L.A. Film Critics Group Revives Movie Awards

The Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. said Tuesday that it was reviving plans for its year-end movie awards in light of a federal judge’s ruling last week that lifted a partial ban the major studios had imposed on distribution of movie “screeners.”

The 50-member critics group, one of the country’s most influential, had scrapped plans to cast ballots on the year’s best movies and performances to protest a decision by the Motion Picture Assn. of America limiting the number of screeners -- free DVDs and tapes given to people in the film industry -- that could be sent out during the awards season.

No date has been set yet for the awards vote, said Jean Oppenheimer, president of the critics group. Originally, the vote had been scheduled for Saturday, with the winners’ dinner Jan. 26. Oppenheimer estimated the vote now would take place in the next “three to six weeks.”

The MPAA had contended that sending out thousands of screeners was indefensible given the industry’s attempt to crack down on piracy, but others said the ban would make it more difficult for small, independent films to compete for awards against the big studios.

“The reason we took action to begin with was that we felt voting for us had to be a fair and impartial evaluation of all the product released during a given year,” Oppenheimer said. “You need a level playing field, and the ban penalized the smaller independents who don’t have the financial resources to hold a lot of screenings or to promote their films.”

She noted that although critics try to see films as they are meant to be seen -- on a big screen in a theater setting -- the reality is that there are too many movies released in the final weeks of the year for the critics to watch that way. Last year, she said, 81 movies were released in November and December, making it “physically impossible” for critics to catch all of those films.

Also, “screeners allow us to revisit films that opened earlier in the year that may not be screening again,” she said.

Oppenheimer, a film critic for New Times publications who also is heard on National Public Radio, said the critics association would decide when to cast ballots at a meeting Saturday.

Other major critics groups will announce their awards during the next few weeks, including the New York Film Critics Circle, which votes Monday, and the National Society of Film Critics, which votes Jan. 3.