Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave leads all films in the Vancouver Film Critics Circle’s International category with six nominations.

Based on the memoir of Solomon Northup, a free man kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841, 12 Years a Slave is joined in the Best Film category by Alfonso Cuarón’s sci-fi thriller Gravity and Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis, a melancholic comedy set in the ’60s New York folk scene. McQueen, Cuarón and the Coens will also face off in the Best Director category.

Slave‘s Chiwetel Ejiofor and Davis‘ Oscar Isaac are joined by Dallas Buyer Club‘s Matthew McConaughey in the race for Best Actor. Meanwhile, the Best Actress nominees are Gravity‘s Sandra Bullock, Blue Jasmine‘s Cate Blanchett and France Ha‘s Greta Gerwig.

The nominees for Best Documentary are The Act of Killing, Blackfish and West of Memphis. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film are Blancanieves, Blue is the Warmest Color and The Hunt.

A full list of nominees in the International category follows.

MATT JOHNSON AND THE DIRTIES LEAD CANADIAN NOMINEES

The Dirties, a conceptually daring story of two film geeks planning a high school shooting, has secured five VFCC nominations in the Canadian category, including Best Canadian Film and Best First Film by a Canadian Director. Director-star Matt Johnson has also been nominated for Best Director of a Canadian Film and Best Actor in a Canadian film.

The Dirties will face off against Louise Archambault’s Gabrielle and Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky’s Watermark for Best Canadian Film. Meanwhile, Johnson is joined by Archambault and Rhymes for Young Ghouls‘ Jeff Barnaby in the running for Best Director of a Canadian Film.

Johnson faces competition from Whitewash‘s Thomas Haden Church and The Dick Knost Show‘s Tom Sholte for Best Actor in a Canadian Film. Blood Pressure‘s Michelle Giroux, Picture Day‘s Tatiana Maslany and Sarah Prefers to Run‘s Sophie Desmarais contend for the honour of Best Actress in a Canadian Film.

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle is pleased to introduce a new award for Best First Film by a Canadian Director. The Dirties is joined in the category by Barnaby’s Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Chloé Robichaud’s Sarah Prefers to Run.

In addition to its Best Canadian Film nomination, Baichwal and Burtynsky’s Watermark is in the running for Best Canadian Documentary, competing against Chelsea McMullan’s My Prairie Home and Charles Wilkinson’s Oil Sands Karaoke. Karaoke is also in contention for Best British Columbia Film, vying for the award with Ben Ratner’s Down River and Jason DaSilva’s When I Walk.

A full list of nominees in the Canadian category follows.

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ANIMATOR AL SENS WINS THE IAN CADDELL AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle have announced that Canadian animation pioneer Al Sens is the winner of the 2014 Ian Caddell Award for Achievement. Presented to a British Columbian who has made a significant contribution to the province’s film industry, this award is named in honour of the VFCC’s cofounder who passed away in 2012.

A Vancouver native, the self-taught animator founded Al Sens Animation, the city’s first animation studio, in 1958. Since then, he’s amassed an impressive body of inventive work (including 1965’s The See Hear Talk Think Dream and Act Film and 1978’s Canadian Vignettes: Logger), developed his trademark “spit technique” and served as a mentor to generations of animators.

Sens, who turns 80 this week, will be presented with his award at the VFCC’s 14th annual awards ceremony, to be held at the Railway Club in Vancouver on Tuesday, January 7.

Al Sens
Photo by JMV on flickr

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle includes critics from print, radio, online and television.

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For further information, please contact Curtis Woloschuk at ascotrock@gmail.com