26th Annual TFCA Awards Gala
The TFCA Celebrates the Best Films of 2022
On March 6, 2023, at the Omni King Edward Hotel, the TFCA held its annual gathering, hosted by Amanda Brugel, to celebrate the best in Canadian and international film.
Watch Highlights from the Event!
All images by George Pimentel Photography
ROGERS
BEST CANADIAN FILM NOMINEES
Riceboy Sleeps director Anthony Shim received a cash prize of $100,000, courtesy of Rogers Communications.
As runners-up, Clement Virgo and David Cronenberg receive $5,000.
Riceboy Sleeps
Directed by Anthony Shim
(Game Theory Films)
Written and directed by Anthony Shim, Riceboy Sleeps tells the story of a Korean single mother raising her son in 1990s Vancouver. Led by a tremendous, graceful performance by Choi Seung-yoon, the film’s themes of belonging and identity are so deeply and intrinsically felt they inspire an earned sense of compassion and humanity. Only Shim’s second film, Riceboy Sleeps shows a director in command of his craft with an artistic and grounded vision for the connection among heart, mind and soul.
— Rachel Ho
Brother
Directed by Clement Virgo
(Elevation Pictures)
— Courtney Small
Crimes of the Future
Directed by David Cronenberg
(Sphere Films)
David Cronenberg’s first film in eight years is many things: a climatechange cri de coeur. A tender love story in which matters of the heart involve other, less traditionally sexy
internal organs. A darkly hilarious satirical riff on the ineffable power of art in the face of tragedy. A selfreferential noir-tinged tour through the sicko-cinema Cronenbergian canon, with its obsessions on the limits of both the human body and audiences’ stomachs. But mostly, Crimes of the Future is a testament to the twisty, squishy, uncompromising vision of a brilliant filmmaker whose imagination is endless, and endlessly terrifying.
— Barry Hertz
BEST PICTURE
WINNER
Aftersun
(Sphere Films)
RUNNERS UP
Everything Everywhere All at Once
(Elevation Pictures)
Women Talking
(Universal Pictures Canada)
BEST DIRECTOR
WINNER
Charlotte Wells
Aftersun
(Sphere Films)
RUNNERS UP
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Everything Everywhere All at Once
(Elevation Pictures)
Sarah Polley
Women Talking
(Universal Pictures Canada)
BEST ACTRESS
WINNER
Cate Blanchett
Tár
(Universal Pictures Canada)
RUNNERS UP
Danielle Deadwyler
Till
(Universal Pictures Canada)
Michelle Yeoh
Everything Everwhere All at Once
(Elevation Pictures)
BEST ACTOR
WINNER
Paul Mescal
Aftersun
(Sphere Films)
RUNNERS UP
Colin Farrell
The Banshees of Inisherin
(Searchlight Pictures)
Brendan Fraser
The Whale
(Elevation Pictures)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
WINNER
Keke Palmer
Nope
(Universal Pictures Canada)
RUNNERS UP
Jessie Buckley
Women Talking
(Universal Pictures Canada)
Stephanie Hsu
Everything Everywhere All at Once
(Elevation Pictures)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER
Ke Huy Quan
Everything Everywhere All at Once
(Elevation Pictures)
RUNNERS UP
Brendan Gleeson
The Banshees of Inisherin
(Searchlight Pictures)
Barry Keoghan
The Banshees of Inisherin
(Searchight Pictures)
BEST SCREENPLAY
ADAPTED OR ORIGINAL
WINNER
Martin McDonagh
The Banshees of Inisherin
(Searchlight Pictures)
RUNNERS UP
Todd Field
Tár
(Universal Pictures Canada)
Women Talking
(Universal Pictures Canada)
BEST
FIRST FEATURE
WINNER
Charlotte Wells
Aftersun
(Sphere Films)
RUNNERS UP
(Elevation Pictures)
Turning Red
(Walt Disney Canada)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
WINNER
Domee Shi
(Walt Disney Canada)
RUNNERS UP
Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson
(Netflix)
Dean Fleischer Camp
(Elevation Pictures)
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
WINNER
Alice Diop
(Films We Like)
RUNNERS UP
Park Chan-wook
(Mongrel Media)
Jerzy Skolimowski
(Films We Like)
ALLAN KING DOCUMENTARY AWARD
WINNER
Laura Poitras
(Elevation Pictures)
RUNNERS UP
Sara Dosa
(Mongrel Media)
Brett Morgen
(Elevation Pictures)
COMPANY 3
LUMINARY AWARD
As the Senior Programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival, Steve Gravestock supported so many of the Canadian films that the TFCA has loved…or not. With his encyclopedic knowledge, particularly of Canadian and Nordic film, and a funny story about almost any subject, Steve has been a key figure in the movie landscape for almost three decades. And by championing Canada’s Top Ten and the year-long See the North programs, he ensured that movie screens continued to spotlight our filmmakers beyond their festival runs. Though he’s retired, the impact of his work will continue to resonate.
– Kelly Boutsalis
STELLA ARTOIS JAY SCOTT PRIZE
For an Emerging Artist
We believe Jay Scott would have championed Carol Nguyen, who began making artistic shorts in her teens. Her work opens up her world to us, sharing intimate experience growing up in a Vietnamese immigrant family. It’s fascinating to see her toggle between her two cultural identities, as she learns about the past while navigating her complex present. Her visual depictions of this multiculturalism are a revelation of humanity, always thought provoking and heart wrenching.
— Alice Shih
TELEFILM CANADA EMERGING CRITIC AWARD
When Michelle Krasovitski immigrated to Canada at age six from what is now Ukraine, she realized that movies could connect her with her new peers. Now she’s blossomed into a powerful feminist writer — though hardly one with a singular focus. She’s completing her Masters thesis on how to get Quebecois films into Ontario’s French classrooms, while addressing queer and Jewish themes in outlets including Bitch Media, Xtra and Little White Lies. But it’s the writing that impressed us: lucid, engaging and solidly grounded in film’s formal issues. Hers is a dynamic and refreshing new voice.
— Susan G. Cole
The TFCA is extremely grateful to founding sponsor Rogers Communications for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, to returning sponsors Labatt for the Stella Artois Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist, to Netflix as the Dinner sponsor, to Air Canada as Official Airline and to Company 3 as the Luminary Award sponsor. The TFCA welcomes new sponsors Universal Pictures Canada as the Cocktail Reception sponsor, Prime Video as the After-Party sponsor, Telefilm Canada as the Emerging Critic sponsor and Pinnacle Live as the Official AV Sponsor. The TFCA also thanks sponsors Cineplex Entertainment, Omni King Edward Hotel and salutes stalwart supporters, G.H. Mumm Champagne, L’Eat Catering, Zoomer Magazine, Chairman Mills and The Printing House.
