Wed 6 Jan 2010
Toronto Film Critics Association Announces Winner Of Inaugural Jay Scott Prize For Emerging Artist
Posted by nwilner under Cinema
Xavier Dolan, the Québec director, writer, and star of “J’ai tué ma mère” (”I Killed My Mother”), an audacious and captivating first film that had its world premiere at the 2009 Cannes film festival, is the first winner of the Toronto Film Critics Association’s new Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist.
This inaugural award, which carries a $5,000 cash prize, will be presented to Dolan by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan (”The Sweet Hereafter”, “Chloe”) at the TFCA gala dinner, hosted by Cameron Bailey, to be held January 12, 2010 at Toronto’s Nota Bene restaurant.
The prize is named for the legendary Globe and Mail writer who became Canada’s most influential film critic before his death in 1993.
“J’ai tué ma mère”, which has charmed Québec audiences to the tune of $975,000 at the box office to date, and is Canada’s submission for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination, is Dolan’s first film as director after many credits as an actor in television and features. Xavier Dolan was born in Montréal in 1989, and first appeared on screen at the age of four in a series of commercials for a chain of pharmacies that launched his career.
As well as appearing in popular Québec television series such as “Miséricorde”, “Omertà II” and “L’or”, Dolan was also cast in feature films such as “J’en suis”, “Le marchand de sable” and “La forteresse suspendue”. Other acting credits include the 2006 short film “Miroirs d’été” and French filmmaker Pascal Laugier’s controversial feature “Martyrs” as well as Micheline Lanctôt’s “Suzie”.
“I couldn’t imagine a more worthy candidate to receive the inaugural Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist,” said TFCA President Brian D. Johnson. “Xavier Dolan did not just emerge; he burst onto the world stage in Cannes at the age of 20, dazzling us with a daring first feature that he wrote, produced, directed and starred in. There’s no doubt that Jay Scott — who championed the deeply personal work of Québec filmmakers like Jean-Claude Lauzon — would have appreciated the singular passion, flamboyant style and raw nerve of Xavier Dolan.”
The January 12 dinner will also see the highly anticipated winner of this year’s Rogers Best Canadian Feature Award announced. David Cronenberg, a previous TFCA winner for “A History of Violence”, will present the winning filmmaker with a $10,000 cheque. Previously announced, the three nominees for the Rogers Best Canadian Feature Award are “The Necessities of Life”, directed by Benoît Pilon; “Polytechnique”, directed by Denis Villeneuve, and “Pontypool”, directed by Bruce McDonald.
August Murphy-King, the son of Allan King, Canada’s master of vérité filmmaking who passed away last summer, will present the TFCA’s 2009 Allan King Documentary Feature Award for Louie Psihoyos’ The Cove to Canadian distributor Maple Pictures.
