London, UK (5 January 2020): Global media and entertainment firm Alpha1Media on January 5 launched its A1Film Awards for 2019, highlighting the achievements of the global cinema industry over the year.
The A1Film Awards for 2019 highlights films, writers, producers, actors and directors, from Hollywood, Bollywood, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and the Far East which are reflective of the best of global popular cinema in 2019, Alpha1Media said.
‘2019 was Cinema’s Year of Defining Cinema,’ said Talal Malik, Chairman and CEO of Alpha1Media. ‘We have the highest grossing film of all time from a Marvel Superhero film, a low-budget auteur film which became the most profitable film of all time based on a DC Supervillain, and one of the world’s most influential film directors directing a blockbuster film for Netflix with a limited theatrical release.’
In 2019, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ from Marvel Studios became the highest-grossing film in cinematic history with $2.8 billion, the circa-$65 million-budgeted ‘Joker’ becoming an Academy Award frontrunner and with over $1 billion at the box office, whilst iconic American auteur, Martin Scorsese directed ‘The Irishman’ at $150 million for Netflix with a less than month gap between its theatrical and streaming release.
In October 2019, Scorsese, formerly attached as a producer on ‘Joker’ , ignited a debate about whether Marvel superhero films constitute cinema, with the likes of other film industry giants Bob Iger, Francis Ford Coppola, Kevin Feige, John Woo and George Miller contributing.
Alpha1Media on January 4, 2020, launched its A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019, celebrating the Top 10 Films of 2019. From its A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019, Alpha1Media awards the following colleagues in the global film industry with the A1Film Awards 2019, recognising their achievements across the year.
‘Now in its seventh year, the A1Film Awards List continues to be the only list of its kind, focusing on the achievements of our industry colleagues in global popular cinema over 2019,’ said Ms. Maria Felce, Alpha1Media’s official spokesperson.
The A1Film In Memoriam Achievement Award 2019 is given to Doris Day, the American actress and singer who died on May 13, 2019, aged 97. Day topped the US Box Office for five years in the 1960s. Over her 20-year career, she was Oscar-nominated for her role in ‘Pillow Talk’, starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ and played the title role in ‘Calamity Jane’, her favourite film. She also had No. 1 recordings with ‘Sentimental Journey’ and ‘My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time’ whilst the song she sang, “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” in ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ also won an Oscar. She was given the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures in 1989, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s Career Achievement Award in 2011.
The A1Film In Memoriam Achievement Award 2019 is also given to Kader Khan, the Indian Bollywood actor and writer who died at the age of 81 on December 31, 2018, who wrote and most famously played supervillains and sages in Indian cinema in the 1980s. In the 1980s, Mr. Khan appeared opposite and wrote some of the most memorable dialogue of the legendary Bollywood acting superstar and the A1Film 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Amitabh Bachchan, in classic films such as ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikander’, ‘Mr. Natarwalal’, ‘Naseeb’, ‘Desh Premee’, ‘Mahaan’, ‘Coolie’, ‘Shahenshah’ and ‘Hum’. Alpha1Media’s Chairman and CEO, Talal Malik, worked with and appeared with Mr. Khan in the film, ‘Umar’ (‘2006), where he appeared alongside his co-star supervillains from the film, ‘Naseeb’ (1981), Prem Chopra and Shakti Kapoor. Remarkably, Mr. Khan also had another career outside of his 300 movies in Bollywood, through designing Islamic courses for children and adults from the 1990s to 2005, under the guidance of his father, Maulana Abdul Rahman Khan.
The A1Film Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 is given to Robert De Niro, the iconic Italian-American actor, producer and director, and founder of the Tribeca Film Festival, who is the lead actor in the film, ‘The Irishman’, which is No. 3 on the A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019, directed by his long-time collaborator, Martin Scorsese. Throughout his career, he has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Golden Lion, the AFI Life Achievement Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and has been nominated for six BAFTA Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ‘The Godfather Part II’ and his longtime collaboration with Scorsese earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film ‘Raging Bull’. Alpha1Media’s Chairman and CEO, Talal Malik, met with Robert De Niro in October 2011.
The A1Film Best Original Screenplay Award 2019 is given for ‘Joker’ to Todd Philips, its American director, and his co-writer, Scott Silver, which is No. 2 on the A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019. Philips is the auteur behind the successful comedy franchise, ‘The Hangover’ and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on the comedy, ‘Borat’, whilst Silver has been nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for ‘The Fighter’.
The A1Film Best Producer Award 2019 is given to American producer, Emma Koskoff, who remarkably produced both ‘Joker’ and ‘The Irishman’, respectively No. 2 and No. 3 on the A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019. Koskoff is a long-term producing partner of Martin Scorsese, having worked on him on ‘The Irishman’ and ‘Joker’, remaining as producer after he left the project, as well as other Scorsese films such as ‘The Departed’, ‘Hugo’ and ‘Wolf of Wall Street’, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and No. 3 on the A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2014.
The A1Film Best Foreign Picture Award 2019 is given to South Korean auteur, Bong Joon-ho for ‘Parasite’, which is No. 4 on the A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019. ‘Parasite’ unanimously won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, and is on the shortlist for the Best International Picture Award for the 2020 Academy Awards.
The A1Film Best Actress Award 2019 is given to New Zealand-Canadian actress Anna Paquin her milestone acting role in ‘The Irishman’, No. 3 on the A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019, as directed by Martin Scorsese. In the film, Paquin plays Peggy Sheeran, daughter of Robert De Niro’s lead role Frank, and has seven lines in her ten minutes of screen time, but her role is regarded as critical to the three and a half hour film. Paquin’s debut performance in the film, ‘The Piano’ earned her the 1993 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 11, making her the second-youngest Oscar winner in history, behind Tatum O’Neal.
The A1Film Best Actor Award 2019 is given to American actor Joaquin Phoenix for his milestone title role in the film, ‘Joker’, No. 2 on the A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019. The film’s auteur, Todd Philips, wrote the role of the DC Supervillain specifically with Phoenix in mind, and the neo-noir psychological-thriller won the Golden Globe at the 76th Venice International Film Festival. Phoenix has been Oscar-nominated for his acting in the three films of the ‘The Master’ , ‘Walk the Line’ and ‘Gladiator’ .
The A1Film Best Director Award 2019 is given to iconic American director, Martin Scorsese for ‘The Irishman’, No. 3 on the A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019. A frequent collaborator of Robert De Niro, Scorsese is a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema, has won an Academy Award for the Best Director for ‘The Departed’, as well as a Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award, Silver Lion, Grammy Award, Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Directors Guild of America Awards.
The A1Film Best Picture Award 2019 is given to American producer and President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, for ‘Avengers: Endgame’, No. 1 on the A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019. This is the fourth consecutive year that Kevin Feige, who conceived and had entirely produced the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has won the A1Film Best Picture: firstly, the A1Film 2018 Best Picture for ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, No 1 on the A1Film Top 10 List for 2018, the first half of the culmination of the story for ‘Avengers: Endgame’; secondly, the A1Film 2017 Best Picture for ‘Spider-man: Homecoming’, No 1 on the A1Film Top 10 List for 2017, and the first Spider-man film which was produced with counsel from Marvel Studios; and thirdly, the A1Film 2016 Best Picture for ‘Captain America: Civil War’, No 1 on the A1Film Top 10 List for 2016.
“‘Avengers: Endgame’ leads our list for three reasons – it represents the end of the culmination of a decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) which started with ‘Iron Man’ in 2008 with Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige at the helm; it became the highest-grossing film in cinematic history with nearly $2.8 billion at the global box office; and it sparked a global debate about cinema typifying 2019 as the Year of Defining Cinema,” said Ms. Felce about the top movie in the A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019.
The A1Film Top 10 Best Movies List 2019 launched on 4 January, 2020, are 1) ‘Avengers: Endgame’; 2) ‘Joker’; 3) ‘The Irishman’; 4) ‘Parasite’ 5) ‘Ford v Ferrari’; 6) ‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ ; 7) ‘Incitement’; 8) ‘The Day Shall Come’; 9) ‘Badla (‘Revenge’)’ ; and 10) ‘Aladdin’.
Alpha1Media will also launch its acclaimed annual list of the top films from around the world which cinema audiences were looking forward to in 2020.
The A1Film Preview List for 2020 will highlight essential and interesting films from Hollywood, Bollywood, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Far East, which audiences can view over the year.
Alpha1Media is a global media and entertainment firm. Alpha1Media produces and advises on media creation using 10×10 types of media including phone, print, TV, radio, billboard, computer, cinema and futuristic media based on scale, motion and holograms.
In the film sector, Alpha1Media focuses on film development, production, financing and cultural advisory services. It currently has four film projects in development with production value estimated at over USD $350 million from 2020-2025. The script for its first film project, ‘NANO’, has been recognised as one of the best new film scripts in development, including by 40 Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Emmy winners.