Vancouver Film Critics Circle

02/23/2026

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards go LIVE via YouTube. Tonight, 7 PM. Bring popcorn.

The 26th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards will be presented on February 23, 2026, to honour the films selected by the Vancouver Film Critics Circle as th...

01/28/2026

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER RECEIVES A COMMANDING SEVEN NOMINATIONS TO THE VANCOUVER FILM CRITICS AWARDS

Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest will compete in nearly every category, with Benicio Del Toro and Sean Penn facing off in the Best Supporting Male Actor race.

One Battle after Another will face Hamnet and Marty Supreme for the Best Picture award.

One Battle after Another, a sprawling drama that pits revolutionaries against darkest forces hiding within the Establishment received seven nominations to the Vancouver Film Critics Circle’s 2026 International Awards.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s tenth film will compete in nearly every category, including Best Picture, Director (Anderson), Screenplay, Male Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Supporting Male Actor (Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro), and Supporting Female Actor (Teyana Taylor).

Facing this formidable contender are two quietly powerful family dramas: Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, nominated for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and Female Actor (Jessie Buckley); and Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, competing in the Best Male Actor (Stellan Skarsgård), Female Actor (Renate Reinsve), and Supporting Female Actor (Elle Fanning) categories.

Sentimental Value will also face Cannes rival It Was Just an Accident and Brazil’s breakout hit The Secret Agent for the Best International Film in Non-English Language award.

In the Documentary category, Netflix-backed titles The Perfect Neighbor —an indictment of America’s “stand your ground” laws— and Cover-Up, a portrait of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, will compete against Apple TV+’s bittersweet Come See Me in the Good Light.

The international accolades will be announced at the 26th VFCC Awards ceremony to take place on Monday, February 23 at the VIFF Centre in Vancouver.

Nominees by category:

Best Picture
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle after Another

Best Director
Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle after Another
Chloé Zhao, Hamnet

Best Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle after Another
Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Chloé Zhao & Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet

Best Male Actor
Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle after Another
Joel Edgerton, Train Dreams

Best Female Actor
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Male Actor
Benicio Del Toro, One Battle after Another
Sean Penn, One Battle after Another
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Female Actor
Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Teyana Taylor, One Battle after Another

Best Documentary
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cover-Up
The Perfect Neighbor

Best International Film in Non-English Language
It Was Just an Accident (Iran)
The Secret Agent (Brazil)
Sentimental Value (Norway)

01/28/2026

Mile End Kicks, a coming-into-your-own dramedy set against the Montreal music scene, collected the most nominations for the 2026 Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards. The film received seven nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Female Actor (Barbie Ferreira), Supporting Female Actor (Juliette Gariépy), and two noms for Supporting Male Actor (Devon Bostick and Stanley Simons).

Chandler Levack’s sophomore effort will face Matt Johnson and Jay McCarroll’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. The follow-up to the popular television series will compete in five categories, Best Picture, Director (Johnson), Screenplay (Johnson and McCarroll), Actor (Johnson) and Supporting Male Actor (McCarroll).

Rounding out the top category is the foremost Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk’s latest film, Uiksaringitara / Wrong Husband. The Arctic-set fairy tale is in the running for Best Picture and Best Director (Kunuk).

Two of the nominees in the Best BC Film category explore the immigrant experience from different angles: Sophy Romvari’s Blue Heron tackles the subject from the perspective of a Hungarian family relocating to Vancouver Island while dealing with the eldest son’s mental health issues. In turn, Ava Maria Safai’s Foreigner revolves around a teenager of Turkish descent whose decision to dye her hair blond has deadly consequences.

Romvari will also compete in the One to Watch category, alongside the director of the documentary Modern W***e, Nicole Bazuin, and the team behind the horror film Dream Eater, Alex Lee Williams, Mallory Drumm and Jay Drakulic.

The winner of the One to Watch award will receive a prize of $1,000, courtesy of TELEFILM Canada. The winner of Best BC Film will receive $500, courtesy of the Canadian Media Producers Association, BC Producers Branch.

Winners will be announced on Monday, February 23 at a ceremony at the VIFF Centre in Vancouver.

Nominees by category:

Best Picture
Mile End Kicks
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
Uiksaringitara / Wrong Husband

Best Director
Matt Johnson, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
Zacharias Kunuk, Uiksaringitara / Wrong Husband
Chandler Levack, Mile End Kicks

Best Screenplay
Matt Johnson & Jay McCarroll, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
Chandler Levack, Mile End Kicks
Daniel Roher & Robert Ramsey, Tuner

Best Male Actor
Michael Greyeyes, Meadowlarks
Matt Johnson, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
Leo Woodall, Tuner

Best Female Actor
Barbie Ferreira, Mile End Kicks
Tatiana Maslany, Keeper
Iringó Réti, Blue Heron

Best Supporting Male Actor
Devon Bostick, Mile End Kicks
Jay McCarroll, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
Stanley Simons, Mile End Kicks

Best Supporting Female Actor
Juliette Gariépy, Mile End Kicks
Alex Rice, Meadowlarks
Michelle Thrush, Meadowlarks

Best Canadian Documentary
Forward
Lunatic: The Luna Vachon Story
Modern W***e

One to Watch ($1,000 prize donated by TELEFILM Canada)
Nicole Bazuin, Modern W***e
Sophy Romvari, Blue Heron
Alex Lee Williams, Mallory Drumm & Jay Drakulic, Dream Eater

Best BC Film ($500 prize donated by CMPA-BC)
Blue Heron
Foreigner
Forward

Best BC Director
Sophy Romvari, Blue Heron
Ava Marie Safai, Foreigner
Nic Collar, Forward
Tasha Hubbard, Meadowlarks

Total nominations by film:

Mile End Kicks — 7
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie — 5
Meadowlarks — 4
Blue Heron — 4
Forward — 3
Uiksaringitara / Wrong Husband — 2
Modern W***e — 2
Foreigner — 2
Tuner — 2
Keeper — 1
Lunatic: The Luna Vachon Story — 1
Dream Eater — 1