The Toronto Film Critics Association has chosen Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner as the best Canadian film of 2002.

The three-hour film, produced by Nunavut-based Igloolik Isuma Productions and the National Film Board, is a video-captured tale of an Inuit warrior’s battle against an evil spirit causing strife in his tribe. Released domestically by Odeon Films, the feature won six Genie Awards and has so far grossed more than US$6.2 million internationally. The TFCA also selected it best first feature for director Zacharias Kunuk.

Runners-up for best Canadian film are Andre Turpin’s Un Crabe dans la tete, produced by Qu4tre par Quatre and released by Film Tonic, and heavy-metal mockumentary FUBAR, released by Odeon.

Odeon dominated the awards among Canadian distributors in the awards, also getting the nod for best documentary for Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine, the coproducers of which include Alliance Atlantis and Salter Street Films, and best female performance for Julianne Moore in Far from Heaven. Peter Mettler’s Gambling Gods & LSD, from Grimthorpe Film and released by Odeon, was a runner-up in the best doc category.

Adaptation, released by Columbia Pictures, was named best film of the year. Wayne Clarkson, director of the Canadian Film Centre, was awarded the Clyde Gilmour Award ‘for his contributions to the understanding of and appreciation of cinema in Canada’.

The TFCA is comprised of 25 journalists from Toronto-based dailies, weeklies, magazines and online media.