Roma, Burning, and The Favourite Take Home Multiple Awards
With 2018 racing to a close, staying on top of best-of-year lists is like playing a game of whack-a-mole with both hands tied behind your back. Today the Toronto Film Critics Association is adding one more list for cinephiles to comb through. On Sunday, December 9th, TFCA members convened to vote on the year’s best films. Last year’s big winners were The Florida Project (Best Film), Greta Gerwig (Best Director), Daniel Day-Lewis (Best Actor), Frances McDormand (Best Actress), and Werewolf (Best Canadian Film).
Back in August, Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma floored critics when it debuted at Venice. Since then the film has only gained momentum. Roma sits amongst the favourites at every competition where it screens. It’s no shock that it took home the TFCA’s top honours: Best Picture and Best Director (Alfonso Cuarón). Olivia Colman was chosen as Best Actress for her performance in The Favourite while Ethan Hawke – who wasn’t even nominated at the Golden Globes – was chosen Best Actor for his turn in First Reformed.
TFCA President Peter Howell said, “The past year has seen a bounty of great cinema, featuring engaging stories both intimate and universal.” Howell also added, “This made it exceedingly hard for us to choose favourites and led to very spirited debates, as evidenced by how evenly our votes were divided, including in one case, a rare tie. But it was a delightful problem to have.”
The membership has chosen the three finalists for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award: ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch, Ava, and Maison du bonheur. The winner gets announced at the 22nd TFCA Awards Gala on January 08, 2019 and will receive a $100,000 cash prize. The Stella Artois Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist, which has not yet been announced, will be awarded a $10,000 cheque at the gala.
Here is a rundown of all the winners and runners up:
BEST PICTURE
Roma (Netflix)
Runners-up
Burning (Well Go USA)
First Reformed (ABMO Films)
BEST ACTOR
Ethan Hawke, First Reformed (ABMO Films)
Runners-up
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate (Elevation Pictures)
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book (NBCUniversal)
BEST ACTRESS
Olivia Colman, The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
Runners-up
Regina Hall, Support the Girls (Mongrel Media)
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Steven Yuen, Burning (Well Go USA)
Runners-up
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight)
Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther (Walt Disney Studios)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk (Entertainment One)
Runners-up
Emma Stone, The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma (Netflix)
Runners-up
Lee Chang-dong, Burning (Well Go USA)
Paul Schrader, First Reformed (ABMO Films)
BEST SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED OR ORIGINAL
Tie: The Favourite by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (Fox Searchlight) and First Reformed by Paul Schrader (ABMO Films)
Runner-up
Roma by Alfonso Cuarón (Netflix)
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Sorry to Bother You directed by Boots Riley (Entertainment One)
Runners-up
Eighth Grade directed by Bo Burnham (Elevation Pictures)
Hereditary directed by Ari Aster (Elevation Pictures)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Isle of Dogs (Fox Searchlight)
Runners-up
Ralph Breaks the Internet (Walt Disney Studios)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (Sony Pictures Animation)
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Burning (Well Go USA)
Runners-up
Cold War (Mongrel Media)
Roma (Netflix)
RBC ALLAN KING DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (NBCUniversal)
Runners-up
ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch (Mongrel Media)
Free Solo (Mongrel Media)
ROGERS BEST CANADIAN FILM AWARD FINALISTS
ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch (Mongrel Media) directed by Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky, Nicholas de Pencier (Mongrel Media)
Ava directed by Sadaf Foroughi (Mongrel Media)
Maison du bonheur directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz (Lisa Pictures)
