1/14/2013

Canadian Screen Awards Predictions



Sarah Polley, Best Director of 2012?

The Oscar nominations stunned us by snubbing Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow, the perceived frontrunners of the Best Director race, but awards fans are in for a shocker come Tuesday’s announcement of the nominees for the Canadian Screen Awards. One highly touted Canadian name of 2012 is guaranteed to be absent from the Best Director line-up. That name is Sarah Polley, who recently nabbed the $100 000 prize for Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Film Critics’ awards for her brilliant documentary Stories We Tell. Unlike Bigelow and Affleck, however, Polley won’t be the victim of a baffling cold shoulder, although rumours abound that Academy members were put off by a graphic scene in which Polley waterboards one of her subjects in order to learn her family secrets. Stories We Tell simply isn’t eligible for the top prizes because it is a documentary. Under the rules and regulations for the Canadian Screen Awards, only feature length dramas can compete for arts and crafts awards. (See page 13.) I’m disappointed that the best Canadian film of 2012 can’t receive the recognition it deserves due to a technicality, but at least it has a strong chance in the feature documentary category, which boasts some of the strongest Canadian contenders of the year.

Overall, though, the newly revamped Canadian Screen Awards, which now combine both the former Genie Awards for film and Gemini Awards for television, are well-regulated to ensure clarity and fairness to help recognize Canadian films. Predicting the names that will appear in a CSA announcement is awfully tricky, however, since the eligibility is open to films that have screened theatrically as well as those that have toured the festival circuit. (A screening at a minimum of two approved festivals is required.) This means that a yet-to-be distributed film like Home Again could add some little golden logos to its posters to help with a release, while a festival prizewinner like Picture Day might wait to compete next year after it has gained popularity through distribution.
Jennifer Hudson: not a contender for Winnie?
Additionally, the tricky nature of Canadian co-production makes tracking down the eligible contenders even more difficult. Majority co-productions are fair game in the categories, but minority co-productions (films where Canadian investment is less than 50%) are subject to inspection. The rules note, “Minority co-productions are eligible to be nominated for Best Motion Picture as are the craft and performance categories in those films in which Canadians contribute. Where, however, the director and/or screenwriter(s) are Canadian, a minority co-production will be deemed a majority Canadian co-production for the purposes of eligibility in all categories of the film awards.” This means that one must investigate the nationality of the filmmaker to determine eligible contenders. Close inspection reveals, for example, that Elias Koteas and Wendy Crewson can be nominated for Winnie, but Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard cannot because director Darrell Root is South African. On the other hand, Melissa Leo can be nominated for her excellent work in Francine since writer/directors Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky are Canucks. One can expect plenty of top-level Hollywood names, though - could Canada be the place to make an award-winning actor out of Robert Pattinson?
Will David Cronenberg be in the running for his 6th Best Director prize?
The nominees for the Canadian Screen Awards are much harder to predict than the Oscars, though, since the Canadian industry doesn’t recognize its work as abundantly as Hollywood does. Regardless of an absence of shameless self-promotion, festivals and a few critics’ prizes help tip off the favourites. I assume that the awards will see a run-off between Canada’s Oscar nominee Rebelle and films by popular Canadian directors David Cronenberg, Deepa Mehta, and Xavier Dolan. It would be the first Best Picture or Director win for Mehta and Dolan, but 2012 could bring David Cronenberg his sixth prize for Best Director.

Kudos don’t really help, though, since it all depends if a film was submitted or not. In addition to the familiar names that always appear at Canadian film awards, however, the Genies often introduce a number of films that I haven’t even heard of on nomination day, which shows both the valuable attention that awards can bring as well as the pitiable exhibition of Canadian films in Canadian theatres. I still haven’t been able to see the 2010 Best Picture nominee 10½! What makes the Canadian Screen Awards even more unpredictable this year is the rule that the Best Motion Picture category, like the Oscars, allows for a flexible number of 5-10 nominees. (See the footnote on page 15 of the CSA rules.) This switch is just as hard to guess, since the nominations are decided by a committee, as opposed to the balloting at the Oscars.

Overall, though, 2012 was a good year for Canadian film, so the Canadian Screen Awards probably won’t be as derided as the Oscar nominations. For purposes of entertainment and discussion on Canadian film, let’s try to predict the awards formerly known as the Genies!

Best Picture:

Blackbird
Camion
Cosmopolis
Goon
Lawrence Anyways
Midnight’s Children
My Awkward Sexual Adventure
Rebelle
Alt: All That You Possess, Inch’Allah

Best Director:

David Cronenberg, Cosmopolis
Xavier Dolan, Laurence Anyways
Deepa Mehta, Midnight’s Children
Kim Nguyen, Rebelle
Raphaël Ouellette, Camion
Alt: Jeremy Buxton, Blackbird; Michael Dowse, Goon

Best Actor:

Robert Pattinson, Cosmopolis
Christopher Plummer, Barrymore
Julien Poulin, Camion
Melvil Poupard: Laurence Anyways
Seann William Scott, Goon
Alt: Caleb Landry Jones, Antiviral; Samuel L. Jackson, The Samaritan

Best Actress:

Eveylne Brochu, Inch’Allah
Suzanne Clément, Laurence Anyways
Emily Hampshire, My Awkward Sexual Adventure
Melissa Leo, Francine
Rachel Mwanza, Rebelle
Alt: Laurence Laboeuf, Foreverland; Stéphanie Lapointe, Liverpool

Best Supporting Actor:

Jay Baruchel, Goon
Paul Giamatti, Cosmopolis
Serge Kanyinda, Rebelle
Luke Kirby, The Samaritan
Liev Schreiber, Goon
Alt: Demián Bichir, Foreverland

Best Supporting Actress:

Nathalie Baye, Laurence Anyways
Seema Biswas, Midnight’s Children
Sarah Gadon, Cosmopolis (or Antiviral)
Alison Pill, Goon
Marisa Tomei, Inescapable
Alt: Samantha Morton, Cosmopolis

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Cosmopolis
Goon
The Lesser Blessed
Midnight’s Children

Best Original Screenplay:

All That You Possess
Blackbird
Camion
Laurence Anyways
Rebelle
Alt: Inch’Allah

Best Documentary:

China Heavyweight
Revolution
Stories We Tell
West Wind: The Vision of Thom Thomsom
The World Before Her
Alt: Payback

Best Film Editing:

Cosmopolis
Inescapable
Laurence Anyways
Liverpool
Midnight’s Children
Alt: Antiviral

Best Cinematography:

Camion
Laurence Anyways
Mad Ship
Midnight’s Children
Rebelle
Alt: 388 Arletta Ave, Inch’Allah

Best Art Direction:

Antiviral
Cosmopolis
Mad Ship
Midnight’s Children
Resident Evil: Retribution
Alt: Inch’Allah

Best Costumes:

Burlesque Assassins
Laurence Anyways
Mad Ship
Midnight’s Children
Roller Town
Alt: Inch’Allah

Best Score:

Camion
Cosmopolis
Hard Core Logo 2
Laurence Anyways
Midnight’s Children

Best Sound

Antiviral
Cosmopolis
House at the End of the Street
Inescapable
Resident Evil: Retribution

Best Animated Short:

Bydlo
Edmond was a Donkey
MacPherson
Nightingales in December

Best Live Action Short:

Crackin’ Down Hard
Frost
Herd Leader
Keep a Modest Head
When You Sleep

I’m probably going to do terribly at these, but feel free to share any predictions or hopeful nominees!

The nominations for the Canadian Screen Awards will be announced via livestream on the Academy website, Tuesday, January 15 at 10:00 am.