After much deliberation and backroom meetings, the secret cabal of cultural arbiters, cineastes and cinephiles known as the Vancouver Film Critics Circle has spoken and it apparently like films that don’t involve speaking.

Michel Hazanavicius’ black-and-white love letter to Hollywood’s silent film era The Artist was awarded Best Film by the VFCC at a special ceremony held at the Railway Club last week. Jean-Marc Vallée’s Quebec film, Café de Flore, was the winner of the Best Canadian Film award.

Other major award winners in the international film category included Michael Fassbender of Shame, who won the Best Actor award and Martha Marcy May Marlene’s Elizabeth Olsen, who won the Best Actress award. Iran’s A Separation won the Best Foreign Language Film award while the Best Documentary award went to Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

Meanwhile, Peter Stormare won the Best Actor in a Canadian Film award for his performance in Ed Gass-Donnelly’s Small Town Murder Songs and Michelle Williams won the Best Actress in a Canadian Film award for Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz. The Best B.C. Film award went to Joel Heath’s People of a Feather, which chronicles the effect of hydroelectric dams on the culture of a community in Canada’s north.

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle includes critics from print, radio, on-line and television. The complete list of winners follows.

BEST FILM

The Artist

BEST ACTOR

Michael Fassbender, Shame

BEST ACTRESS

Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life/Take Shelter/The Help

BEST DIRECTOR

Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

BEST SCREENPLAY

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

A Separation

BEST CANADIAN FILM

Café de flore

BEST ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM

Peter Stormare, Small Town Murder Songs

BEST ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM

Michelle Williams, Take This Waltz

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM

Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILMMOVIEmeter

Hélène Florent, Café de flore

BEST DIRECTOR OF A CANADIAN FILM

David Cronenberg, A Dangerous Method

BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM

People of a Feather

ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE BC FILM AND TELEVISION INDUSTRY

Marv Newland