For your consideration: my Critics' Circle votes 2019

Director of the Year

1. Martin Scorsese, The Irishman

2. Wang Xiaoshuai, So Long, My Son

3. Alice Rohrwacher, Happy as Lazzaro

4. Jia Zhang-ke, Ash is Purest White

5. Lulu Wang, The Farewell

(Honourable mentions: Jacques Audiard, The Sisters Brothers; Asghar Farhadi, Everybody Knows; Jordan Peele, Us.)

Screenwriter of the Year

1. Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade

2. Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Isabel Peña, The Candidate

3. Lorene Scafaria, Hustlers

4. Lulu Wang, The Farewell

5. Steven Zaillian, The Irishman

(Honourable mentions: Sara Colangelo, The Kindergarten Teacher; Asghar Farhadi, Everybody Knows; Christian Petzold, Transit; Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain, The Sisters Brothers; Anubhav Sinha and Gaurav Solanki, Article 15.)

Actress of the Year

1. Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade

2. Mei Yong, So Long, My Son

3. Gabriela Cartol, The Chambermaid

4. Zhao Tao, Ash is Purest White

5. Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Kindergarten Teacher

(Honourable mentions: Awkwafina, The Farewell; Helena Howard, Madeline's Madeline; Lupita Nyong'o, Us; Charlize Theron, Long Shot; Mia Wasikowska, Piercing.)

Actor of the Year

1. John C. Reilly, The Sisters Brothers

2. Wang Jingchun, So Long, My Son

3. Antonio Banderas, Pain & Glory

4. Robert de Niro, The Irishman

5. Adam Driver, The Report and Marriage Story

(Honourable mentions: Sam Elliott, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot; Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Photograph; Antonio de la Torre, The Candidate; Franz Rogowski, Transit.)

Supporting Actress of the Year

1. Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers

2. Shuzhen Zhao, The Farewell

3. Julianne Nicholson, Monos

4. Laura Dern, Marriage Story

5. Sophie Okonedo, Wild Rose

(Honourable mentions: Julie Walters, Wild Rose; Penelope Cruz, Pain & Glory; Phoebe Nicholls, Mari; Madeleine Worrall, Mari.)

Supporting Actor of the Year

1. Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

2. Al Pacino, The Irishman

3. Joe Pesci, The Irishman

4. Stephen Graham, The Irishman

5. Kulvinder Ghir, Blinded by the Light

(Honourable mentions: Denis Menochet, By the Grace of God; Josh Hamilton, Eighth Grade; Francis Magee, The Dig; Timothy Spall, The Corrupted.)

British/Irish Actress of the Year

1. Lesley Manville, Ordinary Love

2. Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose

3. Holliday Grainger, Animals

4. Sienna Miller, American Woman

5. Rosamund Pike, A Private War

(Honourable mentions: Seána Kerslake, The Hole in the Ground; Marianne Jean-Baptiste, In Fabric.)

British/Irish Actor of the Year

1. Josh O'Connor, Only You

2. Liam Neeson, Ordinary Love

3. Robert Pattinson, High Life

4. Taron Egerton, Rocketman

5. Stephen Odubola, Blue Story

(Honourable mentions: Viveik Kalra, Blinded by the Light; Kris Hitchin, Sorry We Missed You.)

Young British/Irish Actor of the Year

1. Jack Carroll [above right], Eaten by Lions

2. Noah Jupe, Le Mans '66

3. Louis Ashbourne Serkis, The Kid Who Would Be King

4. James Quinn Markey, The Hole in the Ground

5. Rhianna Dorris, The Kid Who Would Be King

Breakthrough British/Irish Talent of the Year

1. Mark Jenkin, writer-director, Bait

2. Harry Wootliff, writer-director, Only You

3. Georgia Parris, writer-director, Mari

4. Rapman, writer-director, Blue Story

5. Simon Amstell, writer-director, Benjamin

(Honourable mentions: Emma-Jane Unsworth, writer, Animals; Lee Cronin, co-writer/director, The Hole in the Ground; Jason Wingard, co-writer/director, Eaten by Lions.)