The Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle (VFCC) has announced its 2019 nominees, with Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown’s Edge of the Knife, Andrea Bussmann’s Fausto, and Katherine Jerkovic’s Roads in February vying for Best Canadian Film.

All three directors earned nominations for Best Director, along with Philippe Lesage for Genesis, with Jerkovic also nominated for Best Screenplay. She is joined by Keith Behrman (Giant Little Ones), and Zebulon Zang (N.O.N).

Roads in February, which earned the most nominations of any film with a total of six and has already been picked up for international distribution by Figa Films, is also up for the One to Watch award, along with Clara, Firecrackers, and M/M.

Nominees for Best Canadian Documentary are Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, The Museum of Forgotten Triumphs, and What Is Democracy?, while nominees for Best B.C. Film are Best Canadian Film nominee Edge of the Knife, along with N.O.N, This Mountain Life, and When the Storm Fades.

The nominees for Best Actor are Tyler York for Edge of the Knife, Théodore Pellerin for Genesis, and Josh Wiggins for Giant Little Ones, with supporting nods going to York’s Edge of the Knife costar William Russ, Pierre-Luc Brillant for The Fireflies Are Gone and Aaron Read for When the Storm Fades.

Troian Bellisario is up for Best Actress for Clara, along with Michaela Kurimsky for Firecrackers, Arlen Aguayo Stewart for Roads in February, and Jennifer Hardy in Spice It Up. Supporting nominees are Stewart’s Roads in February costar Gloria Demassi, Kayla Lorette for When the Storm Fades and Gabrielle Rose for Kingsway.

Several of the nominated films are among Canada’s Top Ten films chosen by the Toronto International Film Festival, including Roads in February and Edge of the Knife.

Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite leads the nominations in the international category, picking up six nominations that include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and three acting nods for stars Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone. Also nominated for Best Picture is Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma and Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, which all picked up nods for Best Director.

The Canadian prizes will be handed out in a ceremony on Jan. 7, 2019, while international award winners will be announced Dec. 17, 2019.

Image courtesy of TIFF