Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima, a companion film to his recently released Flags of Our Fathers, has won another movie of the year title.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named the Second World War saga — which has yet to be released — its top pick on Sunday. The movie is set to hit theatres across North America on Dec. 20.

Clint Eastwood, who won a best director Oscar in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby, is building award-season buzz with his upcoming film Letters from Iwo Jima.
(Associated Press)

Where Flags of Our Fathers told the story of the U.S. troops seen raising the American flag on Iwo Jima in the iconic Associated Press photo, Letters from Iwo Jima is a chronicle from the perspective of Japanese soldiers defending the island. The latter film stars acclaimed actor Ken Watanabe.

The L.A. critics group picked royal portrait The Queen as its runner-up for best picture. The film, which dramatizes the British royal family's reaction to the death of Princess Diana in 1997, also picked up wins in several other categories: best actress for Helen Mirren, best supporting actor for Michael Sheen and best screenplay for Peter Morgan.

The best actor title was a tie between two unlikely characters: Sacha Baron Cohen for his crude Kazakh television reporter Borat in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and Forest Whitaker for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.

Other winners included:

• Best director: Paul Greengrass, United 93.
• Best supporting actress: Luminita Gheorghiu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu.
• Best animated film: Happy Feet.
• Best foreign language film: The Lives of Others (Germany).
• Best documentary: An Inconvenient Truth.

Other film honours

Several of the same films were also honoured on the American Film Institute's list of the top 10 films of 2006, including Iwo Jima, Borat, Happy Feet and United 93.

The AFI, which doesn't rank its picks, also chose Babel, The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Half-Nelson, Inside Man and Little Miss Sunshine for its year-end list.

The International Documentary Association also presented its top honours this weekend.

Iraq in Fragments, an intimate look at the life of everyday Iraqis, was named the group's feature documentary winner on Friday evening. The short film award went to the child labour documentary Angel's Fire.

Other winners included An Inconvenient Truth, which was recognized for its activism and lyrical vision.

With files from the Associated Press and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation