Nomadland took the top prize at the 24th annual Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. It was Superbowl Sunday for TFCA members as critics from the Toronto group convened via Zoom for the annual live vote. Nomadland won three TFCA awards: Best Picture, Best Director for Chloé Zhao, and Best Actress for Frances McDormand. Moreover, Nomadland‘s win marked more Toronto love for Zhao’s hybrid drama, which won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival last September.
Based on the book by Jessica Bruder, Nomadland observes life for America’s itinerant workers and features many of the real-life figures who inspired the tale alongside McDormand in the telling of their own story. McDormand previously won the TFCA Award in 2017 for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Nomadland was the collective favourite of the That Shelf team for 2020 as well.
The TFCA Awards added to the critical consensus for Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) and Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm). Like Nomadland, Zhao, and McDormand, they’ve been the favourites on the award circuit so far. The Toronto critics moved their voting calendar to reflect the shift in award season and fluctuating Canadian release schedule, which allowed this month’s release of Judas and the Black Messiah to land Daniel Kaluuya his first major win. He scored Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Black Panther Fred Hampton.
Best Canadian Feature
Sunday’s vote also delivered the three nominees for the Rogers Best Canadian Feature Award. Louise Archambault’s And the Birds Rained Down, Kazik Radwanski’s Anne at 13,000 ft, and Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis’s White Lie vie for the award. The winner receives $100,000 courtesy of Rogers. The runners-up score $5000. The winner will be revealed at the TFCA’s virtual gala on March 9.
The full list of TFCA award winners is as follows:
BEST PICTURE
WINNER
Nomadland (Searchlight)
RUNNERS-UP
First Cow (MK2 Mile End)
Minari (Elevation Pictures)
ROGERS BEST CANADIAN FILM
And the Birds Rained Down (MK2 Mile End)
Anne at 13,000 Ft. (MDFF)
White Lie (levelFilm)
BEST ACTOR
WINNER
Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) (Pacific Northwest Pictures)
RUNNERS-UP
Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) (Netflix)
Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round) (Mongrel Media)
BEST ACTRESS
WINNER
Frances McDormand (Nomadland) (Searchlight)
RUNNERS-UP
Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) (Netflix)
Sidney Flanigan (Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always) (Focus Features)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER
Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) (Warner Bros)
RUNNERS-UP
Leslie Odom, Jr. (One Night in Miami) (Amazon Prime Video)
Paul Raci (Sound of Metal) (Pacific Northwest Pictures)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
WINNER
Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) (Amazon Prime Video)
RUNNERS-UP
Olivia Colman (The Father) (Elevation Pictures)
Yuh-jung Youn (Minari) (Elevation Pictures)
BEST DIRECTOR
Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) (Searchlight)
RUNNERS-UP
Kelly Reichardt (First Cow) (MK2 Mile End)
Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) (Elevation Pictures)
BEST SCREENPLAY
WINNER
Minari (Elevation Pictures)
RUNNERS-UP
Nomadland (Searchlight)
Sound of Metal (Pacific Northwest Pictures)
BEST FIRST FEATURE
WINNER
The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix)
RUNNERS-UP
The Father (Elevation Pictures)
Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
ANIMATED FEATURE
WINNER
Wolfwalkers (Apple TV+)
RUNNERS-UP
Soul (Disney)
The Willoughbys (Netflix)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
WINNER
Bacurau (Kino Lorber)
RUNNERS-UP
Another Round (Mongrel Media)
Beanpole (Kino Lorber)
ALLAN KING DOCUMENTARY AWARD
WINNER
Collective (Mongrel Media)
RUNNERS-UP
Time (Amazon Prime Video)
Crip Camp (Netflix)
David Byrne’s American Utopia (Crave/HBO Canada)
CLYDE GILMOUR AWARD
Jason Ryle
JAY SCOTT AWARD
Kelly Fyffe-Marshall
TFCA CINEPLEX EMERGING CRITIC AWARD
Mark Hanson
Rose Ho
