In what we would consider a bit of a surprise, Stephen Frears' The Queen has swept the Toronto Film Critics Association awards, winning Best Picture, and picking up three other awards (and even sharing another). Helen Mirren won as Best Actress for playing Queen Elizabeth II; Michael Sheen won Best Supporting Actor for Tony Blair (who he looks basically exactly like and has played before, so that’s a bit of a cheat); Peter Morgan won the Best Screenplay Award for writing The Queen; and Stephen Frears shared the Best Director prize with brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne for their drama L’Enfant.

Manufactured Landscapes won both as Best Documentary Feature and as Best Canadian Film, and documentary filmmaker Allan King has been named the winner of the Clyde Gilmour Award, an award that goes annually to a Canadian who has “enriched the understanding and appreciation of film in this country.” We really liked Empz 4 Life, so we can agree with that. The Awards will be handed out at a private ceremony to be held in January, 2007 in Toronto, and the full award list can be seen at the Toronto Film Critic Association website.