Toronto film critics name Polytechnique top Canadian feature
| Villeneuve's next film, which he put on hold several years ago to work on Polytechnique, is an adaptation of Incendies (Scorched), the acclaimed drama by Lebanese-Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad, artistic director of French theatre for the National Arts Centre. It is slated for a summer 2010 release. The award-winning play, which has been mounted across Canada and around the world, follows a pair of Montreal twins who must travel to the Middle East to unravel the story of their late mother's life amid a bloody civil war. |
"At least nobody can accuse us of being Toronto-centric," Brian D. Johnson, TFCA president and film critic for Maclean's magazine, said at the awards gala attended by eminent directors including David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan.
Polytechnique, which examines the murderous rampage at École Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989, won the $10,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award.
It was up against another Quebec film, The Necessities of Life, directed by Benoît Pilon, as well as Bruce McDonald's Pontypool.
Johnson called Polytechnique "a film of astonishing courage," and Villeneuve said it was emotionally taxing to make. "It was a very long and tough process to do this movie," he said in an interview on the red carpet.
"It was a fantastic, human voyage, but still it was a tough one and it was tough from the first interview until the last day of editing."
Dolan, 20, received the $5,000 inaugural Jay Scott Prize for emerging talent for his smash directorial debut, I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère), a semi-autobiographical portrayal of a teen's explosive relationship his single mom, Chantale, portrayed by Anne Dorval.
Dolan also wrote, produced and starred in the searing drama, which won three awards last year at the Cannes International Film Festival.