December 14, 2010

“The Social Network”, David Fincher’s incisive drama about the tangled creation of Facebook, dominated the 2010 awards of the Toronto Film Critics Association, winning five awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

Jesse Eisenberg was named Best Actor for his performance as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, while his co-star Armie Hammer took Best Supporting Actor for his dual role as Zuckerberg’s well-bred nemeses, the Winklevoss twins. Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s book “The Accidental Billionaires” won the Best Screenplay prize.

“In our final discussions Sunday afternoon, again and again The Social Network galvanized broad support from our members,” said TFCA President Brian D. Johnson, film critic for Maclean’s. “The was a strong sentiment that we’re not just recognizing a superbly crafted ‘movie of the moment’ that spins a creation myth of cyber-capitalism. We appreciate what it represents in popular American film culture—an intelligent moral drama told from multiple viewpoints with complex protagonist who is neither hero nor villain.”

More details of the 14th annual TFCA awards, which were announced today:

•    Jennifer Lawrence was named Best Actress for her breakout role as a young woman who challenges her Ozark Mountains community to look for her missing father in “Winter’s Bone”, while newcomer Hailee Steinfeld took Best Supporting Actress for her debut performance in “True Grit” as an 1870s teenager avenging her father’s murder.

•    “Exit Through the Gift Shop”, an inventive puzzle of a documentary about street art directed by the artist known as Bansky, won the Best First Feature prize in addition to the Allan King Documentary Award.

•    DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon” received the Best Animated Feature award, while Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” – a runner-up for Best Picture – was named Best Foreign-Language Film.

“As we ended up championing a remarkable diversity of styles,” said Johnson, “there was much discussion about what these films mean about where cinema is headed—whether it be the immersive magic realism of ‘Uncle Boonmee’, the ruthless neo-realism of ‘Winter’s Bone’, or the subversive mischief of ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’.”

The 2010 TFCA Awards will be presented at a gala dinner at Toronto’s Nota Bene restaurant on January 12, 2011, hosted by Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival. There the TFCA will also name the winner of the Rogers Best Canadian Feature Award, which carries a $15,000 cash prize. The three pictures nominated are: “Incendies”, directed by Denis Villeneuve, winner of last year’s Canadian Feature award for “Polytechnique”; “Splice”, directed by Vincenzo Natali, and “Trigger”, directed by Bruce McDonald.

In addition, the TFCA voted a special citation recognizing Bruce McDonald for a banner year. He made four features in 2010: “This Movie is Broken”, “Trigger”, “Music from the Big House”, and “Hard Core Logo 2″.

The TFCA will also present the second annual Jay Scott Prize for emerging talent, which carries a $5,000 prize. This year it will go to Toronto writer-director Daniel Cockburn, whose wildly original feature debut, a wry cosmic puzzle called “You Are Here”, has been winning raves on the festival circuit. The TFCA will also inaugurate the Deluxe Student Film Award, which gives $3,000 in post-production services to a student filmmaker. The winner be chosen by TFCA members voting on shorts submitted by film departments at Humber College, Ryerson University, Sheridan College and York University.  The result will be announced at the awards dinner.

Under the TFCA’s guidelines, contenders eligible for the awards include films released in Canada in 2010 plus films that qualify for the 2010 Oscars and have Canadian distribution scheduled by the end of February 2011.

The TFCA is especially grateful to founding sponsor, Rogers Communications Inc., and welcomes new sponsors RBC, Porter Airlines and Deluxe Toronto. The TFCA also thanks the ongoing generosity of its additional sponsors: Maclean’s magazine, Nota Bene, Moet & Chandon, Four Seasons Hotel, Ontario Film Development Corporation, Cineplex Entertainment, the Globe and Mail, and Citytv.

Established in 1997 the Toronto Film Critics Association 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 and electronic outlets are represented.

Members of the TFCA also participate in the International 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.

The full list of Toronto Film Critics Association Awards winners and runners-up follows.

BEST PICTURE
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures)
Runners-up:
“Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
“Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” (filmswelike)

BEST ACTOR
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network”
Runners-up:
Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech”
James Franco, “127 Hours”

BEST ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, “Winter’s Bone”
Runners-up:
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams, “Blue Valentine”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Armie Hammer, “The Social Network”
Runners-up:
Christian Bale, “The Fighter”
Geoffrey Rush, “The King’s Speech”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”
Runners-up:
Amy Adams, “The Fighter”
Melissa Leo, “The Fighter”

BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher, “The Social Network”
Runners-up:
Darren Aronofsky, “Black Swan”
Christopher Nolan, “Inception”

BEST SCREENPLAY
“The Social Network”, written by Aaron Sorkin
based on the book “The Accidental
Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich
Runners-up:
“The King’s Speech”, written by David Seidler
“True Grit”, written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
based on the novel by Charles Portis

BEST FIRST FEATURE
“Exit Through the Gift Shop”, directed by Banksy
Runners-up:
“Get Low”, directed by Aaron Schneider
“Monsters”, directed by Gareth Edwards

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“How to Train Your Dragon” (DreamWorks Animation)
Runners-up:
“Despicable Me” (Universal Studios)
“Toy Story 3″ (Disney*Pixar)

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
“Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” (filmswelike)
Runners-up:
“Mother” (Mongrel Media)
“Of Gods and Men” (Mongrel Media)

ALLAN KING DOCUMENTARY AWARD
“Exit Through the Gift Shop” (Mongrel Media)
Runners-up:
“Inside Job” (Mongrel Media)
“Marwencol” (KinoSmith Inc.)

JAY SCOTT PRIZE for emerging talent

Daniel Cockburn

SPECIAL CITATION

to Bruce McDonald, who directed four movies in 2010: “This Movie is Broken”, “Trigger”, “Music from the Big House” and “Hard Core Logo 2″

ROGERS CANADIAN FILM AWARD NOMINEES

“Incendies”, directed by Denis Villeneuve

“Splice,” directed by Vincenzo Natali

“Trigger”, directed by Bruce McDonald