Avatar (2009 film) Avatar (2009 film) Avatar, marketed as James Cameron's Avatar, is a 2009 American epic science fiction film directed, written, produced, and co-edited by James Cameron, and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver. The film is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are colonizing Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to mine the mineral unobtanium, a room-temperature superconductor. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi – a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The film's
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2009 2009 taking top honors in the Best Picture, Best Director (Jason Reitman), Best Actor (George Clooney), and Best Screenplay (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner) categories. This was the only film to win more than one category for 2009 although "Precious" garnered a Best Actress (Mo'Nique) honor as well as the Russell Smith Award from the critics association. Along with the 11 "best of" category awards, the group also presented the Russell Smith Award to "Precious" as the "best low-budget or cutting-edge independent film" of the year. The award is named in honor of late "Dallas Morning News" film critic Russell