Finding Neverland wins first award of the season

Finding Neverland, a fictionalised account of the creation of children's classic Peter Pan, has been named best film of 2004 by The National Board of Review in the United States in the first major award of the season.

Oscar hopeful Jamie Foxx was named best actor for Ray, about legendary singer Ray Charles and Annette Bening won the best actress award for her role as a 1930s stage diva in Being Julia.

The awards, voted on by about 150 members of a screening committee along with a 12-member awards panel, are sometimes an early indicator of what to expect in the race of the Academy Awards in February, though frequently its choices are more esoteric than the Oscars.

Michael Mann was named best director for his thriller Collateral, starring Tom Cruise, while The Sea Inside (Mar adentro) won best foreign language film.

The board's list of top 10 films of the year had in second place The Aviator, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a young Howard Hughes, followed by Mike Nichols' Closer, Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby and Sideways.

- REUTERS