Brooklyn - 3 nominations

Best Picture - Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
Actress - Saoirse Ronan
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) - Nick Hornby

Brooklyn is the story of a sweet, young Irish woman who has been sponsored by a priest in America to immigrate to the United States.  He has arranged a job and a place to live, and she crosses the ocean to pursue a new life filled with opportunity.  In many ways, her story is the classic immigrant story - coming to America for better circumstances and a bright future, but still longing for home and the family she left behind.  After a bumpy transition, she meets and falls for a young Italian boy (with a little brother who steals the movie in two scenes), she begins to find her place in her new home. When tragic circumstances bring her back to Ireland, she finds unexpected opportunities that would allow her to stay where her heart was born, and so she must choose between the old familiar and the new frontier.

This was one of the loveliest films of the year.  The script has all the right elements - humor, drama, longing, love, and optimism.  Saoirse Ronan plays the lead tenderly and beautifully, she captures our hearts with emotional expressions and let's face it, the charming Irish accent doesn't hurt either.

I was so touched by the story, by the performances, and by the real human dilemma we all experience - whether we should look toward the future or we should cling to the familiar and the path with little risk that traps us in our past.