The San Francisco Film Critics Circle has named “The Master” the Best Picture of 2012, and its star Joaquin Phoenix as Best Actor. Paul Thomas Anderson’s exploration of the power dynamic between two quintessentially American men—one an unstoppable force, the other an immovable object—proved most compelling to the group of 28 Bay Area film critics.

“Zero Dark Thirty”—a taut thriller about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden—likewise collected two awards: Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow and Best Original Screenplay for Mark Boal. Best Adapted Screenplay went to Tony Kushner for elevating political sausage-making to poetry in his script for “Lincoln.” “Lincoln” was the third film to collect two awards, also winning for Best Supporting Actor Tommy Lee Jones. Helen Hunt, meanwhile, received the Best Supporting Actress award for “The Sessions.”

Best Actress went to a veteran whose screen appearances span five decades: Emmanuelle Riva. Riva’s performance as a wife and mother battling declining health powered Michael Haneke’s melancholy “Amour,” which also won top honors as Best Foreign Language Film.

Meeting at the Variety Club Screening Room in San Francisco, the SFFCC debated the merits of top-scoring nominees to determine its slate of the year’s best achievements in film. Among the other honorees: Best Documentary “The Waiting Room,” which tackled the American health-care crisis and Best Animated Film “ParaNorman,” an entertaining and surprisingly delicate stop-motion paranormal adventure.

In addition to the selection of “Life of Pi”’s Claudio Miranda for Best Cinematography, the SFFCC added two categories this year, awarding Best Film Editing to William Goldenberg for “Argo” and Best Production Design to Adam Stockhausen for “Moonrise Kingdom.”

A Special Citation shined a light on “Girl Walk//All Day,” a joyous dance film scored to pop/hip hop mashups. The annual Marlon Riggs Award, honoring courage and innovation in the world of cinema, went to Peter Nicks for directing Best Documentary Film “The Waiting Room.”

The full list of winners for the 2012 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards follows.

Best Picture
“The Master”

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow for “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal for “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Tony Kushner for “Lincoln”

Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix for “The Master”

Best Actress
Emmanuelle Riva for “Amour”

Best Supporting Actor
Tommy Lee Jones for “Lincoln”

Best Supporting Actress
Helen Hunt for “The Sessions”

Best Animated Feature
“ParaNorman”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Amour”

Best Documentary
“The Waiting Room”

Best Cinematography
Claudio Miranda for “Life of Pi”

Best Film Editing
William Goldenberg for “Argo”

Best Production Design
Adam Stockhausen for “Moonrise Kingdom”

Marlon Riggs Award for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community
Peter Nicks for “The Waiting Room.”  Nicks’ vérité portrait of grace under pressure in an Oakland, Calif. emergency room addresses the U.S. health care crisis in human terms that transcend partisan debate

Special Citation for under-appreciated independent cinema
“Girl Walk//All Day”  This Jacob Krupnick film turns an already-lively album of pop and hip hop mashups into a joyous celebration of music, dance and community shot guerrilla style on the streets on New York City

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The San Francisco Film Critics Circle has named “The Tree of Life” the Best Picture of 2011, while naming its prime mover Terrence Malick as Best Director and its lenser Emmanuel Lubezki as Best Cinematographer.

Gary Oldman spirited away with Best Actor honors for playing retiring—if not retired—spy George Smiley in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” and the Circle bestowed its Best Actress award on Tilda Swinton, the beleaguered mother of a bad seed in “We Need to Talk About Kevin.” Best Supporting Actress went to Vanessa Redgrave as Shakespeare’s fiercely protective Volumnia in “Coriolanus,” and Best Supporting Actor to Albert Brooks for his change-of-pace work as a volatile gangster in “Drive.”

The San Francisco Film Critics Circle (SFFCC), which includes thirty-one Bay Area film critics, met at the Variety Club Screening Room to discuss the merits of nominees and determine a slate of the year’s best achievements in film.

Among these were Best Foreign Language Film “Certified Copy,” Abbas Kiarostami’s thought-provoking, emotionally wrenching examination of relationships, art, and existence; Best Documentary “Tabloid,” Errol Morris’ unique take on a stranger-than-fiction tale that must be seen to be disbelieved; and Best Animated Film “Rango,” a loopy and textured Western adventure.

The group honored J.C. Chandor for his original screenplay “Margin Call” and Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan for adapting John le Carré’s novel “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” A Special Citation singled out “The Mill and the Cross”—Lech Majewski’s distinctly original exploration of the inspiration for and creation of a Breugel painting—as an under-the-radar title deserving of attention.

The annual Marlon Riggs Award, honoring courage and innovation in the world of cinema, goes to the San Francisco-based National Film Preservation Foundation, for its work in the preservation and dissemination of endangered, culturally significant films.

The full list of winners for the 2011 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards follows.

Best Picture
“The Tree of Life”

Best Director
Terrence Malick for “The Tree of Life”

Best Original Screenplay
J.C. Chandor for “Margin Call”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

Best Actor
Gary Oldman for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

Best Actress
Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks for “Drive”

Best Supporting Actress
Vanessa Redgrave for “Coriolanus”

Best Animated Feature
“Rango”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Certified Copy”

Best Documentary
“Tabloid”

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki for “The Tree of Life”

Marlon Riggs Award for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community
National Film Preservation Foundation, in recognition of for its work in the preservation and dissemination of endangered, culturally significant films

Special Citation for under-appreciated independent cinema
“The Mill and the Cross”