Critics' Poll" . Awards Daily . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Knegt, Peter (December 20, 2010). " "The Social Network" Tops indieWIRE's 2010 Critics Poll" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ "The Social Network tops IndieWire critics poll" . Awards Daily . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Kohn, Eric (December 19, 2011). " 'The Tree of Life' Tops Indiewire's Poll For the Best of 2011 Film; Fassbender Ties With Shannon For Performance" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ "Indiewire Announces 2011 Best of Year Lists" . Business Wire . December 20, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Kohn, Eric (December 18, 2012). " 'Holy Motors' Tops Indiewire's Poll For the Best of 2012 Film; Other Winners Include Jafar Panahi and Amy Seimetz" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Kohn, Eric; Greene, Steve (December 17, 2013). " '12 Years a Slave' Tops Indiewire's Year-End Critics Poll, 'Llewyn Davis,' 'Gravity' and 'Stray Dogs' Also Among Best in 2013" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Kohn, Eric (December 15, 2024). "Indiewire's Massive 2014 Year-End Critics Poll: Read the Full Results" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Adams, Sam (December 14, 2015). " 'Mad Max: Fury Road' Cruises to Victory in Indiewire's 2015 Critics Poll" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Kermode, Jennie. "Max and Carol top Indiewire critics' poll" . Eye for Film . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Kohn, Eric (December 19, 2016). "2016 Critics Poll: The Best Films and Performances of the Year According to Over 200 Critics" . IndieWire . Retrieved July 7, 2017 .
^ Greene, Steve (December 19, 2016). "2016 IndieWire Critics Poll: Full List of Results" . IndieWire . Retrieved July 7, 2017 .
^ Kohn, Eric (December 19, 2017). "2017 Critics Poll: The Best Films and Performances According to Over 200 Critics" . IndieWire . Archived from the original on February 22, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2017 .
^ Kohn, Eric (December 17, 2018). "2018 Critics Poll: The Best Films and Performances According to Over 200 Critics From Around the World" . IndieWire . Archived from the original on December 18, 2018. Retrieved February 21, 2019 .
^ Kohn, Eric (December 16, 2019). "2019 Critics Poll: The Best Films and Performances According to Over 300 Critics From Around the World" . IndieWire . Retrieved December 17, 2019 .
^ Kohn, Eric; Blauvelt, Christian (December 14, 2020). "2020 Critics Poll: The Best Films and Performances According to Over 200 Critics from Around the World" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 19, 2025 .
^ "Critics Poll Names 'Nomadland' the Best Film of 2020" . Screen Crush . Retrieved January 19, 2025 .
^ Blauvelt, Christian (December 13, 2021). "2021 Critics Poll: The Best Films and Performances, According to 187 Critics from Around the World" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Blauvelt, Christian (December 12, 2022). "2022 Critics Poll: The Best Films and Performances, According to 165 Critics from Around the World" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Blauvelt, Christian (December 11, 2023). "2023 Critics Poll: The Best Films and Performances, According to 158 Critics from Around the World" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ Blauvelt, Christian (December 16, 2024). "2024 Critics Poll: The Best Movies and Performances of the Year, According to 177 Critics" . IndieWire . Retrieved January 12, 2025 .
^ "IndieWire 2024 Critics Poll Topped by 'Anora' " . World of Reel . December 16, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025 .