Canada's entry to the Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards, Antigone took most of the major awards at the 2020 Canadian Screen Awards online last night.
The Quebecois film won Best Motion Picture, Adapted Screenplay, best editing, and individual acting awards for Nahema Ricci (Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role) and Nour Belkhiria (Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role).
Sophie Deraspe, who directed Antigone and won the Adapted Screenplay award from the Sophocles play, specifically cast unknown people for the roles, including Ricci and Belkhiria.
Canada's previous Oscars entry Chien de Garde only won a major award for Théodore Pellerin, who was the narrator for the Canadian films section last night.
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Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn took home a couple of awards for The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open. Tailfeathers and Hepburn won for Achievement in Direction and Original Screenplay. The film also won Achievement in Cinematography.
Mark O'Brien won Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his role as Terry Sawchuk in Goalie. You might recall that Goalie was shown on CBC in March as part of its Movie Night in Canada programming.
The legendary Remy Girard won Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for And the Birds Rained Down | Il pleuvait des oiseaux
The awkward Murmur from Heather Young won the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award. Menteur | Compulsive Liar won the Golden Screen Award for the Canadian film that made the most money at the box office.
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up won the 2020 Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary over Alexandre le fou; If You Could Read My Mind; Invisible Essence: The Little Prince; and Prey.
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Kuessipan and The Twentieth Century were outstanding films that got shut out of the major awards. The latter film was also up for the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award. The Twentieth Century won for Costume Design, Hair, and Art Direction / Production Design.
The Song of Names from Francois Girard had the most nominations with 9 and won 5 awards: Makeup; Sound Editing; Overall Sound; Original Score; and Original Song.
Belkhiria didn't have a lot of screen time. I haven't seen most of the films in that category so I am at a disadvantage. Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Violet Nelson were both nominated in the best actress category for The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open. Nelson would have taken supporting actress if she had been in the category.
In the battle of Canadian historical figures, O'Brien had a tough role in becoming Terry Sawchuk but Dan Beirne blew us away as William Lyon Mackenzie King in The Twentieth Century.
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Pandemic be damned, having an individual night to celebrate Canadian film was a glorious notion. When we do this in person, let's have a night for TV and a night for film.
The 2020 Canadian Screen Awards are presented by CBC and CTV with the support of Telefilm Canada and Canada Media Fund.
photo credit: Antigone film