The biopic of HARVEY MILK’S life, starring SEAN PENN is shaping up to be a hit for the upcoming awards season.  Already the film has won best picture honors from the New York Film Critics Circle, who also gave a nod to SEAN PENN as best actor and JOSH BROLIN as best supporting actor.

The Critics Choice Awards, determined by the Association of Broadcast Film Critics and broadcast by VH1 on January 8th, named MILK for 8 nominations, including best picture, best actor, best supporting actors for JAMES FRANCO and JOSH BROLIN, director, screenwriter, ensemble cast and best composer, DANNY ELFMAN.

The American Film Institute named MILK one of the year’s 10 best films.

The Producers Guild of America will present producers DAN JINKS and BRUCE COEHN, the producers of MILK with the Stanley Kramer Award on January 24th at their annual kudos ceremony.

The Boston Film Critics awarded MILK with best actor, best director to GUS VAN ZANT and best screenplay for DUSTIN LANCE BLACK.

Surprisingly MILK was passed over by The Spirit Awards, failing to get a nomination in the best picture or best director fields.  MILK was nominated for 4 Spirit Awards, to be distributed the night before the Oscars at the end of February next year.  SEAN PENN and JAMES FRANCO got acting nominations, as did DUSTIN LANCE BLACK for screenwriting and HARRIS SAVIDES for cinematography.

The Golden Globes also left MILK off the best picture list, only nominating SEAN PENN from the film.

The Los Angeles Film Critics lauded only SEAN PENN from the film, granting him a best actor nomination, for their awards to be doled out January 12th.

The Academy Award nominations will be announced January 22, 2009.  Got MILK?

Get educated by this well-crafted telling of the first openly gay elected official—San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and his short political/activist life in the late 1970s.
Get entertained by what will surely be remembered as one of the Best Gay Films of All Time, from out director Gus Van Sant and out writer Dustin Lance Black.
Get entranced by the uniformly strong acting chops of the ensemble cast (as Milk’s lovers—James Franco and Diego Luna, and everyone else!).
Get incensed by the parallel injustices to our community in 1978 (The Biggs Initiative Prop. 6) and in 2008 (Prop. 8).
Get aroused by Milk’s battle cry to ‘Come out of your closets!’ and not be silent for our rights.
Get angry by the actual news footage of ex-beauty queen Anita Bryant spouting her religious homophobia.
Get energized by Harvey Milk’s speeches of hope and change.
Get ready to cry buckets at the end of the movie when the inevitable tragic ending of Harvey Milk is depicted.
Next year, get ready to applaud for Sean Penn as he wins his second Oscar for his mesmerizing, charismatic performance of Harvey Milk!
And, in keeping with Harvey Milk’s message, get a straight ‘Yes on 8’ person to go see ‘Milk’ with you.
Then, get out there and stand up for our rights!

Wanna see the "MILK" premieres from San Francisco and LA?