Milk took the New York Film Critics Circle’s top award for film of the year it was announced Wednesday. Gus van Sant’s biopic about slain gay rights activist and San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk also pulled in an award for Sean Penn as best actor. Josh Brolin, who plays Dan White -- Milk’s colleague who assassinaSidney Lumet’s ted Milk and then San Francisco Mayor George Moscone -- won the best supporting actor honor.

The New York Film Critics Circle, founded in 1935 is an organization of film reviewers from New York-based publications. This year the organization also handed out top prizes to British director Mike Leigh for helming Happy Go Lucky and awarded its star Sally Hawkins with the best actress award, Variety reported.

Penelope Cruz landed a best supporting actress award for playing a fiery artist engaged in a three-way love affair with Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Oscar winning director Sydney Lumet's daughter Jenny Lumet picked up the honor for best screenplay for penning an acerbic look into family dysfunction in Rachel Getting Married.