I don’t know how many first-time TFCA gala attendees came up to me last night with wonder in their eyes. “I had no idea that critics could throw such a fun party.”
Well, we do know how, mainly because we like to bring in truly hilarious people to host and present the awards.
Doubtless, the guy who had the finest time was Hugh Gibson, who won the best Canadian feature award for his documentary The Stairs – about Toronto addicts and their counsellors – and $100,000, courtesy of Rogers.
But the entire packed room at the Carlu was treated to some mighty funny moments.
TIFF’s Cameron Bailey got things off to a sober start by weaving an appreciation of the late TIFF founder Bill Marshall into his welcoming remarks, urging the artists and critics in the room to do what Marshall did during his lifetime: fuck with people for the greater good.
But it was when his co-host in the person of Mary Walsh hit the stage that the fun began. Walsh regaled the crowd with a pointed feminist monologue that coined the term “dick flicks” before introducing Margaret Atwood to give out the best first feature prize to The Witch director Robert Eggers. He looked wide-eyed at Atwood and turned to the crowd to say, “This is so cool,” and he obviously meant it.
Winner of the Stella Artois Jay Scott Prize for emerging artist was Maritimer Ashley McKenzie, who promised she’d spend her $5,000 on a new car to scout locations for her next film, making everyone imagine the crate she must have been driving when she made her last pic, Werewolf.
And of course, there was a joke about whether the Canadian Tire Allan King Documentary Award prize money of $5,000 – won by Cameraperson – was real money.
How is it possible that the absentees can have such an impact on a major awards event? Well, when they’re major players in the movie industry and they’re sending tepid videos and letters, they always suck the air out of the room.
Even the best animation winners for Zootopia were alarmingly unanimated. Thank heavens for best supporting actress winner (for Manchester By The Sea) Michelle Williams, who, in a tight close-up, whispered to the video camera, “I’m in Los Angeles. I wish I could be in Toronto. Get me out of here. Thank you.”
But the hit of the evening, as usual, was Don McKellar, assigned with giving a special TFCA 20th anniversary award to director Denis Villeneuve. McKellar found time to diss Xavier Dolan (“Maybe he’ll have a body of work in 20 years”), referred to an early Villeneuve piece as too quirky even for Patricia Rozema in the 80s and then cracked the room up by suggesting that Villeneuve’s hit Arrival was profoundly Canadian because it was about bilingualism.
Villeneuve was there to accept his award, and he’s a seriously hot-shit director (Sicario, Incendies). So if he can make it to Toronto, why can’t any of those other big shots?
