Handing out Canadian Candy

News: The Canadian Screen Awards 2016

Room cleans up with nine wins in the film category, including best picture, while Schitt’s Creek, Book of Negroes and Orphan Black dominate the TV side of Canada’s annual awards show… now called The Candys?

By Katherine Monk

It was pretty good, eh? They had a big stage. A band. Gold statuettes. A host that wasn’t William Shatner. And people in the audience — some of whom were even recognizable. More importantly, this year’s Canadian Screen Awards also included a few titles with proven international appeal, such as the TV show Orphan Black and the film Room, the Oscar-nominated drama that cleaned up with nine wins at Sunday night’s gala, including best picture, best director, best actress, best actor, best supporting actress and best adapted screenplay for Emma Donoghue.

For an awards broadcast that’s struggled with audience ambivalence and stumping films with no box-office visibility, this year’s show, hosted by Norm Macdonald and broadcast live on CBC from the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, had as much glam as Canadian ham.

Jacob Tremblay holds his Candy

Vancouver’s Jacob Tremblay charmed the crowd when he picked up the prize for best actor in Room, beating veteran Christopher Plummer in Atom Egoyan’s Remember. “Christopher Plummer, you’re a legend,” said Tremblay, who immediately answered host Macdonald’s call for the award to be called a “Candy” in honour of late comedian John Candy.

“I want to thank Academy for giving me this wonderful Candy and Team Room… the cast and crew, my agents… And I also want to thank my Mom and Dad. I’m not the best at sports. I’m not going to win a Stanley Cup… but I love acting and to win an award for it feels like I won real Canadian gold. I did win Canadian gold…Thank you.”

Room’s screenwriter and author Emma Donoghue also had a chance to deliver a speech that may have been sitting in a pocket since Oscar night when she won for best adapted screenplay. As she accepted the newly styled statuette from Helen Shaver, she blushed. “I’ve had a crush on Helen Shaver for 20 years. Could it get any better?” Donoghue also used her time to send thoughts to “all the kids who live in fear… and look to parents to get through one more day.”

Later, she reappeared on stage to accept the best directing prize for Lenny Abrahamson’s work on Room, fumbling with her cell phone to read the text message from the Irish director who was not in attendance. Abrahamson thanked the City of Toronto, where the film was shot, as well as Jacob Tremblay, and Emma Donoghue herself — who is “an Irish-Canadian co-production in her own right.”

Abrahamson’s texted speech cast a glowing blue light on the elephant in Room, and the room: Was Room a Canadian film? And it’s fine for the Canadian Tremblay to win for best actor, but what about Americans Brie Larson and Joan Allen winning best actress and best supporting actress honours for their work in the same film?

It’s a question that’s going to be increasingly common as Canadian co-productions such as Room, Orphan Black and Brooklyn become the norm, forcing Canadians and members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television — as well as other groups — to ponder the essence of what makes a film or TV show Canadian.

Plummer acknowledged the mammoth issue when he presented the award for best picture, shortly after getting the biggest laugh of the night when his first words on the mike were: “Eat your heart out, Jacob.”

Plummer read the list of nominees: “Brooklyn, Corbo, The Demons, Felix and Meira, The Forbidden Room, My Internship in Canada, Our Loved Ones, Remember, Room, Sleeping Giant” and said, in his best French accent, they were all “Canadien.”

And for all the international presence and the big stretch in production values, this year’s “Candys” were undeniably Canadian — from Macdonald’s dry humour, Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara rejoicing in the words “Schitt’s Creek,” to a lifetime achievement award for Martin Short and the presence of two Sutherlands on the stage at one time.

Donald Sutherland and son Rossif Sutherland were on hand to present a prize, and the two towering talents embodied Canadian humility as they talked about their craft, and the importance of honesty. “The secret ingredient [in acting] is honesty, and once you can fake that, you’re in,” joked Donald. “You can’t fake that,” said Rossif, earnestly. “No you can’t,” the father replied.

Oh. It was all so cozy and strangely, almost, sexy. In the way a flannel shirt and mac jacket can be more than a generic work outfit, this year’s Canadian Screen Awards were more than perfunctory prize night. Macdonald’s brassy bid to assign a name to the new statuettes (no longer the storied Sorel Etrog trophy that represented the Genies) seemed to stick, and the audience didn’t look like they were sitting in a board meeting.

There was critical mass, a sense of community. Sunday night’s show was the culmination of what has become awards week. Even more prizes were handed out in ceremonies held earlier this week in Montreal and Toronto. Everyone got their moment, one way or another. And the big show wasn’t too big, or too small. Even with the humbles and bumbles, somehow, it felt just right.

The winners announced on Sunday night’s broadcast:

FILM

Best Motion Picture: Room – David Gross, Ed Guiney

Achievement in Direction: Lenny Abrahamson – Room

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Jacob Tremblay – Room

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Nick Serino – Sleeping Giant

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Brie Larson – Room

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Joan Allen – Room

Adapted Screenplay: Emma Donoghue – Room

Original Screenplay: Benjamin August – Remember

Achievement in Cinematography:  Yves Bélanger – Brooklyn

Achievement in Art Direction / Production Design: Ethan Tobman, Mary Kirkland – Room

Achievement in Costume Design: Joanne Hansen – Beeba Boys

Achievement in Editing: Nathan Nugent – Room

Achievement in Make-Up: Sid Armour, Jennifer Gould – Room

Achievement in Music – Original Score: Michael Brook – Brooklyn

Achievement in Music – Original Song: Jenny Salgado, André Courcy – Scratch – A Hip-opera “C’est aujourd’hui que je sors”

Achievement in Overall Sound: Lou Solakofski, Ian Rankin, Joe Morrow, Russ Dyck, Graham Rogers, James Bastable, André Azoubel, Don White, Jack Hereen – Hyena Road

Achievement in Sound Editing: Jane Tattersall, David McCallum, Martin Gwynn Jones, Barry Gilmore, David Evans, Dave Rose, Brennan Mercer, Ed Douglas, Kevin Banks, Goro Koyama, Andy Malcolm – Hyena Road

Achievement in Visual Effects: Phil Jones, Sarah Wormsbecher, Eric Doiron, Anthony DeChellis, Lon Molnar, Geoff D.E. Scott, Nathan Larouche, Mark Fordham – Hyena Road

Best Animated Short: The Ballad Of Immortal Joe – Hector Herrera, Pazit Cahlon

Best Cinematography in a Feature Length Documentary: Arnaud Bouquet – Last of the Elephant Men

Best Editing in a Feature Length Documentary: James Scott – How to Change the World

Best Live Action Short Drama: She Stoops To Conquer – Zack Russell, Marianna Khoury

Best Short Documentary: Bacon & God’s Wrath – Sol Friedman

Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary: Hurt – Peter Gentile, Alan Zweig

TELEVISION

Best Comedy Series: Schitt’s Creek

Best Dramatic Series: 19-2

Best International Drama: Vikings

Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Comedic Role: Eugene Levy – Schitt’s Creek

Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role: Ari Millen – Orphan Black

Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Comedic Role: Catherine O’Hara – Schitt’s Creek

Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role: Tatiana Maslany – Orphan Black

Best Performance in a Variety or Sketch Comedy Program or Series (Individual or Ensemble):
Sunnyside – Top Hat – Kathleen Phillips, Pat Thornton, Patrice Goodman, Kevin Vidal, Alice Moran, Rob Norman, Norm Macdonald

Best TV Movie or Limited Series: The Book of Negroes – Damon D’Oliveira, Clement Virgo, Margaret O’Brien, Carrie Stein, Lance Samuels, Bill Niven, Michael Levine

Announced earlier:

For more information visit academy.ca

@katherinemonk

THE EX-PRESS, March 14, 2016

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