Best of 2015

Best Film

1. Carol (Haynes)

2. Arabian Nights: Vol. 1-3 (Gomes)

3. The Look of Silence (Oppenheimer)

4. Mad Max: Fury Road (Miller)

5. It Follows (Mitchell)

6. Victoria (Schipper)

7. Timbuktu (Sissako)

8. When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism (Porumboiu)

9. Spotlight (McCarthy)

10. Ex Machina (Garland)

11. Shaun the Sheep (Burton/Starzak)

12. Girlhood (Sciamma)

Honorable Mentions: 45 Years (Haigh), Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (Elkabetz/Elkabetz), Mistress America (Baumbach), Junun (Anderson)

Best Unreleased Film

1. What's the Time in Your World? (Yazdanian)

2. 316 (Haghani)

3. The Treasure (Porumboiu)

4. The Club (Larraín)

5. I Want to Be a King (Ganji)
6. Much Loved (Ayouch)

Best Director 

1. Miguel Gomes (Arabian Nights)

2. David Robert Mitchell (It Follows)

3. George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

4. Todd Haynes (Carol)

5. Jessica Hausner (Amour Fou)

6. Sebastian Schipper (Victoria)

Best Screenplay

1. When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism

2. Carol

3. 45 Years 

4. Spotlight

5. Clouds of Sils Maria
6. Wild Canaries

Best Ensemble

1. Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

2. Spotlight

3. Mustang

4. Tangerine

5. Carol

6. Magic Mike XXL

Best Actor

1. Joshua Burge (Buzzard)

2. Jacob Tremblay (Room)

3. Michael B. Jordan (Creed)

4. Tom Courtenay (45 Years)

5. Ibrahim Ahmed (Timbuktu)
6. Frederick Lau (Victoria)

Best Actress

1. Rooney Mara (Carol)

2. Arielle Holmes (Heaven Knows What)

3. Laia Costa (Victoria)

4. Elizabeth Moss (Queen of Earth)

5. Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

6. Cate Blanchett (Carol)

Best Supporting Actor

1. Michael Keaton (Spotlight)

2. Liev Schrieber (Spotlight)

3. Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)

4. Omid "Filmi" (Jafar Panahi's Taxi)

5. Benicio Del Toro (Sicario)

6. Michael Stuhlbarg (Steve Jobs)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

2. Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria)
3. Crista Alfaiate (Arabian Nights: Vol. 1-3)

4. Katherine Waterston (Queen of Earth)

5. Cynthia Nixon (James White)

6. Greta Gerwig (Mistress America)

Best Cinematography

1. Carol 

2. Victoria 

3. The Assassin

Best Editing

1. It Follows

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

3. Results

Best Production Design

1. Hateful Eight

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

3. Inside Out

Best Costume Design

1. Carol

2. The Assassin

3. Mommy

Best Makeup

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Amour Fou

3. The Duke of Burgundy

Best Visual Effects

1. Ex Machina

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

3. The Martian

Best Music

1. Steve Jobs

2. It Follows

3. Carol

Best Sound Design

1. Queen of Earth

2. Ex Machina

3. Junun

Caveats
1. The list is limited to films that received a public theatrical screening in New York City between January 1st, 2015 to December 31st, 2015. Films that were released several years previously elsewhere have also been excluded. (Long time readers of the blog know that had that not been the case, About Elly would have dominated several of these categories).
2. I have not yet seen In Jackson Heights, The World of Tomorrow, Anomalisa, Love, Rams and L'il Quinquin.