The Toronto Film Critics Association held its 2011 awards gala last night — at the historic Carlu — and named Philippe Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar” the best Canadian film of the year. (It opens at the end of the month.)

Above is a grainy photograph of Falardeau accepting the prize, which is accompanied by a $15,000 cheque from Rogers Communications, flanked by Rogers VP Phil Lind and our gracious presenter Andrea Martin. Next year I bring a proper camera.

There were many other high-profile guests and presenters — David Cronenberg, Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar, Sarah Gadon, Joe Cornish, Jean-Marc Vallee, Patricia Rozema, Cameron Bailey, Ingrid Veninger — and you’ll be seeing all of them pop up on newscasts and wire stories over the course of the day, because it’s awards season and apparently we count now.

You can also see more awful photos by following @TFCA_Tweets on the Twitter, though I really have no idea why you’d want to do that.