What a difference with a pandemic and without a Windsor International Film Festival. Sometimes, we are a bit separated from Canadian films that get nominated for the 2021 Canadian Screen Awards. That distance is even larger this year.
Despite that, your humble narrator has seen Blood Quantum, the Canadian film with the most nominations with 10. Unfortunately, best picture is not one of them.
Funny Boy came in with 9 nominations, including Best Motion Picture. Charles Officer's Akilla's Escape had 8 nominations. Beans and Violation had 5 nominations.
The Canadian Screen Awards have 2 women in the Best Director category with Deepa Mehta Funny Boy and Sophie Dupuis Underground | Souterrain.
Best motion picture
Beans
Funny Boy
Nadia, Butterfly
The Nest
Underground | Souterrain
Best director
Deepa Mehta Funny Boy
Pascal Plante Nadia, Butterfly
Sean Durkin The Nest
Brandon Cronenberg Possessor
Sophie Dupuis Underground | Souterrain
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Saul Williams Akilla’s Escape
Michael Greyeyes Blood Quantum
Alex Wolff Castle in the Ground
Lance Henriksen Falling
Joakim Robillard Underground | Souterrain
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Michelle Pfeiffer French Exit
Carrie Coon The Nest
Carmen Moore Rustic Oracle
Rosalie Pépin Vacarme
Madeleine Sims-Fewer Violation
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Thamela Mpumlwana Akilla’s Escape
Ronnie Rowe Jr. Akilla’s Escape
Stephen McHattie Come to Daddy
Colm Feore Sugar Daddy
Jesse LaVercombe Violation
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Groening Bone Cage
Agam Darshi Funny Boy
Mary Walsh Happy Place
Micheline Lanctôt Laughter | Le rire
Felicity Huffman Tammy's Always Dying
Funny Boy is the only film I've seen in the best picture and best director categories. I do have enthusiasm for Beans and Nadia, Butterfly. The Nest looks like an American film. The Academy loves the work of Sophie Dupuis more than your humble narrator does.
Best Actor I've seen Michael Greyeyes in Blood Quantum, an excellent acting performance and film. Alex Wolff in Castle in the Ground is a puzzler in that Joey Klein doesn't care about his characters in his films. Wolff's character walks around in a haze with no real reason for making horrible decisions. Williams, Wolff, and Henriksen are American.
Best Actress Pfeiffer and Coon make an American win a 40% possibility in films that look very American. Pépin plays a 13-year-old in Vacarme. Madeleine Sims-Fewer is reportedly very powerful in Violation.
Best Supporting Actor A category filled with actors I've seen in other roles: Rowe, McHattie, and Feore. Mpumlwana is a boy in this category.
Best Supporting Actress Have seen the performances of Darshi and Huffman (the lone American). Huffman's character is over the top, almost cartoonish. That is good enough for a nomination, but not for a win. Darshi was one of the best highlights in Funny Boy. Walsh is known more for her TV work but has an extensive film career.
2020 TIFF wrapup
2020 TIFF preview
2020 TIFF Canadian film preview
When TIFF concentrated on Canadian films for the opening night film
2020 TIFF Rising Stars
Original Screenplay
Charles Officer, Wendy Brathwaite Akilla’s Escape
Jeff Barnaby Blood Quantum
Evan Morgan The Kid Detective
Sean Durkin The Nest
Sophie Dupuis Underground | Souterrain
Adapted Screenplay
Taylor Olson Bone Cage
Patrick deWitt French Exit
Shyam Selvadurai, Deepa Mehta Funny Boy
Catherine Léger Goddess of the Fireflies | La déesse des mouches à feu
Johnny Darrell, Andrew Duncan, Loretta Sarah Todd Monkey Beach
Funny Boy; The Nest; and Underground | Souterrain are best picture nominees have screenplay nominations. This is a good category for Funny Boy. Based on Chien de Garde, can't imagine Sophie Dupuis getting nominated for a screenplay award. I've seen Blood Quantum; Monkey Beach; and Funny Boy in these categories. Would love to see Jeff Barnaby win in his category.
Best Feature Length Documentary
The Forbidden Reel Ariel Nasr, Sergeo Kirby, Kat Baulu, Annette Clarke
Stateless Michèle Stephenson, Jennifer Holness, Lea Marin, Anita Lee, Joe Brewster, Sudz Sutherland
Wandering: A Rohingya Story | Errance sans retour Mélanie Carrier, Olivier Higgins
A Woman, My Mother | Une femme, ma mère Claude Demers
The World is Bright Ying Wang, Jian Ping Su, Jordan Paterson
Last year, I saw 2 of the nominees and almost a third one. I haven't seen any of these nominees.
Best First Feature Film Award
Beans Tracey Deer
The Kid Detective Evan Morgan
Tito Grace Glowicki
Vacarme Neegan Trudel
Violation Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli
Beans and Violation played at TIFF 2020. I know Grace Glowicki's work as an actor, so that makes me more likely to see her film.
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Canadian Screen Week will take place May 17-20.
We are trying something different in 2021. Canadian television and Canadian film deserve to have their own individual stories, listing the wonderful nominations. You can click the other options below.
Overview Canadian television Canadian film
photo credit: Beans film
Comments