For Immediate Release

THE REVENANT LEADS VANCOUVER FILM CRITICS CIRCLE INTERNATIONAL NOMINATIONS LIST WITH THREE NODS

VANCOUVER, B.C. (December 14, 2015) – Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant leads all films in the Vancouver Film Critics Circle’s International section with three nominations.

The harrowing survival thriller (which was partially shot in British Columbia) is joined in the Best Film category by George Miller’s action spectacle Mad Max: Fury Road and Tom McCarthy’s journalism procedural Spotlight. Iñárritu will also look to defend his Best Director crown (won last year for Birdman) as he squares off with Miller and Todd Haynes for the period drama, Carol.

Leonard DiCaprio, star of The Revenant, is up for Best Actor, where he’s pitted against Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs and Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl. Meanwhile, Best Actress nominations go to Cate Blanchett for Carol, Brie Larson for Room and Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn.

In a rare VFCC occurrence, Alicia Vikander has earned two nominations for Best Supporting Actress, the first for The Danish Girl, the second for Ex Machina. The Hateful Eight’s Jennifer Jason Leigh rounds out the nominations. Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), Michael Shannon (99 Homes) and Sylvester Stallone (Creed) compete for Best Supporting Actor.

The nominees for Best Documentary are Amy, Cartel Land and Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, while The Assassin, Goodnight Mommy and Son of Saul are up for Best Foreign Language Film.

Winners in the international categories will be announced on Monday, December 21. A full list of International nominees follows.

BEST FILM
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight

BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michal Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina

BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes, Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST SCREENPLAY
Emma Donoghue, Room
Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa
Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Assassin
Goodnight Mommy
Son of Saul

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Amy
Cartel Land
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

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ROOM LEADS THE CANADIAN NOMINATIONS; THREE BRITISH COLUMBIA FILMS EARN MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS

A riveting and uplifting tale of a mother and son escaping confinement, the Canadian-Irish co-production Room has earned six VFCC nominations in the Canadian categories, including one for Best Canadian Film. Director Lenny Abrahamson is nominated for Best Director of a Canadian Film, while Irish-Canadian writer Emma Donoghue is nominated for Best Screenplay for a Canadian Film. Brie Larson’s Best Actress in a Canadian Film nomination matches Donoghue’s accomplishment of being recognized in both the VFCC’s Canadian and International categories. Young Vancouver actor Jacob Tremblay is nominated for Best Actor in a Canadian Film, while Joan Allen is up for Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film.

Room will face off against Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson’s The Forbidden Room and Andrew Cividino’s Sleeping Giant for Best Canadian Film. Cividino joins Abrahamson and Remember’s Atom Egoyan in the race for Best Director of a Canadian Film. Sleeping Giant is also in the running for Best First Film by a Canadian Director, where it competes with Hit 2 Pass, directed by Vancouver’s Kurt Walker, and Wet Bum, directed by Lindsay Mackay. This award includes a cash prize sponsored by Telefilm Canada.

Joining Tremblay in the Best Actor in a Canadian Film category are Michael Eklund, for the Vancouver-produced Eadweard, and Christopher Plummer for Remember. Meanwhile, Larson will vie with Sabali’s Marie Brassard and Wet Bum’s Julia Sarah Stone for Best Actress in a Canadian Film. A cash prize for the acting categories is sponsored by the Union of BC Performers.

Kyle Rideout’s Eadweard, Charles Wilkinson’s Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World and Mark Sawers’ No Men Beyond This Point are this year’s nominees for Best British Columbia Film. A cash prize sponsored by the Canadian Media Production Association-BC Producers’ Branch will be presented to the producer of the winning film, while a second cash prize sponsored by the Directors Guild of Canada-BC Council will go to the film’s director.

Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World will also compete with Jerry Rothwell’s How to Change the World, Alan Zweig’s Hurt and Damien Gillis & Fiona Rayher’s Fractured Land for Best Canadian Documentary.

Winners of the Canadian awards will be announced at the VFCC’s awards ceremony on Wednesday, January 6. A full list of nominees in the Canadian categories follows.

BEST CANADIAN FILM
The Forbidden Room
Room
Sleeping Giant

BEST ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM
Michael Eklund, Eadweard
Christopher Plummer, Remember
Jacob Tremblay, Room

BEST ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM
Marie Brassard, Sabali
Brie Larson, Room
Julia Sarah Stone, Wet Bum

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM
Patrick Huard, My Internship in Canada
Reece Moffett, Sleeping Giant
Nick Serino, Sleeping Giant

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM
Joan Allen, Room
Suzanne Clement, My Internship in Canada
Tara Pratt, No Men Beyond This Point

(A cash prize for the acting categories is sponsored by the Union of BC Performers.)

BEST SCREENPLAY FOR A CANADIAN FILM
Benjamin August, Remember
Andrew Cividino, Blain Watters & Aaron Yeger, Sleeping Giant
Emma Donoghue, Room

BEST DIRECTOR OF A CANADIAN FILM
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Andrew Cividino, Sleeping Giant
Atom Egoyan, Remember

BEST CANADIAN DOCUMENTARY
Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World
Fractured Land
How to Change the World
Hurt

BEST FIRST FILM BY A CANADIAN DIRECTOR
Hit 2 Pass, Kurt Walker
Sleeping Giant, Andrew Cividino
Wet Bum, Lindsay Mackay
(Cash prize sponsored by Telefilm Canada.)

BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM
Eadweard
Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World
No Men Beyond This Point
(Cash prizes sponsored by the Canadian Media Production Association-BC Producers’ Branch and the Directors Guild of Canada-BC Council.)

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

http://www.vancouverfilmcritics.com