Toronto film critics name Polytechnique top Canadian feature

Quebec cinema was the toast of the Toronto Film Critics Association Tuesday as Denis Villeneuve's Polytechnique was named best Canadian feature of 2009 and phenom moviemaker Xavier Dolan got a rising artist award.

"At least nobody can accuse us of being Toronto-centric," Brian D. Johnson, TFCA president and film critic for Maclean's magazine, said at the awards gala attended by eminent directors including David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan.

Polytechnique, which examines the murderous rampage at cole Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989, won the $10,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award.

It was up against another Quebec film, The Necessities of Life, directed by Benot Pilon, as well as Bruce McDonald's Pontypool.

Johnson called Polytechnique "a film of astonishing courage," and Villeneuve said it was emotionally taxing to make."It was a very long and tough process to do this movie," he said in an interview on the red carpet.

"It was a fantastic, human voyage, but still it was a tough one and it was tough from the first interview until the last day of editing."

Dolan, 20, received the $5,000 inaugural Jay Scott Prize for emerging talent for his smash directorial debut, I Killed My Mother (J'ai tu ma mre), a semi-autobiographical portrayal of a teen's explosive relationship his single mom, Chantale, portrayed by Anne Dorval.

Dolan also wrote, produced and starred in the searing drama, which won three awards last year at the Cannes International Film Festival.