National Post (National Edition)
Dolan film leads Screen Awards nominations
Xavier Dolan’s newest film, which represents Canada’s shot at a best foreign-language Oscar this year, is also the most nominated film at the upcoming Canadian Screen Awards. The Frenchlanguage drama It’s Only the End of the World (Juste la fin du monde) leads the pack with nine nominations, including for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best supporting actor (Vincent Cassel) and best supporting actress (Nathalie Baye).
In second place with eight nominations is Race, the Jesse Owens biopic starring Toronto-born actor Stephan James, who is also nominated in the lead actor category. Three films — Before the Streets (Avant les rues), Operation Avalanche and Weirdos — have six nominations apiece.
All those films are up for the best-picture prize, alongside Bad Seeds (Les mauvaises herbes) Hello Destroyer, Old Stone, Maliglutit (Searchers) and Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves (Ceux qui font les revolutions à moitié n’ont fait que se creuser un tombeau).
Not among the nominees: The Stairs, by Hugh Gibson, which looks at residents of Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood, and which was named best Canadian film of 2016 by the Toronto Film Critics Association. The award carries a $100,000 purse from Rogers. Nor was runner-up How Heavy This Hammer by Kazik Radwanski among the nominees.
In a wonderful, only-inCanada moment, Gibson, Radwanski and fellow Rogers prize nominee Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche) decided last week to split the prize into three equal shares.
The Canadian Screen Awards, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, were first presented in 2013 following a merger of the Genies (for film) and the Geminis (for TV). They now feature a dizzying number of prizes for film, TV and digital media, including best cross-platform project, nonfiction; best science or nature documentary program or series; and, in a tail-eating category, best live entertainment special.
The 2017 awards will be broadcast live on March 12 at 8 p.m. from Toronto’s Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Actor and comedian Howie Mandel will host the ceremonies, which will include a lifetime achievement award for 87-year-old thespian Christopher Plummer.