Capping a year in which issues of race and gender loomed large, the Toronto Film Critics Association has awarded Best Picture to Moonlight, by American director Barry Jenkins, a lyrical and nuanced coming-of-age story about a gay African-American male coming to terms with his sexuality. The film was also honoured with a Best Supporting Actor Award for Mahershala Ali.
The awards were voted by TFCA members at a meeting on Sunday, December 11th.
The TFCA, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, gave its Best Director Award to German filmmaker Maren Ade for her epic father-daughter comedy, Toni Erdmann. The film, due to be released in Canada early in the new year, won the most prizes, also taking Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress for Sandra Hüller.
Best Actor went to Adam Driver as a bus-driving poet in Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson.
Writer-director Kenneth Lonergan’s elegiac drama, Manchester by the Sea, won two awards: Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Michelle Williams.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Tire Allan King Documentary Award, which comes with a $5,000 cheque, went to Cameraperson, an innovative documentary memoir directed by New York cinematographer Kirsten Johnson.
Zootopia, a satirical tale of a world run by animals directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore, was named the year’s Best Animated Feature.
