The Canadian film Shiva Baby won the John Cassavetes Award for the best feature made for under $500,000. The award was given out at the 2022 Film Independent Spirit Awards at Santa Monica, CA.
Shiva Baby beat out Cryptozoo; Jockey; Sweet Thing; and This Is Not a War Story. Writer/director/producer Emma Seligman accepted the award.
Shiva Baby's budget was reportedly around $200,000.
Canadian film case study: Shiva Baby
Emma Seligman talking with Tom Power on Q (CBC Radio One)
The sugar daddy concept making its way into Canadian films
Shiva Baby is a co-production with Canada and the United States. Seligman is essentially the Canadian content in the film. The film is really good and deserves all these accolades. As we noted earlier, "We would love to see what Seligman can do with making a film in Canada with Canadians."
Independent Spirit Awards nominations have some Canadian flair
Michael Greyeyes went 0-for-2 inside the tent on the beach in Santa Monica. Greyeyes was nominated for Best Male Lead for Wild Indian but lost to Simon Rex for Red Rocket. He was also nominated for Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series for Rutherford Falls but lost to Lee Jung Jae for Squid Game. An honour to be nominated.
Reservation Dogs, which features several Canadians in the cast, won awards for Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series and Best New Scripted Series. Devery Jacobs, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis, Sarah Podemski, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, FunnyBone were acknowledged in the Ensemble Cast award.
Canadian film review: Parsley Days
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Factoring in that $500,000 American is $400,000 Canadian, would be curious to know how many Canadian films exceed that budget. Canadian films in spirit such as French Exit and My Salinger Year likely exceed that budget.
IFC carries the Independent Spirit Awards every year even though the channel and its sibling channel, Sundance Channel, have long abandoned independent films.
Your humble narrator is intrigued by quality films made with a small budget. Parsley Days leaps to mind. There isn't enough appreciation for Canadian film on any level but the equivalent of the John Cassavetes Award, especially in a tent alongside English Bay in Vancouver, in Canada would be wonderful.
Shiva Baby is currently airing on Crave in Canada and HBO Max in the United States.
video and photo credit: Film Independent Spirit Awards
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