#FIRSTLOOK: “SCARBOROUGH”, “NIGHT RAIDERS”, AND “SORT OF” LEAD 2022 CANADIAN SCREEN AWARD NOMINEES

Nominees were announced this morning for the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards. The Awards honouring the finest in Canadian Film, Television and Digital will be presented April 10, 2022 virtually, wrapping-up a week of celebrations.

CBC series Sort Of starring Bilal Baig as a gender-fluid millennial, leads both television and overall 2022 Canadian Screen Award nominations with 13, followed by CBC’s Pretty Hard Cases and CTV Sci-Fi Channel’s Wynonna Earp with 11, and CBC’s Coroner and Kim’s Convenience with 10.

Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson’s Scarborough and Danis Goulet’s Night Raiders top Film nominations with 11 per film, while Michael McGowan’s All My Puny Sorrows sees eight and both Bretten Hannam’s Wildhood and Ivan Grbovic’s Drunken Birds | Les oiseaux ivres receive six. Scarborough, Night Raiders, All My Puny Sorrows and Drunken Birds all premiered at TIFF ’21 and are named on their Canada’s Top Ten list.

21 Black Futures and For the Record both lead Digital Media nominations with eight, followed by The Communist’s Daughter with six. 

This year’s Canadian Screen Week schedule will be as follows:

Monday, April 4

7:00 PM ET – The Broadcast News Awards

8:30 PM ET – The Documentary & Factual Awards

Tuesday, April 5

7:00 PM ET – The Sports Programming Awards, presented by CTV

8:30 PM ET – The Digital & Immersive Awards

Wednesday, April 6
7:00 PM ET – The Children’s & Animation Awards, presented by Shaw Rocket Fund, supported by 9 Story Media Group

8:30 PM ET – The Lifestyle & Reality Awards, presented by CTV

Thursday, April 7

7:00 PM ET – The Drama & Comedy Crafts Awards

8:30 PM ET – The Scripted Programs & Performance Awards, presented by CTV

Friday, April 8

8:30 PM ET – The Cinematic Arts Awards, presented by Telefilm Canada, supported by Cineplex

Sunday, April 10

8:00 PM (9:00 PM AT / 9:30 PM NT) – 2022 Canadian Screen Awards on CBC and CBC Gem.

The 2022 Canadian Screen Awards Gala airs on CBC and CBC Gem on Sunday, April 10, 2022 at 8:00 PM (9:00 PM AT / 9:30 PM NT).

(Photo credit: levelFILM)

#TFCA: “DRIVE MY CAR” NAMED BEST FILM OF 2021 BY TORONTO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

The Toronto Film Critics Association have announced their 2021 Award Winners today. Winning top honours of Best Film is DRIVE MY CAR, a Japanese Drama written and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. The Film is Japan’s official entry at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Runners-up were LICORICE PIZZA and THE POWER OF THE DOG.

The Rogers Best Canadian Film Award will award one winner $100,000 from Rogers Communications Inc., with two runners-up each receiving $5,000. Finalists in this category are Beans, directed by Tracey Deer; Night Raiders, directed by Danis Goulet; Scarborough, directed by Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson. The winner will be announced at their upcoming (date TBD) Awards Gala.

List of winners below:

Best Film

DRIVE MY CAR

Runners-up: LICORICE PIZZA

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Best Director

Jane Campion (THE POWER OF THE DOG)

Runners-up: Hamaguchi Ryusuke (DRIVE MY CAR)

Denis Villeneuve (DUNE)

Best Actress

Olivia Colman (THE LOST DAUGHTER)

Runners-up: Penelope Cruz (PARALLEL MOTHERS)

Kristen Stewart (SPENCER)

Best Actor

Denzel Washington (THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH)

Runners-up: Benedict Cumberbatch (THE POWER OF THE DOG)

Andrew Garfield (TICK, TICK…BOOM!)

Best Supporting Actress

Jessie Buckley (THE LOST DAUGHTER)

Runners-up: Kirsten Dunst (THE POWER OF THE DOG)

Ruth Negga (PASSING)

Best Supporting Actor

Bradley Cooper (LICORICE PIZZA)

Runners-up: Ciaran Hinds (BELFAST)

Kodi Smit-McPhee (THE POWER OF THE DOG)

Best Screenplay

DRIVE MY CAR

Runners-up: LICORICE PIZZA

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Best Animated Feature

FLEE

Runners-up: ENCANTO

THE MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES

Best Documentary

SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)

Runners-up: FLEE

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

Best Foreign Language Film

DRIVE MY CAR

Runners-up: PETITE MAMAN

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Best First Feature

THE LOST DAUGHTER

Runners-up: PASSING

PIG

SHIVA BABY

More to come here.

#GIVEAWAY: ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD OF “NIGHT RAIDERS”

Elevation Pictures x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to win a Digital Download of NIGHT RAIDERS. The Film, produced by Taika Waititi, premiered at TIFF ’21!

Synopsis:

The year is 2043. A military occupation controls disenfranchised cities in post-war North America. Children are property of the State. A desperate Cree woman joins an underground band of vigilantes to infiltrate a State children’s academy and get her daughter back. Night Raiders is a female-driven dystopian drama about resilience, courage and love.

To enter for a chance to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK.

Enter for a chance to #win a Digital Download of #NightRaiders.

How: https://t.co/gdbyGLrIco pic.twitter.com/4WE04ywkGc

— MR. WILL WONG 📸 (@mrwillw) November 29, 2021

Rules and regulations here.

NIGHT RAIDERS is on Digital and On-Demand November 30, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)

#TIFF21: “NIGHT RAIDERS” REVIEW

Review by David Baldwin

In the not too distant future, war has broken out across North America and has resulted in the military taking control of what is left. They take children to train at State Academies, never to be seen from their parents again. Niska (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) has been living off the land, protecting and keeping her daughter Waseese (Brooklyn Letexier-Hart) away from the military’s prying arms for her entire life. But after Waseese gets injured and taken away, Niska must find a way to get her back.

NIGHT RAIDERS feels timely and incredibly relevant given the controversies around Residential Schools over the past few months. In her feature-length debut, Writer/Director Danis Goulet has created a searing portrait of Native Canadian life that pulls no punches with its allusions and references to everything from colonialism to genocide to assimilation. She has a lot on her mind and does her best to wrap all of these elements under the guise of a futuristic dystopic Thriller that does not look far off from our current hellscape. While Goulet’s work here will make you stand up and take notice, it feels like the script and pacing could have been better finessed and tightened. None of the supporting characters has any chance to develop beyond being a plot device, and many of her set-ups get very little in the way of payoffs. Goulet knows the story she wants to tell, but the prologue is too long and makes the rest of the Film feel rushed and disjointed. It feels like the story would have been better suited to a mini-series than a feature.

All of that said, I was impressed with the minimal Special Effects, the grimy Production Design and the lead performances from Tailfeathers and especially Letexier-Hart. Both are just as terrific together as they are apart, and are more in tune with the story than the film around them. Their characters and relationship feel genuinely lived in, and their raw emotions give the Film its heart. This is the story of a mother and a daughter first, and a Sci-Fi film second.

NIGHT RAIDERS screens at TIFF ’21:

Fri, Sep 10 Roy Thomson Hall 5:30 PM

Sat, Sep 11 digital TIFF Bell Lightbox 1:00 PM

Fri, Sep 17 digital TIFF Bell Lightbox 9:00 PM

Sat, Sep 18 TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 4:00 PM

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR “NIGHT RAIDERS”

Premiering at TIFF ’21 and from Executive Producer Taika Waititi, we present to you the new Trailer for NIGHT RAIDERS by Danis Goulet.

Synopsis:

The year is 2043. A military occupation controls disenfranchised cities in post-war North America. Children are property of the State. A desperate Cree woman joins an underground band of vigilantes to infiltrate a State children’s academy and get her daughter back. Night Raiders is a female-driven dystopian drama about resilience, courage and love.

Elevation Pictures release NIGHT RAIDERS October 8, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)

#TIFF21: FIRST WAVE OF FILMS ANNOUNCED FOR 2021 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Best news all year! We’re so excited to hear confirmed today a return to the in-person component at this Fall’s Toronto International Film Festival. Along with that, the first wave of Films to screen at the Festival September 9-18, 2021 have been announced!

Denis Villeneuve‘s DUNE will headline the Festival with a special screening at the historic Cinesphere IMAX Theatre. Other high-profile films to debut at the Festival include: Le Bal des Folles, Belfast (Kenneth Branagh), Benediction (Terence Davies), Charlotte (Eric Warin, Tahir Rana), Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over (Dave Wooley), The Guilty (Antoine Fuqua), Jagged (Alanis Morissette Documentary by Alison Klayman), Lakewood (Philip Noyce), Last Night in Soho (Edgar Wright), Night Raiders (Danis Goulet), Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma), and The Starling (Theodore Melfi) are part of TIFF‘s Official Selection.

What does this mean? With Quarantine rules having relaxed in Ontario, we could be seeing the likes of Melissa McCarthy, Timothy Olyphant, Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Anya Taylor-Joy, Catriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Alanis Morissette, Riley Keough, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Irvine and several more in-town this September!

In total there will be 100 films premiering at TIFF ’21 plus public digital experiences presented by Bell, with film screenings on digital TIFF Bell Lightbox available across Canada. In Conversation With… talks and interactive Q&A sessions with actors and creators will be hosted on TIFF Bell Digital Talks, available worldwide.

The 2021 TIFF Tribute Awards once again will be returning this year, and will be broadcast nationally by CTV and streamed internationally by Variety.

Digital ticket package sales start June 30, 2021 for TIFF’s Contributors Circle Members and all ticket dates are available at tiff.net/tickets. Ticket sales are serviced online and by phone only.

(Photo credit: Warner Bros. Canada)