BlackBerry, Sort Of, Little Bird dominate Canadian Screen Award nominations

Succession-style tech drama BlackBerry tops the nomination list for the Canadian Screen Awards' film category not just for this year, but for any year in the awards' history.

BlackBerrypulled in17 nods in categories including best motion picture, best direction, and best performance in a leading role (Jay Baruchel) and supporting role (Glenn Howerton). Those nominations pushed the MattJohnson-directed movie based on the rise and fall of theBlackBerrycellphone and its Canadian makers past the previous record-holder, Brother, which went into last year's ceremony with 14 nominations, eventually winning 12.

In total,216 feature, documentary and short films received nominationsfor this year's Canadian Screen Awards, which were created through the merger of the Genie and Gemini awards in 2012. The nominees were unveiled Wednesday.

WATCH | BlackBerry's ex-CEO gives his opinion on the film:

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A new movie takes on the rise and fall of the iconic tech device Blackberry, but how accurate is the portrayal? A conversation with two people who know the real story well: former Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie and Jacquie McNish, who wrote Losing the Signal, a behind-the-scenes look at the Canadian company.

Best motion picture

• BlackBerry
• Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
• Infinity Pool
• Red Rooms
• Richelieu
• Solo

Achievement in direction, film

• Matt Johnson, BlackBerry
• Ariane Louis-Seize, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
• Brandon Cronenberg, Infinity Pool
• Henri Pardo, Kanaval
• Pascal Plante, Red Rooms
• Sophie Dupuis, Solo

But as usual, it was TV that truly led the pack this year. Limited series Little Bird and dramedy Sort Of received 19 and 18 nominations, respectively, dominating their fields of drama and comedy.

ForSort Of, which aired its final season late last year, the nominations capped an impressive record at the awards. Co-created by Fab Filippo and star Bilal Baig, it won best comedy seriesin 2022 and 2023.

It is now up for awards in directing, writing, editing and supporting comedy performer (Amanda Cordner, Ellora Patnaik and Supinder Wraich). Perhaps surprisingly, Sort Of is not nominated for best comedy series this year.

Best comedy series

• Bria Mack Gets a Life
• Letterkenny
• Shelved
• Son of a Critch
• Workin' Moms

Best drama series

• Essex County
• Little Bird
• Plan B
• Slasher: Ripper
• Transplant

Little Birdis based on the Sixties Scoop, ahistorical practice that saw the Canadian government removeIndigenous children from their families to be adopted or put into foster care. The series, co-created by Jennifer Podemski,is up for best drama series, best direction, best supporting performer(Braeden Clarke)and best lead performer (Darla Contois and Ellyn Jade), among others.

Close races

Workin' Moms was the third most-nominated series, picking up 12 for its final season. The Catherine Reitman-fronted series has been nominatedevery year since 2018. This year it competes for best ensemble performance in a comedy, best lead performer in a comedy (for both Reitman and Dani Kind), best comedy series and others.

FollowingBlackBerry in nominations for the film category is Quebec's Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, which scored12 nominations,includingbest picture andbest performance in a leading role (Sara Montpetit). Director Ariane Louis-Seize also earned a nomination,making her one of two women up for the best director award, along with Sophie Dupuis for Solo.

Earlier this week, Louis-Seize receivedthe Toronto Film Critics Association's Stella Artois Jay Scott Prize for emerging artists. The association's top prize the $100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award was split between BlackBerry andSwan Song,a documentaryprofiling ballerina Karen Kain; however, while the Canadian Screen Awards recognizedBlackBerry,Swan Song was not nominated for best feature-length documentary.

Ted Rogers best feature-length documentary

• Beyond Paper
• Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones
• The Longest Goodbye
• Someone Lives Here
• Twice Colonized

Best factual series

• Bollywed
• Cocaine, Prison & Likes: Isabelle's True Story
• Dark Side of the Ring
• Little Big Community
• Thunder Bay

Other notable nominees includeBrandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool, with 11 nominations equalling his father David Cronenberg's nomination count in 2023 for Crimes of the Future. Infinity Pool is in the running for best motion picture, best original screenplay and best performance in a leading role for both Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgrd.

DaniPagliarello and Aisha Evelyna'swoman-ledproduction The Drop and Vivek Shraya's coming-of-age dramaHow to Fail as a Popstar lead digital media series nominations, with five each.

Managed by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards will take place over four separate ceremonies in late May nearlysix weeks later than normal.

The academy transitioned the final broadcast show into a pre-taped ceremony last year, stitching together highlights from the different ceremonies. It led to considerable pushback, including from Schitt's Creek star Eugene Levy.

Organizers confirmed that the 2024 awards will once again be pre-taped. They will culminate on May 31 with a show hosted by comedian Mae Martin, which will air on CBC and CBC Gem at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Other nominees include:

John Dunning best first feature film award

• Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
• In Flames
• Kanaval
• Richelieu
• Something You Said Last Night
• Through the Night

Performance in a leading role Film,drama

• Mia Goth,Infinity Pool
• Alexander Skarsgrd,Infinity Pool
• Rayan Dieudonn,Kanaval
• Oyin Oladejo,Orah
• Amrit Kaur,The Queen Of My Dreams
• Juliette Garipy,Red Rooms
• Ariane Castellanos,Richelieu
• Thodore Pellerin,Solo

WATCH | The consistent success of French Canadian films:

Films en franais: a Canadian critical and commercial success story

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Although most Canadian films are made in English, the true critical and commercial success comes in Canada's other official language.

Performance in a leading role Film, comedy

• Jay Baruchel,BlackBerry
• Cody Lightning,Hey, Viktor!
• Flix-Antoine Bnard,Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
• Sara Montpetit,Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
• Magalie Lpine Blondeau,The Nature of Love
• Alexandra Billings,Queen Tut
• Susan Kent,Who's Yer Father?
• Chris Locke,Who's Yer Father?

Best lead performer, drama series

• Mayko Nguyen,Hudson & Rex
• Darla Contois,Little Bird
• Ellyn Jade,Little Bird
• Victor Garber,Family Law
• Meredith MacNeill,Pretty Hard Cases
• Adrienne C. Moore,Pretty Hard Cases
• Hamza Haq,Transplant
• Laurence Leboeuf,Transplant

Best lead performer, comedy series

• Meaghan Rath,Children Ruin Everything
• Carolyn Taylor,I Have Nothing
• Andrew Phung,Run the Burbs
• Chris Sandiford,Shelved
• Benjamin Evan Ainsworth,Son of a Critch
• Dani Kind,Workin' Moms
• Catherine Reitman,Workin' Moms