QUEBEC CINEMA IS A GUARANTEED WINNER AT CSAS
For first time in event’s seven-year history, all 5 best picture nominees are from province
Fearless prediction: a Quebec film will win best picture at the Canadian Screen Awards (CSAs) on Sunday. It’s also what we call a no-brainer. For the first time in the seven-year history of the gala, all five nominees for best picture are from Quebec. So yeah, you couldn’t bet on a film from another province if you tried. And the nominees are: Philippe Lesage’s recently released young/tough-love triptych Genèse; Daniel Roby’s sci-fi thriller Dans la brume; Maxime Giroux’s bilingual American fable La grande noirceur (The Great Darkened Days); Sophie Dupuis’s raw family drama Chien de garde and Geneviève Dulude-Decelles’s coming of age tale Une colonie. It’s no secret that Quebec has been leading the charge for Canadian cinema for some time, with directors Denis Villeneuve, JeanMarc Vallée, Xavier Dolan, Kim Nguyen and Philippe Falardeau making waves internationally, earning Oscar nominations and prestigious film festival prizes while each putting their bold artistic stamp on the kind of cinema being made here. But usually when it comes to the CSAs, there is an attempt to strike a balance. As awkward as it may be, the awards show tends to acknowledge the fine work being done on all sides of the linguistic and provincial divide. The truth is, most Canadian film fans outside Quebec have little to no clue what’s happening in Quebec cinema, especially French Quebec cinema. Likewise, Quebec cinephiles are not generally up on the latest English-language cinematic offerings from the ROC. And then there are the complaints from all quarters that these galas cater too much to the indie and arthouse scenes and not enough to the mainstream. So imagine the confusion of the average CSA viewer as they peruse the list of best picture nominees — or hear the titles announced on Sunday evening — and don’t recognize a single one. Heck, there isn’t even a Villeneuve, Vallée or Dolan in the bunch to give them a fighting chance. And that’s awesome, because it’s proof of what, here in Quebec, we call la relève, or the next wave. Two of the films up for best picture, Chien de garde and Une colonie, are first features. And their filmmakers are female, which brings us to the best director category, where women (Dulude-Decelles and Dupuis, as well as Toronto’s Jasmin Mozaffari for her debut Firecrackers) comprise three of the five nominations. Say what? Women are dominating the best director category? Change is afoot in Canadian cinema, which the gender parity initiatives of funding agencies Telefilm Canada and SODEC as well as the National Film Board will only emphasize in the coming years. Speaking of women making power moves, Montreal cinematographer Sara Mishara is competing against herself for best cinematography. She is nominated for her work on Carlos and Jason Sanchez’s psychological thriller Allure, starring Evan Rachel Wood and Julia Sarah Stone, and the above-mentioned La grande noirceur. Ian Lagarde’s work on Yan Giroux’s À tous ceux qui ne me lisent pas is also in the running, making three Quebec nominees out of five in that category. Quebec names also lead the categories of best actress (four out of five nominees), best sound (five out of five), best original screenplay (five out of five), best director (four out of five), sound editing (four out of five), supporting actor, first feature, editing, original score, art direction, makeup and visual effects. To boot, two Quebec features, Giroux’s La grande noirceur and Roby’s Dans la Brume, lead the overall film nominees with eight nominations each. All of which is to say that the CSAs are doing what they should: giving a platform to the full breadth of Canadian cinema, in both official languages. They’re not alone. The Toronto International Film Festival has been supporting Quebec cinema wholeheartedly for several years, often attributing its award for best Canadian feature to a Quebec film. That’s a whole lot better than the Junos, which as hip and inclusive as they have become, continue to relegate Quebec artists who sing en français to the so-called lesser category of best francophone album. A notable exception is rising star Hubert Lenoir, who matched Céline Dion’s 1996 feat this year by earning three Juno nominations for a francophone album: best francophone album, best album and best pop album. Tellingly, he took best francophone album but lost to heartthrob Shawn Mendes in the latter two categories. To borrow a line from rap band Cypress Hill, we ain’t goin’ out like that at the CSAs. Whatever else happens Sunday night, a Quebec film is sure to win the grand prize. What more, in both Sunday’s televised gala and the non-televised run-up events last week, the continuing achievements of Quebec cinema are being fêted on a national level alongside their English-language peers. And that’s pretty cool.