Local filmmaker Kevan Funk's Hello Destroyer leads Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards for Canadian films

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      Vancouver filmmaker Kevan Funk's debut feature film, Hello Destroyer, led the Canadian winners at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards, scooping up most of the major categories. The awards were announced at a ceremony held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on January 9.

      Funk's feature drama details how a Prince George junior hockey player becomes a scapegoat for an entire system.

      The VFCC named the film the best Canadian film of 2016, and also named Funk the best Canadian director. The film's lead actor Jared Abrahamson won best actor while Kurt Max Runte was named best supporting actor.

      The film also was named the best B.C. film, which included two $500 cash prizes (one for the film's producers from the B.C. Producers' branch of the Canadian Media Producers Association and another for the director from the B.C. District Council of the Directors' Guild of Canada).

      Ashley McKenzie's Werewolf, about two homeless drug addicts, won two awards: best first film by a Canadian director (with $500 from Telefilm Canada) and best actress for Bhreagh MacNeil (with $500 from the Union of B.C. Performers/ACTRA).

      Window Horses

      Vancouver animator and filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming's cross-cultural animated feature Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming won best screenplay.

      Molly Parker was named best supporting actress for her role as an unstable mother in Bruce McDonald's Weirdos.

      Brett Story's The Prison in Twelve Landscapes, which takes a look at the work the American prison system, won best Canadian documentary.

      This year's Ian Caddell Award for Achievement, which is named after the VFF founder and Georgia Straight film writer and honours British Columbians who have made significant contributions to the B.C. film industry, went to Kirk Tougas.

      Tougas cofounded the Pacific Cinematheque and is a filmmaker and cinematographer whose work includes The Corporation and Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. He was also the Georgia Straight's first film reviewer.

      The winners of the VFCC international film categories were originally announced on December 19 as well as at the awards ceremony. Manchester by the Sea won several awards, including being named best film.

      Hello DestroyerWindow Horses, and Werewolf were all chosen for Canada's Top Ten Film Festival, which will screen at the Cinematheque from Friday (January 13) to January 22.

      The Canadian winners are as follows:

      BEST CANADIAN FILM
      Hello Destroyer

      BEST ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM
      Jared Abrahamson, Hello Destroyer

      BEST ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM
      Bhreagh MacNeil, Werewolf 

      BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM
      Kurt Max Runte, Hello Destroyer

      BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM
      Molly Parker, Weirdos

      BEST SCREENPLAY FOR A CANADIAN FILM
      Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming, Ann Marie Fleming

      BEST DIRECTOR OF A CANADIAN FILM
      Kevan Funk, Hello Destroyer

      BEST CANADIAN DOCUMENTARY
      The Prison in Twelve Landscapes

      BEST FIRST FILM BY A CANADIAN DIRECTOR
      Werewolf, Ashley McKenzie

      BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM
      Hello Destroyer

      IAN CADDELL AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT
      Kirk Tougas

      You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at @cinecraig or on Facebook

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