More love for Maudie
Film wins seven awards at recent Canadian Screen Awards, sweeps major film categories
The movie Maudie didn’t just strike at the hearts of movie goers. The film, based on the life of beloved Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis, also shone brightly at the recent Canadian Screen Awards, where it was the big winner of the night, winning seven awards, including Best Motion Picture.
Sally Hawkins won the Best Actress Award for her portrayal of Maud Lewis and Ethan Hawke won the award for Male Supporting Actor for his role as Maud’s husband and fish peddler Everett Lewis.
The Canadian Screen Awards, presented March 11, saw Maudie director Aisling Walsh win the award for Achievement in Direction. In an interview with the Tri-County Vanguard last year she was asked for her reaction to the overwhelming response to the film.
“It’s what you really hope for and more,” she said.
Walsh said having worked with Sally Hawkins before, she knew she wanted the actress to play the role of Maud. She sent the actress a photo of Maud, taken by former Yarmouth resident and photographer Bob Brooks, along with photographs of Maud Lewis’s paintings.
“I said, ‘What do you think?’ and she wrote back and said ‘Yes, I want to do it.’ She hadn’t even read the script at that point,” said Walsh, who called the portrayals of Maud and Everett by Hawkins and Hawke “amongst the best work they’ve ever done.”
Other Canadian Screen Awards for the film were Best Original Screenplay for Sherry White of Newfoundland, Best Achievement in Editing and Best Achievement in Costume Design.
After successful showings at film festivals, the film came out in the spring of 2017. Originally it wasn’t scheduled to play at the Cineplex in Yarmouth during its first round of release locations, but that soon changed.
In Yarmouth, the place Maud Lewis (then Dowley) was born, which is also just an hour from Marshalltown, Digby County where Maud lived and painted, the public made sure to let the film’s distributor know how much they wanted to see the Sally Hawkins starred as Maud Lewis in the movie Maudie, which recently won seven Canadian Screen Awards, including hers for best actress. film. It quickly became the #1 film being shown on screens here, with sold-out multiple daily showings for weeks on end.
PRODUCTION ECONOMICS
A study of the film released by the Canadian Media Producers Association ( CMPA) touches on the economic success of the film’s production.
“The Canadian/ Irish co- production starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke generated $6.4 million in GDP, drove $9 million in total economic output, and contracted services from nearly 300 businesses across Canada,” reads a media release.
Maudie was principally filmed in Newfoundland and Labrador, with post- production work in Ontario and Ireland. Walsh said producers had tried to find a funding partner in Nova Scotia but weren’t successful. Another producer thought he might have better luck raising money for the independent film in Newfoundland, she explained. Since Walsh and staff with the film are from Ireland, they also got funding from there. Money was also sourced from Ontario.
“We tried to find a partner in Nova Scotia and we couldn’t. And then your government, I remember the day it happened, took the tax credit away,” Walsh said last year. “This film, had we been in Nova Scotia at that time as we were in pre- production, this film would have never been made, because it would have collapsed.”
The CMPA study says provincial production incentives, administered by the Newfoundland Film Development Corporation (NFLDC) and the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC), helped to catalyze the film’s economic activity. “In Newfoundland each provincial tax credit dollar resulted in $8.54 of economic output, in Ontario each tax credit dollar resulted in $10.58 of economic output,” the study found.
Still, Nova Scotia was on the receiving end of much renewed interest in Maud Lewis.
In Yarmouth, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s western branch held an exhibit of her work and there remains talk of continued ways to recognize Lewis here – the town has named a multi-use recreational trail after her and a park has been proposed by a local resident for Hawthorne Street.
On Digby Neck, a Maud Lewis replica house built by Murray Ross saw lots of visitation last year, which he attributed to the movie.
Maud and Everett Lewis’s real house is part of the permanent display at the Art Galley of Nova Scotia in Halifax.