Toronto Film Critics 2008 Awards

The Toronto Film Critics have announced their 2008 awards with Rachel Getting Married as the big winner winning 3 awards (Jonathan Demme for Director, Rosemarie DeWitt for Supporting Performance Female and Jenny Lumet for Best Screenplay) and Wendy and Lucy picking up 2 awards (Best Picture and Michelle Williams for Best Performance, Female). I do love that Jean-Claude Van Damme was a runner up for Best Performance, Male in JCVD but the award goes to Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler.

There is one more award announced, the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, which will be announced at the presentation of all of the awards on January 6, 2009 in Toronto. The three pictures nominated for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award are: Continental: A Film Without Guns (dir: Stéphane Lafleur) My Winnipeg (dir: Guy Maddin) and Up the Yangtze (dir: Yung Chang). Wow, that will be a tough call - all three films are excellent.

Update January 7, 2009: Rogers Best Canadian Film Award goes to: My Winnipeg (dir: Guy Maddin)

Congratulations to all the winners!

BEST PICTURE
Wendy and Lucy
Runners-up:
Rachel Getting Married
WALL*E (Disney/Pixar)

BEST PERFORMANCE, MALE
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Runners-up:
Sean Penn, Milk
Jean-Claude Van Damme, JCVD

BEST PERFORMANCE, FEMALE
Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy
Runners-up:
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Meryl Streep, Doubt

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE, MALE
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Runners-up:
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey, Jr, Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE, FEMALE
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Runners-up:
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt

BEST DIRECTOR
Jonathan Demme, Rachel Getting Married
Runners-up:
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Andrew Stanton, WALL*E

BEST SCREENPLAY
Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married
Runners-up:
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Ballast, directed by Lance Hammer
Runners-up:
The Band’s Visit, directed by Eran Kolirin
Frozen River, directed by Courtney Hunt

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
WALL*E
Runners-up:
Kung-Fu Panda
Persepolis
Waltz with Bashir

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Let the Right One In
Runners-up:
A Christmas Tale
The Class
I’ve Loved You So Long

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Man on Wire
Runners-up:
Standard Operating Procedure
Up the Yangtze

Curious as to which films qualify?
"Under the TFCA’s new guidelines, contenders eligible for the awards include films released in Canada in 2008 plus films that qualify for the 2008 Oscars and have Canadian distribution scheduled by the end of February, 2009." (source)