13 January 2013 Last updated at 05:59 ET

Amour and The Master collect honours at LA critics' awards

Jennifer Lawrence and Joaquin Phoenix share a joke at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

French-language drama Amour and cult-inspired film The Master were the main recipients of this year's Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards.

The event, held ahead of the Golden Globes, presented its best picture award to Michael Haneke's Amour, about an elderly couple coping with dementia.

Paul Thomas Anderson picked up the best director award for The Master, his film about a Scientology-like group.

Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams were also recognised for their work on the film.

The former collected an award for best actor, while the latter received the prize for best supporting actress.

The best actress prize was shared between Amour's Emmanuelle Riva , 85, and Silver Linings Playbook actress Jennifer Lawrence, 22.

Dwight Henry collected a best supporting actor prize for Beasts of the Southern Wild, an independent film whose nine-year-old star, Quvenzhane Wallis, was Oscar-nominated earlier this week.

Chris Terrio took home the best screenplay prize for his work on Ben Affleck's film Argo, while Tim Burton received the best animation prize for his stop-motion horror fantasy Frankenweenie.

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Burton was joined by his British partner Helena Bonham Carter at the ceremony, held at Los Angeles' InterContinental Hotel.

The Los Angeles critics' collective had announced the winners of its awards in December but waited until Saturday to present them in person.

The event was one of several film-related shindigs that took place this weekend ahead of the Golden Globes, to be held later on Sunday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Another, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' annual Awards Season Tea Party, was held on Saturday at the Four Seasons.

The Bafta event was attended by a number of Oscar nominees, among them Lawrence, Les Miserables star Hugh Jackman and Lincoln actress Sally Field.