As good as the Canadian film field was in 2023, BlackBerry was the dominant film inside Canada and outside the country. The film, based on the Canadian invented phone, set a Canadian Screen Awards record with 14 wins.
BlackBerry won 11 awards on Thursday and the major 3 awards on Friday night: best motion picture, best director (Matt Johnson), and best performance in a comedy (Jay Baruchel). Glenn Howerton (American) won best performance in a supporting role in a comedy for his portrayal of Jim Balsillie, BlackBerry's one-time CEO, on Thursday.
The previous record with 12 from Brother from last year's ceremony.
You have to wonder if Canadians interested in Canadian film know much about the films featuring the drama acting winners: Amrit Kaur (The Queen Of My Dreams) and Chantal Thuy (Ru). The Oscars goes into a description of each of the Best Picture nominees. Educating Canadians is a good idea though with 60 minutes for TV and film, there isn't enough time.
In Flames, from Zarrar Kahn, won the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award. The film was Pakistan's entry for Best International Feature Film from the last Oscars period but didn't come close to making the shortlist. Sadly, your humble narrator has only seen 2 of the 6 entries, neither of them being the winner.
A reminder that the 6 nominees is more than the Toronto International Film Festival does to reward first-time filmmakers. The festival gave out an award to the Best Canadian First Feature Film through 2019 but not since then.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant, a nominee in that category, did win Original Screenplay for Ariane Louis-Seize and Christine Doyon. Matt Johnson and Matthew Miller won Adapted Screenplay for, well, BlackBerry.
Twice Colonized was an excellent choice for Best Feature Length Documentary. We also loved Someone Lives Here. We haven't seen the other 3 films.
Winners are marked with a + sign.
Best Motion Picture
BlackBerry+
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant
Infinity Pool
Red Rooms | Les chambres rouges
Richelieu
Solo
Best Director
Matt Johnson BlackBerry+
Ariane Louis-Seize Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant
Brandon Cronenberg Infinity Pool
Henri Pardo Kanaval
Pascal Plante Red Rooms | Les chambres rouges
Sophie Dupuis Solo
Performance in a Leading Role, Drama
Mia Goth Infinity Pool
Alexander Skarsgård Infinity Pool
Rayan Dieudonné Kanaval
Oyin Oladejo Orah
Amrit Kaur The Queen Of My Dreams+
Juliette Gariépy Red Rooms | Les chambres rouges
Ariane Castellanos Richelieu
Théodore Pellerin Solo
Performance in a Leading Role, Comedy
Jay Baruchel BlackBerry+
Cody Lightning Hey, Viktor!
Félix-Antoine Bénard Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant
Sara Montpetit Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant
Magalie Lépine-Blondeau The Nature of Love | Simple comme Sylvain
Alexandra Billings Queen Tut
Susan Kent Who's Yer Father?
Chris Locke Who's Yer Father?
Performance in a Supporting Role, Drama
Charles-Aubey Houde The Dishwasher | Le plongeur
Martin Dubreuil Kanaval
Frances Fisher The King Tide
Aden Young The King Tide
Laurie Babin Red Rooms | Les chambres rouges
Nelson Coronado Richelieu
Chantal Thuy Ru+
Alexis Vincent-Wolfe Slash/Back
Performance in a Supporting Role, Comedy
Glenn Howerton BlackBerry+
Matt Johnson BlackBerry
Hannah Cheesman Hey, Viktor!
Steve Laplante Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant
Noémie O'Farrell Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant
Marc-André Leclair One Summer | Le temps d'un été
Guy Nadon One Summer | Le temps d'un été
Charlie Gillespie Suze
“Thank you Matt Johnson for not being nominated in this category,” says HUMANIST VAMPIRE’s Ariane Louis-Seize as she accepts #CdnScreenAward for Best Original Screenplay just now. (BLACKBERRY has nearly swept every category it’s up for so far. I’ve honestly lost count.) pic.twitter.com/hXz5EY7jfl
— Barry Hertz (@HertzBarry) May 31, 2024
Original Screenplay
Cody Lightning, Samuel Miller Hey, Viktor!
Ariane Louis-Seize, Christine Doyon Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant+
Brandon Cronenberg Infinity Pool
Monia Chokri The Nature of Love | Simple comme Sylvain
Pascal Plante Red Rooms | Les chambres rouges
Delphine Girard Through the Night | Quitter la nuit
Adapted Screenplay
Sarah-Maude Beauchesne Billie Blue | Coeur de slush
Matt Johnson, Matthew Miller BlackBerry+
Eric K. Boulianne, Francis Leclerc The Dishwasher | Le plongeur
Alexandra Weir North of Normal
Fawzia Mirza The Queen Of My Dreams
Jacques Davidts Ru
Best Feature Length Documentary
Beyond Paper | Au-delà du papier
Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones
The Longest Goodbye
Someone Lives Here
Twice Colonized+
Best First Feature Film Award
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant
In Flames+
Kanaval
Richelieu
Something You Said Last Night
Through the Night | Quitter la nuit
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Hope the winners and nominees give you hope to see some of these Canadian films at some point, especially Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant.
Overview Canadian television Canadian film
photo credit: Canadian Screen Awards/CBC
Twitter capture: @HertzBarry
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