Nickel Boys was named Best Picture by the Toronto Film Critics Association

The Toronto Film Critics Association has announced the narrative debut of RaMell Ross Nickel Boys as his best film of 2024, giving the film more prominence in the awards season.

In Sunday’s vote, Toronto film critics also awarded the drama about the friendship between two young African-Americans who run a Jim Crow-era Florida correctional school for best director to Ross, who shared the best adapted screenplay award with Joslyn Barnes.

The best picture was the runner-up picture by Sean Baker Anora and Brady Corbett Brutalist. Nickel Boysthe 2019 adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel, made its Telluride debut and stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.

In the acting categories, the crown for best leading role was shared by Marianne Jean-Baptiste for her role in Mike Leigh’s film Hard truths and Mikey Madison for Anora. And the prize for the best supporting performance was shared by Yura Borisov for Anora and Kieran Culkin in Jesse Eisenberg’s film Real pain.

Additionally, the Toronto Critics Award for Best Performance went to Clarence Maclin for his role in Sing Singwhile Félix-Antoine Duval was awarded Best Performance in a Canadian Film for his role in Shepherds.

On the other hand, the best original screenplay award went to Payal Kapadia for the drama set in Mumbai All that we imagine as light, which also earned recognition for Best International Feature Film. And the award for the best animated feature film went to director Gints Zilbalodis Flow, while Mati Diop’s Dahomey was declared the best documentary film of 2024.

He won the award for the best first feature film woman of the hour, Anne Kendrick’s directorial debut.