November 27, 2013

The 2013 TFCA Awards are getting an early start with today’s announcement of the winners of the Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award and the Scotiabank Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist. The TFCA would like to thank new sponsors BMO Financial Group for generously endowing the BMO Allan King Documentary Award winner with a cash prize of $5,000 and Scotiabank for their commitment of $5,000 to the winner of the Scotiabank Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist. The TFCA also thanks Technicolor Creative Services for enabling the Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award recipient to give $50,000 in services to a filmmaker of their choosing. The TFCA welcomes Cineplex Entertainment as the official host of Cineplex Cocktails, the pre-awards cocktail hour where press and industry meet to discuss the past year of exciting film.

The 2013 Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award is awarded to producer and director Norman Jewison.
For more than six decades, Norman Jewison has produced a large, diverse and widely admired body of work, starting in television and moving into high-profile dramas exploring the themes of their day. Jewison’s films have been nominated for 45 Academy Awards, winning 12 – including Best Picture for In the Heat of the Night. He has been personally honoured as a seven-time Oscar nominee and winner of the Irving Thalberg Award. Since 1980, he’s been active in the Canadian film industry: sitting on the TIFF board, establishing a film scholarship at the University of Toronto and, most significantly, founding, promoting and continuing to develop the Canadian Film Centre – the country’s most advanced training ground for emerging media professionals. Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the CFC has grown from a film school with a single program serving a dozen filmmakers to multi-media nexus with 100 residents a year and 16 different programs and initiatives. Its 1,500 alumni have helped create over 20 features and accelerated the development of some 200 Canadian media companies.

The Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award has been given to Canadians whose work has in some way enriched the understanding and appreciation of film in their native country. Past winners include Elwy Yost, James Quandt, Robin Wood, Kay Armatage and Allan King; the award was last given to Cinepix co-founder John Dunning in 2011.
The winner of the 2013 Scotiabank Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist is Matt Johnson,director, co-writer and star of the high-school drama The Dirties. It was a break-out hit at the Slamdance Film Festival, winning Best Narrative Feature and the Spirit of Slamdance Award. “Our critics were impressed by the dark wit, innovative style and startling gravitas of The Dirties,” said TFCA President Brian D. Johnson, film critic for Maclean’s (no relation). “Matt Johnson shows an impressive talent both behind and in front of the camera.”
“At Scotiabank, we believe that the arts make Canadians richer, exposing us to new ideas and perspectives, which is why we’re proud to support the Toronto Film Critics Association through our Bright Future philanthropic program,” says Sabi Marwah, Scotiabank Vice Chairman & Chief Operating Officer. “Congratulations to Matt Johnson on being awarded the 2013 Scotiabank Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist, whose work is an important part of strengthening the dialogue on Canadian film.”
The winner of the 2013 BMO Allan King Documentary Award will be announced on Tuesday, December 17, 2013.
“BMO is pleased to support the BMO ALLAN KING DOCUMENTARY AWARD, and looks forward to a continuing relationship with the Toronto Film Critics Association. Documentaries enrich and inform our world view. To reward excellence by documentary filmmakers is to invest in the art of truth,” Nada Ristich, Director, Corporate Donations, BMO Financial Group.
Three finalists for the coveted Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, by far Canada’s richest film prize at $100,000 and $5,000 going to each of two runner-up winners, will be announced on December 17, 2013.
The winner will be announced at the 17th annual TFCA Awards, a gala dinner held in Toronto at the Carlu on Tuesday, January 7, 2014. The Rogers Best Canadian Film Award will be presented by actor and filmmaker Sarah Polley, who won the prize last year for her documentary Stories We Tell. The event will once again be hosted by Cameron Bailey, artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Manulife Financial Student Film Award carries a $5,000 cash prize, presented to a short film the TFCA will select from entries submitted by students in film programs at Humber College, Ryerson University, Sheridan College and York University.
The TFCA is extremely grateful to founding sponsor Rogers Communications Inc. and welcomes new sponsors Scotiabank, Technicolor Creative Services and the BMO Financial Group. Thanks to the returning sponsors Manulife Financial, Cineplex Entertainment, Maclean’s Magazine, the Globe and Mail, Moet & Chandon, Ontario Media Development Corporation, Shangri-La Hotel, North 44, the Carlu and MacLaren Craft. TFCA is also partnering with Twitter Canada to deliver live pictures of celebrities at the event.
The TFCA Awards gala will take place in the art-deco Round Room of the historic Carlu, with cuisine provided by celebrity chef Mark McEwan, whose career has ranged from the stellar kitchen of North 44 to his current role as head judge on TV’s Top Chef Canada.
The Toronto Film Critics Association will announce their awards on Tuesday, December 17, 2013 with two exceptions. The three finalists for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award will be announced Dec. 17, with the winner being revealed at the awards gala January 7, 2014. The Manulife Financial Student Film Award will also be announced at the gala.
Please note: under the TFCA’s guidelines, contenders eligible for the awards include films released in Toronto in 2013 plus films that qualify for the 2013 Oscars and have a Toronto release scheduled by the end of February 2014.
The Toronto Film Critics Association was established in 1997 and is comprised of Toronto based journalists and broadcasters who specialize in film criticism and commentary. All major dailies, weeklies and a variety of other print, electronic and web outlets are represented. Members of the TFCA also participate in the Federation of International Film Critics (FIPRESCI). As such, they have sat on juries at festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto, Montreal, Miami, Palm Springs, Chicago, Pusan, Moscow, Amsterdam, London and Vienna, among others.