Up in the Air was recognized with two awards at the annual meeting of the Utah Film Critics Association, including Best Picture of 2009. The film’s director, Jason Reitman, also won for Best Achievement in Directing.

In the Male Lead Performance category, Viggo Mortensen was recognized for his work in The Road as a father leading his young son through a post-apocalyptic America. Carey Mulligan took Female Lead Performance honors as a teenager involved with an older man in An Education.

Two awards went to Fantastic Mr. Fox: Best Animated Feature, and Best Screenplay for Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. Supporting Performance awards went to Mo’Nique as an abusive single mother in Precious, and Christian McKay as Orson Welles in Me and Orson Welles.

In the documentary category, The Cove was recognized, while Park Chan-wook’s Korean vampire thriller Thirst was honored in the non-English language category.

The Utah Film Critics Association is made up of film journalists from print, online and broadcast media based in the state of Utah. Members include: Luke Hickman, TheReelPlace.com; Jimmy Martin, SLUG Magazine; Sean P. Means, Salt Lake Tribune; Andy Morgan, KVNU Radio & AndyatTheMovies.com; Ryan Michael Painter, In Utah This Week; Scott Renshaw, Salt Lake City Weekly; Steve Salles, Standard-Examiner (Ogden); Mike Thiriot, KTHB 94.9 FM; Missy Thompson, Tooele Transcript-Bulletin; Tony Toscano, Talking Pictures; Jeff Vice, Deseret News; and Doug Wright, KSL Movie Show.

The complete list of winners and runners-up follows:

2009 Utah Film Critics Association Winners

Best Picture

Up in the Air

(runners-up: The Hurt Locker; Inglourious Basterds)

Best Achievement in Directing

Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

(runner-up: John Hillcoat, The Road)

Best Male Lead Performance

Viggo Mortensen, The Road

(runner-up: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker)

Best Female Lead Performance

Carey Mulligan, An Education

(runner-up: Maya Rudolph, Away We Go)

Best Male Supporting Performance

Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles

(runner-up: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds)

Best Supporting Performance by an Actress

Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

(runner-up: Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air)

Best Screenplay

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, Fantastic Mr. Fox

(runners-up: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds)

Best Animated Feature

Fantastic Mr. Fox

(runner-up: Up)

Best Documentary Feature

The Cove

(runner-up: Anvil! The Story of Anvil)

Best Non-English Language Feature

Thirst

(runner-up: Sin Nombre)