SPOTLIGHT ON DOLAN
6 trophies at Screen Awards
Montreal director Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World and Space’s human cloning series Orphan Black were the big winners at the Canadian Screen Awards.
Orphan Black nabbed nine trophies, including best dramatic series and best lead actress in a dramatic role for star Tatiana Maslany, who plays multiple clones in the sci-fi show, all with different personalities and accents.
Dolan’s French-language drama won six trophies, including best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and best cinematography.
Organizers said Dolan was shooting in Paris and was unable to attend.
The film, about a dying writer who returns home to his estranged family, got a mixed reaction from critics when it screened at last May’s Cannes Film Festival.
Howie Mandel kicked off Sunday’s Canadian Screen Awards with an ode to Canadian talent and his suggestion for a nickname to call the prizes.
“This is a thrill for me to do something right here at home. I love coming home to Canada,” the Toronto-born, tuxedo-clad America’s Got Talent judge said as he took to the stage.
“You don’t know what this means to me, because I’ve always resented the fact that I had to leave.”
Mandel then launched into a loose monologue and banter with the audience. He riffed on how the awards show doesn’t have an Oscars-style nickname, although others have suggested the Screenies or the Candys, after the late Canadian actor John Candy.
“I know other hosts have been talking about naming it, I want to name it. What is it for?” Mandel said, adding the awards honour the best in Canadian film, television and digital work.
“So what is it? Screen, television, digital. This will go viral — it’s an STD. How many of you are going to go home tonight with an STD?”
He then walked into the audience to chat with guests, from Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany to Schitt’s Creek star Eugene Levy and U.S. standup star Dave Chappelle, who later presented the Icon Award to the homegrown comedy brand Just for Laughs.
Mandel also stopped to chat briefly with Toronto native Stephan James, star of Race, about U.S. track star Jesse Owens.
“You were great,” Mandel said to James. “I had no idea when I watched the movie it was even Canadian and it’s not because of the accent. The way you run is so American,” he deadpanned.
Race won three trophies, for visual effects, sound editing and best achievement in overall sound.
Other multiple winners included Born to be Blue, Two Lovers and a Bear and I Am the Blues, which won two trophies apiece.
Montreal animator Theodore Ushev’s Oscar-nominated Blind Vaysha, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, won best animated short. “My life has changed a lot,” the former graphic designer, who was born in Bulgaria and moved to Montreal in 1999, said backstage. “People started watching my previous films. ... In my personal life, all my former girlfriends called me again.”
Molly Parker won best actress in a supporting role for Bruce McDonald’s coming-of-age tale Weirdos.
Schitt’s Creek star Catherine O’Hara won best lead actress in a comedy and 19-2 star Adrian Holmes won for best lead actor in a drama. CraveTV sitcom Letterkenny won for best comedy series.
CBC’s detective drama Murdoch Mysteries won the Golden Screen Award for TV drama and comedy, after winning four awards earlier for its Christmas special.
The bulk of the awards from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, were handed out earlier in the week, when Orphan Black won honours including best direction and best writing in a dramatic series.