I’m very pleased to announce the results of the 2nd edition of the CAST Awards. I “cast” an even wider net this year, and received 40 completed ballots from film lovers in the Greater Toronto Area. Here are the CAST Top 25 voted on from a predetermined list of just over 100 films which had the most preliminary support. Voters ranked up to 25 films on their ballot from top to bottom, with first choices receiving 25 points, second choices 24, etc. The Points column lists the total score for each film, the Mentions column indicates the number of ballots it appeared on, and the Seen column indicates the total number of voters who have seen the film, even if they didn’t include it on their ballot. I’m proud of the group of critics we’ve gathered, even though I’ve described us elsewhere as “a ragtag group of semi-professional film bloggers, tweeters and Lightbox lobby loiterers.” Of the 112 films on the ballot, more than half our voting group saw at least 40, and five saw more than 70!
| 1. Drive | 548 | 31 | 36 |
| 2.The Artist | 479 | 26 | 29 |
| 3. The Tree of Life | 460 | 24 | 27 |
| 4. Attack the Block | 386 | 25 | 36 |
| 5. Take Shelter | 376 | 20 | 21 |
| 6. Midnight in Paris | 330 | 24 | 31 |
| 7. Melancholia | 306 | 19 | 26 |
| 8. Shame | 284 | 19 | 28 |
| 9. Beginners | 281 | 19 | 24 |
| 10. Martha Marcy May Marlene | 279 | 20 | 24 |
| 11. Hanna | 235 | 18 | 28 |
| 12. Café de Flore | 207 | 9 | 13 |
| 13.The Raid | 205 | 12 | 15 |
| 14. Blue Valentine | 192 | 11 | 30 |
| 15. Bridesmaids | 185 | 18 | 31 |
| 16.The Muppets | 179 | 14 | 25 |
| 17. The Illusionist | 174 | 11 | 22 |
| 18. The Descendants | 172 | 11 | 16 |
| 19. Super 8 | 167 | 16 | 31 |
| 20. Contagion | 167 | 14 | 22 |
| 21. The Interrupters | 167 | 10 | 12 |
| 22. Tabloid | 165 | 12 | 20 |
| 23. Hugo | 162 | 10 | 23 |
| 24. The Trip | 159 | 14 | 24 |
| 25. Meek’s Cutoff | 159 | 10 | 18 |
Participants:
- Corey Atad (@CoreyAtad)
- Monika Bartyzel (@MBartyzel)
- Joseph Belanger (@blacksheeprevs)
- Brad Brisco (@BradBrisco)
- Mike Cameron (@thesubstream)
- Julian Carrington (@aHealthyDisdain)
- Peter Chu (@pchu1234)
- Jay Clarke (@Horror_Section)
- Danielle D’Ornellas (@ellstar)
- Jonathan Doyle (@Media_Party)
- Polly Esther
- Sarah Gopaul (@SarahGopaul)
- Kurt Halfyard (@triflic)
- Nigel Hamid (@TorontoVerve)
- Philip Hamilton
- Robert Harding
- Leora Heilbronn (@leoraheilbronn)
- Matt Hodgson (@EntertainMaven)
- Jake Howell (@Jake_Howell)
- Sasha James (@ThatSashaJames)
- Steve Johnson (@stevethecynic)
- Paolo Kagaoan (@paolocase)
- Peter Kuplowsky (@PeterKapow)
- Chris Magee (@jfilmpowwow)
- James McNally (@TOscreenshots)
- Ryan McNeil (@Matinee_CA)
- Christopher Misch (@NextProjection)
- Heidy Morales (@HeidyMo)
- Mike Pereira
- Corey Pierce (@coreypierceart)
- Titania Plant (@classicflikchik)
- Matthew Price (@mattmovies)
- Lindsay Ragone (@LindsayRagone)
- Courtney Small (@SmallMind)
- Brooke Smith
- Ian Stuart
- Bob Turnbull (@TheLogicalMind)
- Donna @TOfilmfest (@TOfilmfest)
- Greg @TOfilmfest (@TOfilmfest)
- David Voigt (@PopCulturePoet)
Here is a PDF with each person’s ballot and the collated results, with a few more interesting stats included. Voters could opt out of having their ballot included, so you may notice some omissions, but rest assured that each submitted ballot contributed to the overall results.
And for those still reading, here is my final CAST ballot, ranking 25 films from the list of eligible films. In a future blog post, I’ll come up with my own 2011 list(s), similar to what I did last year and in 2009 and 2008.
My CAST Ballot
- The Tree of Life (review)
- The Artist (review)
- Martha Marcy May Marlene (review)
- The Interrupters
- Take Shelter
- This is Not a Film (review)
- The Descendants
- Win Win
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Drive
- Attack the Block
- Beginners
- Hanna
- Rango
- ALPS (review)
- Super 8
- Goodbye First Love (review)
- The Guard
- Contagion
- Midnight in Paris
- Bridesmaids
- Shame (review)
- Miss Bala (review)
- Cave of Forgotten Dreams
- The Ides of March
{ 5 comments }







