'Moonlight' dominates Chicago Film Critics nominations

Barry Jenkins' breakthrough drama "Moonlight" leads the 2016 Chicago Film Critics awards nominations announced Monday.

Chicago critics gave Jenkins' movie 11 nominations, among them best picture, director, screenplay, supporting actor and supporting actress.

Kenneth Lonergan's "Manchester by the Sea" and Pablo Larrain's "Jackie" each scored eight nominations, among them best picture and director.

Denzel Washington received a record eighth nomination from the CFCA with his best actor nod for "Fences" which he directed. His co-star, Viola Davis, was nominated for supporting actress.

"Tower," an innovative look at the killing spree of Charles Whitman, received nominations for both best documentary and animated feature. "Kubo and the Two Strings" earned an animated feature nomination plus a promising filmmaker nomination for director Travis Knight.

Despite that horror often is overlooked by awards groups, the CFCA gave nominations to "The Neon Demon" for original score and art direction, plus gave "The Witch" an art direction nod and awarded "Witch" director Robert Eggers a nomination for promising filmmaker.

The 2016 CFCA Awards will be announced Thursday night at Zia's Lago Vista in Chicago. Go to chicagofilmcritics.org.

<span class="fact box text bold">Here are the nominees:</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">PICTURE: "The Handmaiden," "Jackie," "La La Land," "Manchester by the Sea," "Moonlight."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">DIRECTOR: Damien Chazelle "La La Land," Barry Jenkins "Moonlight," Pablo Larrain "Jackie," Kenneth Lonergan "Manchester by the Sea," Chan-wook Park "The Handmaiden."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">ACTOR: Casey Affleck "Manchester by the Sea," Adam Driver "Paterson," Joel Edgerton "Loving," Colin Farrell "The Lobster," Denzel Washington "Fences."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">ACTRESS: Amy Adams "Arrival," Rebecca Hall "Christine," Isabelle Huppert Elle," Natalie Portman " Jackie," Emma Stone "La La Land."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">SUPPORTING ACTOR: Mahershala Ali "Moonlight," Alden Ehrenreich "Hail, Caesar!," Ben Foster "Hell or High Water," Lucas Hedges "Manchester by the Sea," Trevante Rhodes "Moonlight," Michael Shannon "Nocturnal Animals."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Viola Davis "Fences," Lily Gladstone "Certain Women," Naomie Harris "Moonlight," Janelle Monae "Hidden Figures," Michelle Williams "Manchester by the Sea."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: "Hell or High Water" (Taylor Sheridan), "Jackie" (Noah Oppenheim), "The Lobster" (Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou), "Manchester by the Sea" (Kenneth Lonergan), "Moonlight" (Barry Jenkins).</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: "Arrival" (Eric Heisserer), "Elle" (David Birke), "The Handmaiden" (Seo-Kyung Chung and Chan-wook Park), "Love & Friendship" (Whit Stillman), "Silence" (Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese).</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">ANIMATED FEATURE: "Kubo and the Two Strings," "Moana," "The Red Turtle," "Tower," "Zootopia."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">DOCUMENTARY: "Cameraperson," "Life, Animated," "OJ: Made in America," "Tower," "Weiner."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: "Elle," "The Handmaiden," "Julieta," "Neruda," "Toni Erdmann."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">ART DIRECTION:/PRODUCTION DESIGN: "The Handmaiden," "Jackie," "La La Land," "The Neon Demon," "The Witch."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">CINEMATOGRAPHY: "The Handmaiden" (Chung-hoon Chung), "Jackie" (Stephane Fontaine), "La La Land" (Linus Sandgren), "Moonlight" (James Laxton), "Silence" (Rodrigo Prieto).</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">EDITING: "Cameraperson" (Nels Bangerter), "Jackie" (Sebastian Sepulveda), "La La Land" (Tom Cross), "Manchester by the Sea" (Jennifer Lame), "Moonlight" (Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders).</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">ORIGINAL SCORE: "Arrival" (Johann Johannsson), "Jackie" (Mica Levi), "La La Land" (Justin Hurwitz), "Moonlight" (Nicholas Britell), "The Neon Demon" (Cliff Martinez).</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">PROMISING FILMMAKER: Kelly Fremon Craig "The Edge of Seventeen," Robert Eggers "The Witch," Anna Rose Holmer "The Fits," Travis Knight "Kubo and the Two Strings," Trey Edward Shults "Krisha."</span>

<span class="fact box text bold">PROMISING PERFORMER: Lily Gladstone "Certain Women," Lucas Hedges "Manchester by the Sea," Royalty Hightower "The Fits," Janelle Monae "Hidden Figures" and "Moonlight," Trevante Rhodes "Moonlight."</span>