UP IN THE AIR, Colin Firth, Carey Mulligan Win in Vancouver

George Clooney, Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air (Dale Robinette / Paramount)

Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air won three awards at the 10th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards, held at the Railway Club in downtown Vancouver on Monday night. Reitman's socially conscious comedy-drama won awards for Best Film, Best Supporting Actress (Vera Farmiga) and Best Screenplay (Reitman and Sheldon Turner).  In Up in the Air, George Clooney plays a corporate-downsizing expert who spends much of his life either at airports or on airplanes.

Once again, The Hurt Locker’s Kathryn Bigelow won the Best Director prize, while Carey Mulligan was chosen the Best Actress for Lone Scherfig's An Education, and Christoph Waltz was the Best Supporting Actor for Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Colin Firth was the a little surprising Best Actor winner for his gay college professor in A Single Man.

Olivier Assayas' family drama Summer Hours won the Best Foreign Language Film, while Sacha Gervasi's Anvil: The Story of Anvil won the Best Documentary award. 

In the Canadian categories, Xavier Dolan's I Killed My Mother was the expected big winner. Dolan's story of a gay son at odds with this straight mother won four awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Dolan), and Best Supporting Actor (François Arnaud).

Among the other Canadian category winners were Best Actress Emily Blunt for The Young Victoria and Best Supporting Actress Gabrielle Rose for Excited. The Best British Columbia Film winner was Pete McCormack's Facing Ali, a documentary about boxers who pounded on or got pounded by Muhammad Ali.

Documentary filmmaker Nettie Wild and Vancouver International Film Festival founder Leonard Schein both received the Achievement Award for Contribution to the British Columbia Film Industry. Georgia Straight critic Ken Eisner presented the award to Nettie Wild, while current VIFF director Alan Franey presented Leonard Schein with his award. 

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle is composed of Vancouver-based film writers and critics working in on-line, radio, print, and television journalism. A complete list of winners follows.

BEST FILM

Up in the Air

BEST CANADIAN FILM

J'ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Summer Hours, France

BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM

Facing Ali

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Anvil – The Story of Anvil

BEST DIRECTOR

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTOR

Colin Firth, A Single Man

BEST ACTRESS

Carey Mulligan, An Education

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air

BEST SCREENPLAY

Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

BEST ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM

Xavier Dolan, J'ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)

BEST ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM

Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR  IN A CANADIAN FILM

François Arnaud, J'ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM 

Gabrielle Rose, Excited

BEST DIRECTOR OF A CANADIAN FILM

Xavier Dolan, J'ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)

ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM INDUSTRY

LEONARD SCHEIN

ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM INDUSTRY

NETTIE WILD