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.
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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?
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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.