Zero Dark Thirty has scored a hat trick at the National Board of Review (NBR) awards, taking the best film prize, best director for Kathryn Bigelow and best actress for Jessica Chastain.

The Board’s best actor award went to Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook.

NBR, whose members include film enthusiasts, professionals, academics and students, gave its best foreign language film award to Amour, its best documentary honour to Searching for Sugar Man and its best animated feature prize to Wreck-It Ralph.

Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild was named best directorial debut.

The best original screenplay award went to Rian Johnson for Looper and the best adapted screenplay award to David O Russell for Silver Linings Playbook.

Leonardo DiCaprio was named best supporting actor for Django Unchained and Ann Dowd best supporting actress for Compliance.

The NBR also release its top ten films of the year, top foreign language films and top ten indepedent films (all in alphabetical order).

Top ten

  • Argo
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Django Unchained
  • Les Miserables
  • Lincoln
  • Looper
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower
  • Promised Land
  • Silver Linings Playbook
  • Zero Dark Thirty

Top foreign language films

  • Barbara
  • The Intouchables
  • The Kid With a Bike
  • No
  • War Witch

Top ten independent films

  • Arbitrage
  • Bernie
  • Compliance
  • End of Watch
  • Hello I Must be Going
  • Little Birds
  • Moonrise Kingdom
  • On the Road
  • Quartet
  • Sleepwalk with Me

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