‘Barbie’ Wins Big At The Astra Film Awards

Astra Film Awards were held on Saturday night and I was lucky enough to be in attendance at the ceremony as a member of the Hollywood Creative Alliance. By the end of the night, Barbie was the big winner as her pink dominance continued.

Barbie took home eight awards at the ceremony, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay (Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach), Best Original Song (“I’m Just Ken”, accepted by composter Mark Ronson), Best Actress (Margot Robbie, tying with Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon), and Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling).

Christopher Nolan took home Best Director for Oppenheimer while wins in other major categories included Paul Giamatti for Best Actor in The Holdovers, Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Best Supporting Actress in The Holdovers, Cord Jefferson for Best Adapted Screenplay for American Fiction, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse for Best Animated Feature, Anatomy of a Fall for Best International Feature, and the cast of The Color Purple for Best Cast Ensemble.

Pre-announced honors for the night also included appearances from The Color Purple’s Danielle Brooks (Breakthrough Performer Award), Blackberry’s Glen Howerton (Game Changer Award), Willem Dafoe (Excellence in Artistry Award), American Fiction’s Jefferey Wright (Acting Achievement Award), Society of Snow director J.A. Bayona (Filmmaking Achievement Award), Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’s Abby Ryder Forston (Star on the Rise Award), and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s Daniel Pemberton (Artisan Achievement Award).

The Astra Awards are presented by The Hollywood Creative Alliance, formerly known as the Hollywood Critics Association, which is an organization of “critics, entertainment journalists, content creators, industry insiders, and creatives. The event was held at the Biltmore in Downtown Los Angeles and several of the nominees were there in attendance to accept their awards, including Greta Gerwig, Mark Ronson, Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Jefferey Wright, and Hailee Steinfeld, among others.

It was also announced that the organization chose Yong Chavez co-CEO of the HCA. In this new role, Chavez will be responsible for overseeing overall operations for the organization including membership relations, working with studios, and creating new initiatives for global representation

As a personal experience, it was great to be surrounded by like-minded individuals and colleagues who were all there to share the collective experience of celebrating filmmaking. You could feel the love in the room for the art form and, as a first-year member, I was just happy to be even a small part of it.

You can check out the full list of winners below:

Best Picture

“Barbie” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best Actor

Paul Giamatti – “The Holdovers” (Focus Features)

Best Actress – TIE

Lily Gladstone – “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films)

Margot Robbie – “Barbie” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best Supporting Actor

Ryan Gosling – “Barbie” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best Supporting Actress

Da’Vine Joy Randolph – “The Holdovers” (Focus Features)

Best Director

Christopher Nolan – “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)

Best Original Screenplay

“Barbie,” Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best Adapted Screenplay

“American Fiction,” Screenplay by Cord Jefferson (Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios)

Best International Feature

“Anatomy of a Fall” (France) (NEON)

Best International Actor

Gael García Bernal – “Cassandro” (Amazon MGM Studios)

Best International Actress

Sandra Hüller – “Anatomy of a Fall” (NEON)

Best International Filmmaker

Hayao Miyazaki – “The Boy and The Heron” (GKids)

Best Animated Feature

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony Pictures)

Best Short Film

“The After” (Netflix)

Best Action Feature

“John Wick: Chapter 4” (Lionsgate)

Best Comedy Feature

“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” (Lionsgate)

Best Horror Feature

“M3GAN” (Universal Pictures)

Best First Feature

Celine Song, “Past Lives” (A24)

Best Documentary Feature

“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” (Apple Original Films)

Best Voice-Over Performance

Hailee Steinfeld – “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony Pictures)

Best Cast Ensemble

“The Color Purple” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best Original Song

“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie,” Written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt – Performed by Ryan Gosling (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best Stunts

“John Wick: Chapter 4” (Lionsgate)

Best Casting

Allison Jones & Lucy Bevan, “Barbie” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best Cinematography

Hoyte van Hoytema, “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)

Best Costume Design

Holly Waddington, “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)

Best Editing

Nathan Orloff, “John Wick: Chapter 4” (Lionsgate)

Best Hair and Make-Up

Kazu Hiro, Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, and Lori McCoy-Bell, “Maestro” (Netflix)

Best Production Design

Sarah Greenwood & Katie Spencer, “Barbie” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best Publicity Campaign

“Barbie” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best Score

“Oppenheimer,” Ludwig Göransson (Universal Pictures)

Best Sound

“Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)

Best Visual Effects

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony Pictures)

Additionally, the HCA bestowed eight Honorary Awards including: