It was an eventful weekend in the world of film; Toronto Film Critics Association held their annual awards luncheon where they announced the Best Picture winner ‘Moonlight’. The choice comes as no surprise as Toronto media have been abuzz with praise for Director Barry Jenkins and the coming-of-age story which follows a gay African American man from adolescence into adulthood. Later on Sunday evening the Critics Choice Awards took place in Santa Monica awarding the top prize to ‘La La Land’ starring Canada’s own sweetheart, Ryan Gosling.
Looking to the New Year, the TFCA promises laughs with the epic father-daughter comedy ‘Toni Erdmann’ by director Maren Ade who was awarded Best Director for her works. Canada can expect hilarity aplenty as ‘Toni Erdmann’ also stole prizes for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress for Sandra Hüller’s performance.
New York cinematographer Kirsten Johnson takes home the $5,000 Canadian Tire Allan King Documentary Award prize for ‘Cameraperson’, which had much success at Sundance and Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival. The TFCA announced the three finalists for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award: ‘How Heavy This Hammer’, directed by Kazil Radwanski; ‘Operation Avalanche’, directed by Matt Johnson and ‘The Stairs’, directed by Hugh Gibson.
With a sprinkling of notable names, including Michelle Williams winning Best Actress for ‘Manchester By The Sea’, and Adam Driver taking the prize for Best Actor for his work in ‘Paterson’, Canada and the TFCA stayed true to their mission of upholding diversity in film, pushing forth more representation of women, LGBT and people of colour on screen.
See you in 2017, TFCA.
