‘Nomadland’ top film for local critics
The Toronto Film Critics Association has given “Nomadland” three of its top awards, including Best Picture of 2020. The organization also named Chloé Zhao Best Director and
Frances McDormand Best Actress for the touching drama, about a community of nomads living in vans in the American west.
The TFCA announced the winners of its 24th annual awards via Twitter Sunday and will hold a virtual gala live on YouTube on March 9.
The virtual gala will announce the winner of the Rogers $100,000 Best Canadian Film Award from a field of three finalists: Louise Archambault’s
“And the Birds Rained Down,” “Anne at 13,000 Ft.” by Kazik Radwanski and “White Lie”
by Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas.
Runners-up will each receive $5,000.
Other winners announced Sunday include Riz Ahmed as Best Actor for playing a drummer who loses his hearing in “Sound of Metal.” Maria Bakalova got Best Supporting Actress for playing the daughter of the Kazakhstani journalist protagonist in the mockumentary “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” Daniel Kaluuya took Best Supporting Actor for playing Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
Lee Isaac Chung won Best Screenplay for the KoreanAmerican family farming drama “Minari.”
And Radha Blank’s comedy “The Forty-Year Old Version,” about a playwright who becomes a hip-hop artist, took Best First Feature.
Nabbing Best International
Film was the Brazilian genreblurring thriller “Bacurau,” while the Allan King Documentary Film Award went to “Collective,” about journalists investigating a deadly night-club fire in Romania.
“Wolfwalkers” took Best Animated Feature. Indigenous producer Jason
Ryle is the 2021 recipient of the Clyde Gilmour Award, which recognizes a Canadian industry figure “who has made a substantial and outstanding contribution to the advancement and/or history of Canadian cinema.” Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, whose short film “Black Bodies” just screened at the Sundance Film Festival, is the winner of the Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist.
A tie vote resulted in co-winners for the Cineplex Entertainment Emerging Critic Award: Mark Hanson and Rose Ho.
The Canadian Press
Amazon backs Solidarity Fund
Amazon Prime Video has made a $1.25-million donation to the Solidarity Fund and the Indigenous Development Program to support professionals in Canada’s TV and film industry who are Black, Indigenous or people of colour.
The donation to the Solidarity Fund — launched by the Indigenous Screen Office, the Racial Equity in Media Collective and BIPOC TV & Film — and the Indigenous Development Program will help fund projects and professional development for both individuals and BIPOC-owned companies, Amazon said in a news release.
In addition, Amazon has announced a new pitch program, awarding 10 grants of $10,000 each to BIPOC creators to pitch scripted or unscripted projects to Amazon Studios.
Debra Yeo
‘Mank,’ ‘Minari’ get most noms
Don’t count “Mank” out yet.
David Fincher’s black-andwhite “Citizen Kane” origin story leads the 26th annual Critics’ Choice Awards with 12 nominations. The Netflix film also led last week’s Golden Globes nominations with six nods, only to stall a day later with just one nomination (for
Gary Oldman as Best Actor) by the Screen Actors Guild Awards. “Mank” fared far better with critics and is up for Best Picture, actor (Oldman), supporting actress (Amanda Seyfried) and director (Fincher), among other categories. The film was trailed closely by Lee
Isaac Chung’s Korean American drama “Minari,” which received 10 nominations, including Best Picture, actor (Steven Yeun), supporting actress
(Yuh-jung Youn), director and screenplay (both Chung).
USA Today
SAG-AFTRA bars Trump
After Donald Trump preemptively quit the union last week, SAG-AFTRA slammed the door behind him. The national board of Hollywood’s biggest union voted to deny the former president potential to rejoin the union. Five board members, including broadcast journalists, abstained from the vote Sunday, which took place via video conference. The decision was made after Trump resigned from the union before hearings over disciplinary charges against the “Apprentice” star could be heard.