TORONTO — “Nickel Boys” won three of the top Toronto Film Critics Association Awards on Sunday night.

The story of two Black boys sent to a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida was voted best picture, while RaMell Ross won best director and best adapted screenplay, which he shares with co-writer Joslyn Barnes.

The film based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel will hit Canadian theatres next month.

Outstanding lead performance awards went to Marianne Jean-Baptiste for her portrayal of a short-tempered woman navigating life and family in “Hard Truths,” and Mikey Madison who plays a sex worker who falls for a client in “Anora.”

Meanwhile, Yura Borisov won outstanding supporting performance for his turn as the debaucherous son of a Russian oligarch in “Anora” and Kieran Culkin received the same award for “A Real Pain,” in which he plays a free-spirited traveller on a trip with his more serious cousin.

The TFCA voted on the winners at a meeting on Sunday night, when they also picked Canadian nominees who will receive their awards at a ceremony in February.

“Rumours,” “Shepherds” and “Universal Language” are vying for best Canadian film, while “Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story,” “Yintah” and “Your Tomorrow” are in the running for best Canadian documentary.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2024.