For Immediate Release

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA LEADS VANCOUVER FILM CRITICS CIRCLE INTERNATIONAL NOMINATIONS LIST WITH SIX NODS

Vancouver, B.C. (December 16, 2016) – Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea leads all films in the Vancouver Film Critics Circle’s international section with six nominations.

Lonergan’s subtle study of gestating grief is pitted in the Best Film category against La La Land, Damien Chazelle’s charming homage to Technicolor musicals of the ‘50s and ‘60s, and Moonlight, Barry Jenkins’ equally harrowing and sensitive breakout. Chazelle and Lonergan also share space in the Best Director category, where they’re joined by Denis Villeneuve for his subdued alien invasion film, Arrival.

Ryan Gosling, the song and dance man in La La Land, looks to tap out Casey Affleck, star of Manchester by the Sea, and Denzel Washington, the lead in Fences, for Best Actor. Meanwhile, the Best Actress nominations go to Amy Adams for Arrival, Isabelle Huppert for Elle and Natalie Portman for Jackie.

Hell or High Water, also up for Best Screenplay, is represented in the Best Supporting Actor category by Jeff Bridges, who looks to edge out Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali and Manchester by the Sea’s Lucas Hedges. Fences’ Viola Davis has tough competition in the Best Supporting Actress category where she’s up against Moonlight’s Naomi Harris and Manchester by the Sea’s Michelle Williams. Joining Hell or High Water’s Taylor Sheridan as the other nominees for Best Screenplay are Barry Jenkins for Moonlight and Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea.

The Best Foreign Language Film category is a race between Elle, The Handmaiden and Toni Erdmann, while Cameraperson, O.J. Made in America and 13^th occupy the Best Documentary slots.

Winners in the international categories will be announced on Tuesday, December 20. A full list of International nominees follows.

Best Picture
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Best Actor
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Denzel Washington, Fences

Best Actress
Amy Adams, Arrival
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Natalie Portman, Jackie

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea

Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Best Director
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival

Best Screenplay
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water

Best Foreign Language Film
Elle
The Handmaiden
Toni Erdmann

Best Documentary
Cameraperson
O.J. Made in America
13^th

TWO DEBUT FEATURES, HELLO DESTROYER AND WEREWOLF, DOMINATE THE CANADIAN NOMINATIONS; TWO B.C. PRODUCTIONS NOMINATED FOR BEST CANADIAN FILM.

Kevan Funk’s Hello Destroyer, a heartbreaking examination of how institutions such as junior hockey normalize violence and alienate individuals, leads the Canadian section with eight nominations, and Ashley McKenzie’s formally inventive Werewolf, about a co-dependent Cape Breton couple in a methadone recovery program, runs a close second with seven nominations. Both are up for Best Film, Best Director, and Best First Film by a Canadian Director. The leads of Werewolf, Breagh MacNeil and Andrew Gillis, are up for Best Actor and Actress, while Hello Destroyer’s Jared Abrahamson, Joe Dion Buffalo and Kurt Max Runte all get acting nods.

Vancouver’s Ann Marie Fleming joins Hello Destroyer and Werewolf in the Best Film and Best Screenplay categories for Window Horses, her quaint animated film about an Iranian-Canadian girl discovering her origins when she is accepted into a poetry competition in her home country. Isiah Medina enters the mix in the Best Director category for 88:88, his incendiary experimental film, while Sofia Bohdanowicz’s Never Eat Alone, a docu-fiction portrait of an elderly matriarch played by the director’s own grandmother, is up against Werewolf and Hello Destroyer for Best First Film by a Canadian Director.

Hello Destroyer and Window Horses share the Best BC Film category with two documentaries, Aim for the Roses and KONELINE: our land beautiful. A cash prize sponsored by the Canadian Media Production Association-BC Producers’ Branch will be presented to the producer of the winning film in this category, while a second cash prize sponsored by the Directors Guild of Canada-BC Council will go to the film’s director.

Old Stone’s Gang Chen is in the Best Actor category with Andrew Gillis and Jared Abrahamson, while Deragh Campbell (Never Eat Alone) and Tatiana Maslany (The Other Half) are nominated for Best Actress with Breagh MacNeil (Werewolf). Hello Destroyer has two nods in Best Supporting Actor, as Joe Dion Buffalo and Kurt Max Runte are nominated with Martin Dubreuil of Maudite Poutine. Vancouver actress Julia Sarah Stone, who was nominated last year for Wet Bum, receives a Supporting Actress nomination for her role in The Unseen. Molly Parker of Weirdos and Hannah Gross of Unless are also nominated. A cash prize for the acting categories is sponsored by the Union of BC Performers.

In an exceptional year for Canadian non-fiction filmmaking, We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice, The Prison in Twelve Landscapes and After the Last River make the cut for Best Documentary.

Winners of the Canadian awards will be announced at the VFCC’s awards ceremony on Monday January 9. A full list of nominees in the Canadian categories follows.

Best Picture

Werewolf
Hello Destroyer
Window Horses

Best Director
Kevan Funk, Hello Destroyer
Ashley McKenzie, Werewolf
Isiah Medina, 88:88

Best First Film by a Canadian Director

Hello Destroyer
Never Eat Alone
Werewolf

Best Screenplay

Kevan Funk, Hello Destroyer
Ashley McKenzie, Werewolf
Ann Marie Fleming, Window Horses

Best Actor

Jared Abrahamson, Hello Destroyer
Gang Chen, Old Stone
Andrew Gillis, Werewolf

Best Actress

Deragh Campbell, Never Eat Alone
Bhreagh MacNeil, Werewolf
Tatiana Maslany, The Other Half

Best Supporting Actor

Joe Dion Buffalo, Hello Destroyer
Martin Dubreuil, Maudite Poutine
Kurt Max Runte, Hello Destroyer 

Best Supporting Actress

Hannah Gross, Unless
Molly Parker, Weirdos
Julia Sarah Stone, The Unseen

Best Canadian Documentary

After the Last River
The Prison in Twelve Landscapes
We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice

Best BC Film

Aim for the Roses
Hello Destroyer
KONELINE: our land beautiful
Window Horses