# Rogers Best Canadian Film Award

The Rogers Best Canadian Film Award is presented annually by the Toronto Film Critics Association to the film judged by the organization's members as the year's best Canadian film. In 2012, the cash prize accompanying the award was increased to $100,000, making it the largest arts award in Canada. Each year, two runners-up also receive $5,000. The award is funded and presented by Rogers Communications, which is a founding sponsor of the association's awards gala.
In 2023, the TFCA announced changes to the award. Instead of a single $100,000 prize presented to a mixed shortlist of narrative and documentary films, the organization will now present two $50,000 prizes, one for narrative features and one for documentaries.
Unlike the other Toronto Film Critics Association awards, whose winners are announced in mid-December or early January each year, the Best Canadian Film award only has its finalists announced at that time, and the winner of the award is then announced at the organization's gala in March.

## Toronto Film Critics Poll

Prior to the official launch of the Toronto Film Critics Association in 1997, film critic Wyndham Wise coordinated two polls of Torontonian film critics in 1995 and 1996 through his magazine Take One to select the year's best Canadian films; upon the launch of the TFCA, this poll was discontinued and superseded by the TFCA's annual awards.

### 1995

| Category | Winners and nominees |
| Best Film | Rude — Damon D'Oliveira, Karen King |
| Best Film | Double Happiness — Steve Hegyes, Rose Lam Waddell |
| Best Film | When Night Is Falling — Barbara Tranter |
| Best Film | Louis 19, King of the Airwaves (Louis 19, le roi des ondes) — Richard Sadler, Jacques Dorfmann |
| Best Director | Clement Virgo, Rude |
| Best Director | Mina Shum, Double Happiness |
| Best Director | Charles Binamé, Eldorado |
| Best Director | Patricia Rozema, When Night Is Falling |
| Best Actor | Maury Chaykin, Whale Music |
| Best Actor | Clark Johnson, Rude |
| Best Actor | Maurice Dean Wint, Rude |
| Best Actor | Peter Williams, Soul Survivor |
| Best Actress | Sandra Oh, Double Happiness |
| Best Actress | Pascale Montpetit, Eldorado |
| Best Actress | Pascale Bussières, Eldorado |
| Best Actress | Tracy Wright, Wasaga |
| Best Screenplay | Mina Shum, Double Happiness |
| Best Screenplay | Clement Virgo, Rude |
| Best Screenplay | Émile Gaudreault, Sylvie Bouchard and Michel Michaud, Louis 19, King of the Airwaves (Louis 19, le roi des ondes) |
| Best Screenplay | Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar and John Frizzell, Dance Me Outside |

### 1996

| Category | Winners and nominees |
| Best Film | Hard Core Logo |
| Best Film | Crash |
| Best Film | Long Day's Journey into Night |
| Best Film | The Confessional (Le Confessionnal) |
| Best Film | Margaret's Museum |
| Best Film | Curtis's Charm |
| Best Film | Lilies |
| Best Film | Once in a Blue Moon |
| Best Film | The Suburbanators |
| Best Film | Screamers |
| Best Director | Robert Lepage, The Confessional (Le Confessionnal) |
| Best Director | Bruce McDonald, Hard Core Logo |
| Best Director | David Cronenberg, Crash |
| Best Director | David Wellington, Long Day's Journey into Night |
| Best Director | Mort Ransen, Margaret's Museum |
| Best Director | John L'Ecuyer, Curtis's Charm |
| Best Director | John Greyson, Lilies |
| Best Director | Gary Burns, The Suburbanators |
| Best Director | Christian Duguay, Screamers |
| Best Director | Peter Mettler, Picture of Light |
| Best Actor | William Hutt, Long Day's Journey into Night |
| Best Actor | Callum Keith Rennie, Hard Core Logo |
| Best Actor | Hugh Dillon, Hard Core Logo |
| Best Actor | Lothaire Bluteau, The Confessional (Le Confessionnal) |
| Best Actor | Maurice Dean Wint, Curtis's Charm |
| Best Actor | Tom McCamus, Long Day's Journey into Night |
| Best Actor | Brent Carver, Lilies |
| Best Actor | Elias Koteas, Crash |
| Best Actor | James Spader, Crash |
| Best Actor | Clive Russell, Margaret's Museum |
| Best Actress | Martha Henry, Long Day's Journey into Night |
| Best Actress | Helena Bonham Carter, Margaret's Museum |
| Best Actress | Kate Nelligan, Margaret's Museum |
| Best Actress | Martha Burns, Long Day's Journey into Night |
| Best Actress | Deborah Kara Unger, Crash |
| Best Actress | Mary Beth Rubens, The Michelle Apartments |
| Best Actress | Deanna Milligan, Once in a Blue Moon |
| Best Actress | Tushka Bergen, Turning April |
| Best Actress | Kristin Scott Thomas, The Confessional (Le Confessionnal) |
| Best Actress | Holly Hunter, Crash |
| Best Screenplay | Noel S. Baker, Hard Core Logo |
| Best Screenplay | Robert Lepage, The Confessional (Le Confessionnal) |
| Best Screenplay | Gerald Wexler, Mort Ransen, Margaret's Museum |
| Best Screenplay | Eugene O'Neill, Long Day's Journey into Night |
| Best Screenplay | David Cronenberg, Crash |
| Best Screenplay | John L'Ecuyer, Curtis's Charm |
| Best Screenplay | Michel Marc Bouchard, Lilies |
| Best Screenplay | Gary Burns, The Suburbanators |
| Best Screenplay | Laurie Lynd and Daniel MacIvor, House |
| Best Screenplay | Dan O'Bannon and Miguel Tejada-Flores, Screamers |
| Best Documentary | Picture of Light — Peter Mettler |
| Best Documentary | Project Grizzly — Peter Lynch |
| Best Documentary | Baseball Girls — Lois Siegel |
| Best Documentary | Power — Magnus Isacsson |

## Toronto Film Critics Association
### 1990s

| Year | Film | Director(s) |
| 1997 | The Sweet Hereafter | Atom Egoyan |
| 1997 | The Hanging Garden | Thom Fitzgerald |
| 1998 | Last Night | Don McKellar |
| 1998 | Nô | Robert Lepage |
| 1998 | The Red Violin | François Girard |
| 1999 | Set Me Free | Léa Pool |
| 1999 | Felicia's Journey | Atom Egoyan |

### 2000s

| Year | Film | Director(s) |
| 2000 | waydowntown | Gary Burns |
| 2000 | Maelström | Denis Villeneuve |
| 2001 | Last Wedding | Bruce Sweeney |
| 2001 | Ginger Snaps | John Fawcett |
| 2001 | The Uncles | James Allodi |
| 2002 | Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner | Zacharias Kunuk |
| 2002 | FUBAR | Michael Dowse |
| 2002 | Soft Shell Man (Un crabe dans la tête) | André Turpin |
| 2003 | Spider | David Cronenberg |
| 2004 | The Triplets of Belleville | Sylvain Chomet |
| 2005 | A History of Violence | David Cronenberg |
| 2006 | Manufactured Landscapes | Jennifer Baichwal |
| 2006 | The Journals of Knud Rasmussen | Zacharias Kunuk |
| 2006 | Monkey Warfare | Reginald Harkema |
| 2006 | Six Figures | David Christensen |
| 2007 | Away from Her | Sarah Polley |
| 2007 | Eastern Promises | David Cronenberg |
| 2007 | Radiant City | Gary Burns, Jim Brown |
| 2008 | My Winnipeg | Guy Maddin |
| 2008 | Continental, a Film Without Guns (Continental, un film sans fusil) | Stéphane Lafleur |
| 2008 | Up the Yangtze | Yung Chang |
| 2009 | Polytechnique | Denis Villeneuve |
| 2009 | The Necessities of Life (Ce qu'il faut pour vivre) | Benoît Pilon |
| 2009 | Pontypool | Bruce McDonald |

### 2010s

| Year | Film | Director(s) |
| 2010 | Incendies | Denis Villeneuve |
| 2010 | Splice | Vincenzo Natali |
| 2010 | Trigger | Bruce McDonald |
| 2011 | Monsieur Lazhar | Philippe Falardeau |
| 2011 | Café de Flore | Jean-Marc Vallée |
| 2011 | A Dangerous Method | David Cronenberg |
| 2012 | Stories We Tell | Sarah Polley |
| 2012 | Bestiaire | Denis Côté |
| 2012 | Goon | Michael Dowse |
| 2013 | Watermark | Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky |
| 2013 | The Dirties | Matt Johnson |
| 2013 | Gabrielle | Louise Archambault |
| 2014 | Enemy | Denis Villeneuve |
| 2014 | The F Word | Michael Dowse |
| 2014 | Mommy | Xavier Dolan |
| 2015 | The Forbidden Room | Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson |
| 2015 | My Internship in Canada (Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre) | Philippe Falardeau |
| 2015 | Sleeping Giant | Andrew Cividino |
| 2016 | The Stairs | Hugh Gibson |
| 2016 | How Heavy This Hammer | Kazik Radwanski |
| 2016 | Operation Avalanche | Matt Johnson |
| 2017 | Werewolf | Ashley McKenzie |
| 2017 | Hello Destroyer | Kevan Funk |
| 2017 | Wexford Plaza | Joyce Wong |
| 2018 | Anthropocene: The Human Epoch | Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, Edward Burtynsky |
| 2018 | Ava | Sadaf Foroughi |
| 2018 | Maison du Bonheur | Sofia Bohdanowicz |
| 2019 | The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open | Kathleen Hepburn, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers |
| 2019 | Antigone | Sophie Deraspe |
| 2019 | Firecrackers | Jasmin Mozaffari |

### 2020s

| Year | Film | Director(s) |
| 2020 | Anne at 13,000 Ft. | Kazik Radwanski |
| 2020 | And the Birds Rained Down | Louise Archambault |
| 2020 | White Lie | Yonah Lewis, Calvin Thomas |
| 2021 | Beans | Tracey Deer |
| 2021 | Night Raiders | Danis Goulet |
| 2021 | Scarborough | Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson |
| 2022 | Riceboy Sleeps | Anthony Shim |
| 2022 | Brother | Clement Virgo |
| 2022 | Crimes of the Future | David Cronenberg |
| 2023 | BlackBerry | Matt Johnson |
| 2023 | Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant) | Ariane Louis-Seize |
| 2023 | Solo | Sophie Dupuis |
| 2024 | Universal Language | Matthew Rankin |
| 2024 | Rumours | Guy Maddin |
| 2024 | Shepherds | Sophie Deraspe |

## Best Canadian Documentary

| Year | Film | Director(s) |
| 2023 | Swan Song | Chelsea McMullan |
| 2023 | Rojek | Zaynê Akyol |
| 2023 | Someone Lives Here | Zack Russell |
| 2024 | Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story | Michael Mabbott, Lucah Rosenberg-Lee |
| 2024 | Yintah | Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano |
| 2024 | Your Tomorrow | Ali Weinstein |