“Milk,” Gus Van Sant’s biopic about the first openly gay man who was elected to public office in America, managed to add more gains to its awards list, by receiving three prizes from the New York Film Critics Circle.

The production won the best film award, while Sean Penn, who fills the shoes of gay rights leader Harvey Milk, will be awarded with the best actor honor. Josh Brolin was named best supporting actor for his performance in the movie.

Only a couple of days ago, Sean Penn was selected as best actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which offered the Best Picture of the Year title to “WALL-E.”

“Milk” also tops the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s contenders list with eight nominations.

Like fellow critics in Los Angeles, the New York critics picked Sally Hawkins for best actress, taking into account her performance in “Happy-Go-Lucky,” helmed by Mike Leigh, who won best director.

Penelope Cruz was honored with the best supporting actress title for her role in Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” while Sidney Lumet’s daughter, Jenny, won best screenplay for “Rachel Getting Married.”

“Man on Wire” was named best documentary and “WALL-E” won the best animated film prize. “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” was honored with the best foreign film title and Anthony Dod Mantle won for his cinematography in “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Courtney Hunt (“Frozen River”) was the winner in the best first film category.

The New York Film Critics Circle includes a group of 33 critics whose selections represent one of the earliest film honors in Hollywood’s extensive awards season, which is scheduled to continue on Thursday with the list of contenders for the Golden Globes.

The New York Critics awards ceremony is due to take place on January 5.