TORONTO — A topical Indigenous thriller and a groundbreaking sitcom about a gender-fluid millennial lead the nominees for this year's Canadian Screen Awards.
The dystopian, Indigenous-led film "Night Raiders" and suburban drama "Scarborough" top the film categories with 11 nominations each, and compete in the best film category against "Drunken Birds," "Night of the Kings" and "Wildhood." CBC comedy "Sort Of" leads the pack overall with 13 nods.
Cree-Métis director Danis Goulet also earned writing, directing and best first feature nominations for "Night Raiders," which the filmmaker spent eight years making.
"I really didn't expect 11 nominations for our film and am just totally overwhelmed and filled with so much joy and gratitude," the Saskatchewan-born Goulet said in a phone interview.
"It's been an incredible journey over many years and with so many people pouring their hearts and souls into the film, and it just feels really incredible to get this recognition."
Taking inspiration from Canada's history of residential schools, the fictional "Night Raiders" follows a mother who joins a group of vigilantes and risks her life to rescue her daughter, who has been placed in a state-run school.
Goulet said it's gratifying to see the film embraced in Canada "because, ultimately, this film is talking about what happened here."
"And of course I want to speak to my own community and to Indigenous communities across Canada as an acknowledgment and a testament to what so many families have been through," she said.
"It also means a lot that either the wider industry or the broader public embraces the film in some way, because I think the questions that the film raises are questions for all of us to grapple with, Indigenous or not."
Along with a host of technical nominations, "Night Raiders" received best actress and best supporting actress nominations for stars Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Gail Maurice, respectively.
"So many of our collaborators were like a community," said Goulet.
"What the film is dealing with has really affected all Indigenous families, and so the performers are really drawing on their own lived experiences, and that is such a vulnerable thing, and it's something that takes so much courage and I'm so proud of the work that (they) did."
The head of Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television described this year's film selection as "really indicative of the breadth of stories that are being told and need to be seen."
"They are distinctly Canadian, each in their own way," said academy CEO Beth Janson.
On the television front, CBC's freshman series "Sort Of" leads with 13 nominations, including best TV comedy and writing for star, co-creator and co-writer Bilal Baig, billed as the first queer, trans-feminine, South Asian Muslim to lead a Canadian prime time television series.
The series revolves around Baig's Sabi, a gender-fluid Torontonian attempting to find their place in love, life and career, while straddling their Pakistani roots and Canadian upbringing.
Other contenders for best TV comedy include CTV's "Jann," Crave's "Letterkenny" and CBC's "Strays" and "Kim's Convenience," the latter of which scored 10 nominations for its fifth and final season, including for stars Simu Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Andrea Bang and Jean Yoon.
The accolades land nearly one year after the family comedy wrapped earlier than expected, with co-creators Ins Choi and Kevin White announcing they were moving on to pursue other projects.
The Canadian Screen Awards celebrate the best in homegrown film, television and digital media.
The pandemic forced the gala online in each of the past two years, but organizers say the bash will return to CBC and CBC Gem with an hour-long pre-taped show April 10, featuring sketch comedy troupe TallBoyz.
The bulk of the awards will be handed out in nine separate virtual shows leading up to the televised event during Canadian Screen Week, April 4 to April 8.
While Janson said it's "bittersweet" the industry nights won't be quite the in-person events they were prior to the pandemic, she said they will still offer nominees a spotlight and "lift up the profiles" of all nominated projects.
Leading nominee "Scarborough," adapted by Catherine Hernandez from her own novel of the same name, was directed by Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson, and is also up for best direction and best adapted screenplay. It tells the story of three children living and finding community in the Toronto suburb.
Another book-to-screen adaptation, the family drama "All My Puny Sorrows," based on Manitoba author Miriam Toews' 2014 novel, scored eight nominations.
Written and directed by Toronto's Michael McGowan, it's one of the starrier films in the running, starring actresses Alison Pill, Sarah Gadon and Mare Winningham.
Leading television nominees include CBC's "Pretty Hard Cases" and Space's "Wynonna Earp" with 11 nods each, and CBC's "Coroner" with 10. "Coroner" is up for best TV drama against CBC's "Moonshine," Super Channel's "The North Water," CTV's "Transplant" and History's "Vikings."
The annual bash will hand out trophies in 145 categories for film, television, and digital media, in genres ranging from kids programming to reality series to top news anchor. Another nine awards celebrate special and fan choice winners.
Nominees for best host or interviewer, news, include: Adrienne Arsenault and Ian Hanomansing of "CBC News: The National," Sandie Rinaldo of CTV's "W5: Stacked Odds" and Avery Haine of CTV's "W5: A Town Divided."
Meanwhile, best host, factual or reality/competition nominees include Ron MacLean for CBC's "Battle of the Blades;" Arisa Cox for Global's "Big Brother Canada;" Brooke Lynn Hytes, Traci Melchor, Amanda Brugel and Brad Goreski for Crave's "Canada's Drag Race;" Gerry Dee for CBC's "Family Feud Canada" and Alan Shane Lewis and Ann Pornel for CBC's "The Great Canadian Baking Show."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2022.
Sadaf Ahsan, The Canadian Press
