#FIRSTLOOK: NEW ADDITIONS TO CBC GEM IN JANUARY 202

New unscripted comedy GHOSTING WITH LUKE HUTCHIE AND MATTHEW FINLAN (Jan. 26) follows two actors known for their work in the horror genre as they step off script and venture into some of Ontario’s most haunted places

New point-of-view docuseries FOR THE CULTURE WITH AMANDA PARRIS (Jan. 30) showcases urgent and provocative conversations that centre Blackness and Black folks

January kicks off CBC’s winter slate, with the premieres of new CBC original series including workplace comedy ONE MORE TIME (Jan. 9) and crime-solving procedural with a comedic twist WILD CARDS (Jan. 10), and the return of comedy hits RUN THE BURBS (Jan. 9) and SON OF A CRITCH (Jan. 9), as well as character-driven docuseries BOLLYWED (Jan. 14) and PUSH (Jan. 14) and the debut of new hosts Sarika Cullis-Suzuki and Anthony Morgan on THE NATURE OF THINGS (Jan. 4)

Ring in the new year with laughs on the CBC Comedy FAST channel with full-day marathons of SCHITT’S CREEK (Jan. 1-5), RUN THE BURBS (Jan. 6) and SON OF A CRITCH (Jan. 7), available on CBC Gem, LG Channels, The Roku Channel and Samsung TV Plus

International series include the exclusive Canadian premieres of Australian series SUMMER LOVE (Jan. 12), a romance-driven anthology, and haunting comedy IN LIMBO (Jan. 24), as well as Season 4 of YOUNGER (Jan. 3) from creator Darren Star (Sex and the City); police procedural DI RAY (Jan. 5) starring Parminder Nagra (Bend it Like Beckham, ER); and critically acclaimed Australian hit comedy COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS (Jan. 17)

Documentary features include SATAN WANTS YOU (Jan. 7), delving into the satanic panic phenomenon; stranger-than-fiction portrait THE MAN WHO STOLE EINSTEIN’S BRAIN (Jan. 21); and COVEN (Jan. 28), exploring what it means to identify as a witch in today’s world

Feature films include buddy comedy BOOKSMART (Jan. 1) starring Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever; award-winning Canadian drama SCARBOROUGH (Jan. 5) adapted by Catherine Hernandez from her novel; popular comedy-drama MENTEUR (COMPULSIVE LIAR) (Jan. 19); and Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winning-drama 120 BPM (Jan. 26)

#CDNSCREENAWARDS: “TRANSPLANT”, “SCARBOROUGH” and “BLACK FUTURES” AMONG BIG WINNERS AT 2022 CANADIAN SCREEN AWARDS

The 2022 Canadian Screen Award Broadcast Gala, now in its tenth year, was held tonight virtually, airing on CBC and CBC Gem, concluding Canadian Screen Week celebrations. Taking home top honours in the Television categories was CTV‘s TRANSPLANT including wins for Best Drama Series; Best Lead Actor, Drama Series for Hamza Haq; and Best Lead Actress, Drama Series for Laurence Leboeuf. 

Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson’s Scarborough – based on Catherine Hernandez‘s Novel – led the Film categories, winning a total of eight Canadian Screen Awards including: Best Motion Picture, presented by CBC; Achievement in Direction; and the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award, which comes with a $25,000 cash prize, courtesy of the John Dunning Foundation. 

In the Digital categories, Obsidian Theatre’s 21 Black Futures took home four wins, including: Best Web Program or Series, Fiction, presented with the participation of the Independent Production Fund; and Best Lead Performance, Web Program or Series for Lovell Adams-Gray. 

Wynonna Earp based on fan votes, took the Cogeco Fund Audience Choice Award, the first time the Award was given in the Television category this year. Treehouse TV’s Miss Persona won the Shaw Rocket Fund Kids’ Choice Award.

Also, eight special awards tonight were given to those who have made significant contributions to the industry. Honourees included Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Bob Cole; Gordon Sinclair Award for Broadcast Journalism recipient Rassi Nashalik; Radius Award (presented by MADE | NOUS) recipient Maitreyi Ramakrishnan; and the inaugural recipients of the Changemaker Award: Kayla Grey, Kathleen Newman-Bremang and Amanda Parris.

Complete list of winners here.

(Photo credit: levelFILM)

#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)

#TIFF21: AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT 2021 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival concludes today and Award winners were announced from this year’s Festival, which still thrived in a hybrid digital and in-person format amidst the Pandemic. Taking top honours of People’s Choice was BELFAST, directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh, in-attendance at the Festival last weekend. Traditionally this title has gone on to achieve Oscars and Awards Season success, case in point, last year’s winner NOMADLAND.

In accepting the Award, Branagh says “It was absolutely overwhelming to myself and Jamie Dornan and we talked about it over a long into a memorable night of laughter and tears in your great city!”.

Winners this year as as follows:

TIFF 2021 People’s Choice Award – Belfast, dir. Kenneth Branagh. The first runner-up is Scarborough, dirs. Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson. The second runner-up is The Power of the Dog, dir. Jane Campion.

2021 Platform Prize –  Yuni, dir. Kamila Andini Honourable mention: Mlungu Wam (Good Madam), dir. Jenna Cato Bass.

TIFF 2021 People’s Choice Documentary Award – The Rescue, dirs. E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. The first runner-up is Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over, dirs. Dave Wooley and David Heilbroner. The second runner-up is Flee, dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen.

TIFF 2021 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award – Titane, dir. Julia Ducournau. The first runner-up is You Are Not My Mother, dir. Kate Dolan. The second runner-up is DASHCAM, dir. Rob Savage.

2021 Changemaker Award, presented by the Shawn Mendes Foundation, is awarded to a Festival film that tackles issues of social change, and comes with a $10,000 cash prize – Scarborough, dirs. Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson.

Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: Ste. Anne, dir. Rhayne Vermette Special Mention: Scarborough, dirs. Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson Amplify Voices Award: The Gravedigger’s Wife, dir. Khadar Ayderus Ahmed Amplify Voices Award: A Night of Knowing Nothing, dir. Payal Kapadia

IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Film: Displaced, dir. Samir Karahoda Honourable Mention: Trumpets in the Sky, dir. Rakan Mayasi

IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Film: Angakusajaujuq – The Shaman’s Apprentice, dir. Zacharias Kunuk Honourable Mention: Nuisance Bear, dirs. Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden

IMDbPro Short Cuts Share Her Journey Award: ASTEL, dir. Ramata-Toulaye Sy

As announced previously, the winners at this year’s TIFF TRIBUTE GALA, which aired last night, were:

• Jessica Chastain — TIFF Tribute Actor Award supported by the Tory Family
• Benedict Cumberbatch — TIFF Tribute Actor Award
• Denis Villeneuve — TIFF Ebert Director Award
• Alanis Obomsawin — Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media supported by Participant Media
• Ari Wegner — TIFF Variety Artisan Award
• Danis Goulet — TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by L’Oréal Paris and supported by MGM
• Dionne Warwick — TIFF Special Tribute Award
• Moderated by Variety’s Matt Donnelly

#TIFF21: “SCARBOROUGH” REVIEW

By Mr. Will Wong

Catherine Hernandez adapts her award-winning Novel SCARBOROUGH to the big screen with Co-Directors Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson. What we get is a Film that feels very “now” addressing with a fly-on-the-wall’s authenticism the issues facing under-heard and under-seen voices in a low-income part of the story’s titular town.

The Film centers on three children: Bing (Liam Diaz) who is gay and struggling with bullying and racism at school, living with his recently-single mother who just found work at a nail parlour; Laura (Anna Claire Beitel) who is sent to live with her temperamental, unfit father; Sylvie (Mekiya Fox) is an Indigenous girl without a permanent home.

Hernandez uses some of her experiences working at a Day Care and gives us some real lived-in insight here. Her characters feel very real and in all honesty, I see a lot of myself in Bing, a boy who always felt excluded and an outsider looking-in at their classmates. Subtly, he is grappling with society’s standards of masculinity, but also a lack of acceptance from his peers who tell him repeatedly the rice he eats is disgusting. The performances by the Film’s young Cast are phenomenal, with Beitel delivering a great depth in her quiet stillness. Fox‘s strength and bravado is the BFF we always wish we had. Another standout is Aliya Kanani as Ms. Hina, an empathetic teacher with a good soul, whom herself is dealing with rigidity in a system which might not be setting these children up for success.

There aren’t big climaxes or payoffs in SCARBOROUGH, but what it gives us is compassion in understanding some very real problems and troubles facing people every day who are close to home. One of the most important films to come out of Canada in quite some time.

SCARBOROUGH screens at TIFF ’21:

Fri, Sep 10 IN-PERSON TIFF Bell Lightbox 4:00pm

Fri, Sep 10 DIGITAL PREMIERE SCREENING digital TIFF Bell Lightbox

Availability: Canada 9:00pm

Tue, Sep 14 DIGITAL SECOND SCREENING digital TIFF Bell Lightbox

Availability: Canada 5:00pm

Sat, Sep 18 IN-PERSON TIFF Bell Lightbox 6:00pm