(January 17, 2017 – Toronto, ON) The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television announced the nominees for the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards (CSA). The nominees in 134 categories (24 film, 100 in television and 10 in digital media) were announced today at simultaneous press conferences in Toronto and Montreal and via Facebook Live. The big news is the number of nominations garnered by television’s Orphan Black, which stars Tatiana Maslany in multiple roles, and by actor-director-screenwriter Xavier Dolan for his film It’s Just the End of the World (Juste la fin du monde).
Orphan Black leads the TV pack with 14 nominations, including Best Dramatic Series and It’s Only the End of the World received nine nominations including Best Picture in which there are a total of 10 films vying for that coveted award. Dolan’s film could also end up on the final list of films competing for a Best Foreign Language Oscar® later this month.
Other films in the running include Les mauvaises herbes (Bad Seeds), Old Stone, Race, Weirdos, Before the Streets, Hello Destroyer, Operation Avalance, Those
Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves and Searchers.
The Achievement in Direction nominees are Chloé Leriche (Before the Streets – Avant les rues), Kevan Funk (Hello Destroyer), Xavier Dolan It’s Just the End of the World (Juste la fin du monde), Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche) and Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie for Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves.
Back to TV, Orphan Black is competing against top contenders like Schitt’s Creek with 13 nominations, including Best Comedy Series and Kim’s Convenience, which has 11 nominations including Best Comedy Series.
“This year’s nominees represent an authentic diversity of voices and storytelling from across Canada,” said Academy CEO, Beth Janson. “Motion picture nominees are telling stories not just in French and English, but in Mandarin, Atikamekw and Inuktiut. Our television nominees are likewise representative of a wide swath of Canadians covering topics ranging from clones to cancer, cops to medieval Norsemen. The stories we tell are increasingly reflective of our diverse experiences as Canadians, and that is a trend to cherish.”
The Canadian Screen Awards will be carried live on CBC on March 12, at 8 pm (9 pm AT; 9:30 pm NT) from Toronto’s Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. They will cap off the Academy’s Canadian Screen Week featuring seven events in seven days between March 6th and 12th.
