This year’s Oscar race has started rather boldly so far with the National Board of Review naming their winners for 2013.

Rather unexpectedly, the indie romance Her, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as a lonely man who falls in love with his artificial computer system, was named Best Film of the Year with director Spike Jonze winning in his category as well.

The Top 10 list featured some expected contenders including 12 Years a Slave and Gravity (which did win the Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award) while NYFCC winner American Hustle was surprisingly overlooked. Instead, there were places on the list for Lone Survivor and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

It was a good day too for other independent films including Nebraska which won Best Actor for veteran Bruce Dern and Best Supporting Actor for his younger co-star Will Forte.

Fruitvale Station also dominated with three wins for Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer), Male Breakthrough Performance (Michael B. Jordan) and Best Directional Debut (Ryan Coogler).

British actress Emma Thompson won Best Actress for her role as Mary Poppins author P.L Travers in Disney’s Saving Mr Banks while Adele Exarchopoulos nabbed the Female Breakthrough Performance for the French lesbian drama Blue is the Warmest Color.

The Coen Brothers clinched Best Original Screenplay for their work on Inside Llewyn Davies while Terence Winter secured Best Adapted Screenplay for Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.

Prisoners deservedly won the Best Ensemble accolade while The Wind Rises was named Best Animated Feature.

The full list of winners are below:

BEST FILM
Her

OTHER FILMS IN TOP 10
12 Years a Slave
Fruitvale Station
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor
Nebraska
Prisoners
Saving Mr. Banks
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR
Spike Jonze – Her

BEST ACTOR
Bruce Dern – Nebraska

BEST ACTRESS
Emma Thompson – Saving Mr Banks

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Will Forte – Nebraska

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer – Fruitvale Station

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Joel/Ethan Coen – Inside Llewyn Davies

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wind Rises

BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR
Michael B. Jordan – Fruitvale Station

BREAKTHROUGH ACTRESS
Adele Exarchopoulos – Blue is the Warmest Colour

BEST DIRECTIONAL DEBUT
Ryan Coogler – Fruitvale Station

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Past

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Stories We Tell

BEST ENSEMBLE
Prisoners

SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio

NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Wadjda

CREATIVE INNOVATION IN FILMMAKING AWARD
Gravity

TOP 5 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS
Beyond the Hills
Gloria
The Grandmaster
A Hijacking
The Hunt

TOP 5 DOCUMENTARIES
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
After Tiller
Casting By
The Square

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT FILMS
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Dallas Buyers Club
In a World….
Mother of George
Much Ado About Nothing
Mud
The Place Beyond the Pines
Short Term 12
Sightseers
The Spectacular Now