Broadcast Film Critics Circle Honor Gere, Hathaway, Penn, Streep, Winslet

The Broadcast Film Critics Circle Association handed out their annual Critics’ Choice Awards on January 8 in California. The ceremony was aired live on VH-1.

The group’s Best Picture award went to Slumdog Millionaire, while its helmer Danny Boyle was named Best Director. Other honored films included Tropic Thunder (Best Comedy), The Dark Knight (Best Action Film), Wall-E (Best Animated Film), Man on Wire (Best Documentary), and Waltz with Bashir (Best Foreign Film). The award for Best Picture Made for Television went to HBO’s John Adams, which starred Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney.

Former Devil Wears Prada co-stars Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) and Meryl Streep (Doubt) tied for Best Actress. Other acting honors went to Sean Penn (Milk), Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight), Kate Winslet (The Reader), Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), and the ensemble of Milk, including former Tony Award nominee Alison Pill.

Simon Beaufoy was named Best Writer for Slumdog Millionaire, which also took home the Best Composer award for A.R. Rahman (who wrote the Broadway musical Bombay Dreams). Bruce Springsteen won Best Song for the title song to The Wrestler.

Stage veteran Richard Gere received the group’s Joel Siegel Award for his humanitarian efforts.

Presenters included Amy Adams, Jason Alexander, Kristen Bell, Corbin Bleu, Josh Brolin, Amanda Bynes, Rosemarie DeWitt, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Lane, Melissa Leo, Ben Stiller, and Kristin Scott Thomas.