BlackBerry, a Canadian film that made its mark even outside of Canada, won the Rogers Best Canadian Film as determined by the Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA). The Matt Johnson film beat out Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant as well as Solo.
For the first time, the TFCA also awarded the best Canadian documentary. Swan Song defeated Someone Lives Here and Rojek to win the Rogers Best Canadian Documentary award.
Rogers split their $100,000 award fund into a pair of $50,000 prizes: Rogers Best Canadian Film and Rogers Best Canadian Documentary.
The TFCA gave out these awards at a gala last night at the Omni King Edward Hotel in Toronto. Amanda Brugel hosted the gala.
The film critics created a new category for this year's awards: Outstanding Performance in a Canadian Film. The initial award went to American actor Glenn Howerton who played Research in Motion CEO Jim Balsillie in BlackBerry. Ryan Gosling won one of 2 Outstanding Supporting Performance winners (they are gender neutral) for his role as Ken in Barbie.
Matt Johnson reportedly skipped Dune 2 to be at the TFCA awards. Johnson wrote, directed, and starred in the film with Howerton and Jay Baruchel.
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Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant was definitely the most adventurous of the 3 finalists. BlackBerry was a very good film. The TV version is available in Canada on CBC Gem while the film is available on Hulu in the United States.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant will debut on Crave in Canada on March 15 while Solo starts on Crave on March 29. The less we say about Solo, the better. Gaslighting does not make for a good love story.
Rojek misses the Oscars shortlist cut for Best International Feature Film
Canadian film case study: Rojek
Rojek is Canada's entry into the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
At the @TFCA gala as Tantoo Cardinal presents Swan Song as the Best Canadian Documentary winner pic.twitter.com/hVK1AuFcFV
— Rachel West (@rachel_is_here) March 5, 2024
On the documentary front, Someone Lives Here was a compelling film that worked on a solution to a growing issue in Toronto and other major cities. Swan Song shined when profiling the outgoing National Ballet of Canada artistic director and former dancer Karen Kain. The film was more about preparing for Swan Lake, which was part of why the film won the award. Rojek was the Oscars entry for Best International Feature Film but failed to generate any Academy Awards buzz.
Swan Song director Chelsea McMullan and executive producer Sean O’Neill accepted the award.
The runners-up in both categories received $5,000 prizes for being a finalist.
Someone Lives Here made its Crave debut last night. Swan Song, in a TV form, is available on CBC Gem. Rojek is available on video on demand.
Riceboy Sleeps is the 2022 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award winner
Beans won the 2021 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award
Anne at 13,000 Ft. wins 2020 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award
We have seen every winner and all but one of the finalists from the last 6 ceremonies. The last finalist that we have not seen is Maison du Bonheur (2018). The 2023 winners felt like Goldilocks picks: not the best and certainly not the worst. IMHO, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant and Someone Lives Here are the films that will be most significant. Both winners are good films, just not as interesting as our theoretical runners-up.
Ariane Louis-Seize, director of Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, won the $10,000 Stella Artois Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist. The late Canadian filmmaker Charles Officer was the recipient of the Company 3 Luminary Award, given to an industry member who has made a significant contribution to Canadian cinema.
Introducing the @TFCA Rogers $50,000 Best Canadian Film Award, Don McKellar says, “If you go to the states, you’ll be one of thousands of successful filmmakers. But if you stay in Canada, you’ll be one of five.” pic.twitter.com/lgeIK18Og2
— Barry Hertz (@HertzBarry) March 5, 2024
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We are about 24 hours away from knowing whether these Canadian films will get nominations for the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards. The original date for the nominations was February 22 but everything got delayed.
Here are the previous winners:
2022 Riceboy Sleeps Anthony Shim
2021 Beans Tracey Deer
2020 Anne at 13,000 Ft. Kazik Radwanski
2019 The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open Kathleen Hepburn and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
2018 Anthropocene Ed Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier
2017 Werewolf Ashley McKenzie
2016 The Stairs Hugh Gibson
2015 The Forbidden Room Guy Maddin
2014 Enemy Denis Villeneuve
2013 Watermark Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky
2012 Stories We Tell Sarah Polley
2011 Monsieur Lazhar Philippe Falardeau
2010 Incendies Denis Villeneuve
2009 Polytechnique Denis Villeneuve
2008 My Winnipeg Guy Maddin
2007 Away From Her Sarah Polley
2006 Manufactured Landscapes Jennifer Baichwal
2005 A History of Violence David Cronenberg
2004 The Triplets of Belleville Sylvain Chomet
2003 Spider David Cronenberg
2002 Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner Zacharias Kunuk
2001 The Last Wedding Bruce Sweeney
2000 waydowntown Gary Burns
1999 Set Me Free Léa Pool
1998 Last Night Don McKellar
1997 The Sweet Hereafter Atom Egoyan
I have seen the winners except for 2003 and 2005, both David Cronenberg films.
photo credit: BlackBerry
Twitter captures: @rachel_is_here; @HertzBarry
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