Sarah Polley to present at the TFCA

The Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) will present the first Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, accompanied by a cheque for $10,000 at the 11th annual TFCA Awards Dinner, January 6, 2009. Eligible for this award are all Canadian features released theatrically in 2008. 

Traditionally a private affair for TFCA members and guests, the annual awards dinner will be opened up to the industry and the media for the first time. It will take place at Nota Bene Restaurant.

“The TFCA wants to bring together all sides of the industry to celebrate the best films of the year, including the finest Canadian work,” said TFCA President Brian D. Johnson, Maclean’s film critic.  “Given Toronto’s stature as a film capital, the pre-eminence of TIFF, and the vitality of film criticism in this city, it’s only fitting to have an awards dinner on a par with events held by critics’ groups in New York and Los Angeles. We thank Rogers Communications for endowing our Canadian prize and for their support in building our awards ceremony to new prominence.”

“We are thrilled to establish this film prize,” said Phil Lind, Vice Chairman, Rogers Communications Inc.  “Rogers, through our businesses and production financing programs, has a long history of supporting Canadian film.  This prize is a wonderful way to recognize our country’s creative talent.”

The slate of TFCA award winners in other categories will be announced on Dec. 17, 2008, along with the three finalists for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award.  The winner of that prize will be selected by TFCA members in a separate online ballot, and announced at the awards dinner on Jan. 6. Sarah Polley, last year’s TFCA winner for Best Canadian Film, will be on hand to present the prize.

Hosting the Awards Dinner is Cameron Bailey, Co-Director of the Toronto International Film Festival and a TFCA alumnus. The guests will include the cream of Toronto’s film community, along with nominees for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award and winners in international categories who are able to attend. 

Award Categories include: Best Picture, Best Male Performance, Best Female Performance, Best Supporting Male Performance, Best Supporting Female Performance, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Canadian Film, , Best First Feature, Best Animated Feature, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Documentary Feature.

Eligible are all films released in 2008, plus Oscar-qualifying films released in Canada by the end of February, 2009. At its discretion, the TFCA also confers the Clyde Gilmour Award for advancing film appreciation in Canada.

Sponsors for the evening are: Rogers Communications Inc., Maclean’s, Moet & Chandon, Belvedere Vodka, Nota Bene, McGill Design + Studio, Citytv, Cineplex Entertainment and Empire Theatres.