Vancouverfilm/ Vancouver Film Critics Circle
Kathleen Hepburn’s Never Steady, Never Still, a meditative portrait of a mother’s battle with Parkinson’s while her son comes to terms with his identity, is nominated for Best Canadian Film along with two other exceptional first features: Cory Bowles’ Black Cop, a timely satire about an African-Canadian police officer who fights back against entitled white citizens, and Antoine Bourges’ Fail to Appear, a quiet and precise study of institutional systems of support available for those on parole.
A Skin So Soft and Maison du bonheur are nominated for Best Documentary, and their directors Sofia Bohdanowicz (Maison) and Denis Côté (Skin) are also represented in Best Director. Kathleen Hepburn rounds out that category, and Jacquelyn Mills’ In the Waves and Charles Officer’s Unarmed Verses are the other Best Documentary nominees.
Two portraits of Canadian life in small communities–Gregoire and Never Steady, Never Still—are nominated for Best BC Film along with two formally experimental documentary hybrids about indigenous subjects: The Road Forwardand Luk’Luk’I. 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.
Fake Tattoos garnered two nominations, one for Rose-Marie Perreault in Best Actress and the other for her co-lead Anthony Therrien in Best Actor. Deragh Campbell (Fail to Appear) and Shirley Henderson (Never Steady, Never Still) are the other Best Actress nominees, while Jared Abrahamson (Gregoire) and Ronnie Rowe (Black Cop) round out the Best Actor category.
Winners of the Canadian awards will be announced at the VFCC’s awards ceremony on Monday January 8, 2018. A full list of nominees in the Canadian categories follows
Best Picture
Black Cop
Fail to Appear
Never Steady, Never Still
Best Director
Sofia Bohdanowicz, Maison du bonheur
Denis Côté, A Skin So Soft
Kathleen Hepburn, Never Steady, Never Still
Best Screenplay
Cody Bown, Gregoire
Kathleen Hepburn, Never Steady, Never Still
Pascal Plante, Fake Tattoos
Best Actress
Deragh Campbell, Fail to Appear
Shirley Henderson, Never Steady, Never Still
Rose-Marie Perreault, Fake Tattoos
Best BC Film
Gregoire
Never Steady, Never Still
The Road Forward
Luk’Luk’i