Awards roundup: TFCA unveils best Canadian feature finalists

Plus: The Breadwinner, Alberta-shot Fargo and The Handmaid's Tale nab Golden Globe nominations.

Kevan Funk’s Hello Destroyer, Ashley McKenzie’s Werewolf and Joyce Wong’s Wexford Plaza are the three films competing for the $100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film award, the Toronto Film Critics Association announced Dec. 10.

The winner will be named at the annual TFCA awards gala in Toronto on Jan. 9.

Filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk, who is the 2017 recipient of the Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award, has named Montreal-based Inuk filmmaker Isabella Weetaluktuk the winner of $50,000 in services from Technicolor. Each year, the winner of the Clyde Gilmour award selects a filmmaker of their choosing to receive the prize.

The critics’ association also announced the winners of a number of awards, including best picture honours, which went to Sean Bakers’ The Florida Project; best director to Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird and best screenplay to Jordan Peele’s Get Out (which also picked up the best first feature prize). The Allan King Documentary Award went to Agnès Varda and JR’s Faces Places, while Ruben Östlund’s The Square, won best foreign-language film.

Meanwhile, Nora Twomey’s The Breadwinner (pictured), produced by Toronto’s Aircraft Pictures, Ireland’s Cartoon Saloon and Luxembourg’s Melusine Productions won the award for best animated feature.

The film, about a young girl who disguises herself as a boy to become her family’s primary earner, has also received a Golden Globe nomination for best animated film.

A number of series with Canadian connections have also nabbed nominations. Alberta-shot Fargo, service-produced by Calgary’s Nomadic Picturespicked up three, including best limited TV series. The FX crime dramedy will compete against Big Little Lies in the category. Quebec-native Jean-Marc Vallée-directed the drama, which picked up five other nominations across multiple acting categories. Vancouver-shot The Good Doctor also picked up a nom for its lead Freddie Highmore. Brightlight Pictures president Shawn Williamson serves as a producer on the ABC drama.

Multiple Emmy-winner and Toronto-shot The Handmaid’s Tale will compete against The Crown, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things and This is Us for best television series. All told, the Hulu series, service-produced by Take 5 Productions and Whizbang Pictures, nabbed three nominations.