The 13th Canadian Screen Award Nominees are here! This years main ceremony will take place on June 1st with comedian Lisa Gilroy hosting.
Some stand outs among the nominees include Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language which scored a towering thirteen nominations and David Cronenberg’s The Shrounds with nine. Be sure to check out the Best Motion Picture nominees at least, The Apprentice, Darkest Miriam, Gamma Rays, Village Keeper and Who Do I Belong To.
There are a ton of great Canadian films to watch this year –and reminder, this is just a small subset of the total!– and the awards are coming up soon, so without further ado, here are the 41 narrative film nominees for the 13th Canadian Screen Awards, and where you can buy, rent, or stream them.
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1995
A man embarks on a journey to shoot 20 short films around the world for a reality series.
nominations
- Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Film – Sandrine Bisson
Streaming Links
Ababooned (Ababouiné)
In 1957, in a working-class neighborhood of Montreal, a young apprentice typographer participates in the publication of an anti-clerical pamphlet.
nominations
- Best Lead Performance in a Comedy Film – Maïla Valentir
Streaming Links
The Apprentice
A young man took over his father’s real-estate business in 1970s and ’80s New York, and got the helping hand of an infamous closeted gay lawyer who helped him turn this young man into a notorious legend. Based on true events.
nominations
- Best Motion Picture
- Best Lead Performance in a Drama Film – Sebastian Stan
- Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film – Jeremy Strong
- Best Makeup – Colin Penman, Brandi Boulet and Sean Sansom
- Best Hair – Michelle Côté, Charlotte Delaet and Sandra Kelly
Streaming Links
Atikamekw Suns (Soleils Atikamekw)
Manawan, 1977. The police find a car containing five Atikamekws, all deceased. The initial suspects, two white Quebeckers, survived unscathed. The official version: drinking binge gone wrong. Until now, the crime has remained unsolved.
nominations
- Best Lead Performance in a Drama Film – Oshim Ottawa
- Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film – Lise-Yolande Awashish
Streaming Links
Backspot
An ambitious cheerleader faces both new adversity and the increased drive for perfection and triumph when she and her girlfriend are selected for an all-star cheer squad and its demanding head coach.
nominations
- Best Sound Mixing – Julian Ardila, Chris Russell, Brianna Todd, Bret Killoran, Jon Lawless, Dallas Boyes and Diego Colombo
- Best Casting in a Film – Jason Knight and John Buchan
Streaming Links
Blue Sky Jo (La petite et le vieux)
A gruff old neighbor and a little girl from Limoilou, blessed with a fertile imagination, embark on a heartwarming journey to bring joy back into her father’s life.
nominations
- Best Adapted Screenplay – Sébastien Girard
Streaming Links
Can I Get A Witness?
In a not so distant future, there is a reality where in order to save the planet, “death is everyone’s job”, with 50-year-olds taking the sacrifice, while teenage artists need to document it.
nominations
- Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film – Sandra Oh
Streaming Links
Close to You
When he returns home for his father’s birthday, a man finds that his family is struggling to accept his transition.
nominations
- Best Cinematography – Catherine Lutes
Streaming Links
Code 8: Part II
Follows a girl fighting to get justice for her brother who was slain by corrupt police officers. She enlists the help of an ex-con and his former partner to face off against a highly regarded and well-protected police sergeant.
nominations
- Best Sound Editing – Tyler Whitham and Joseph Fraioli
- Best Sound Mixing – Matthew Chan and Graham Rogers
- Best Visual Effects – Brian Huynh, Sophia Jooyeon Lee, Steven Huynh, Justin Perreault and Michael Davison
Streaming Links
Darkest Miriam
Miriam Gordon lives in a fog of grief while working in a downtown public library branch. When a burgeoning love-affair coincides with her receiving a series of oddly threatening letters, Miriam’s sheltered existence is cracked open.
nominations
- Best Motion Picture
- Best Direction – Naomi Jaye
- Best Lead Performance in a Drama Film – Britt Lower
- Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film – Tom Mercier
- Best Adapted Screenplay – Naomi Jaye
- Best Sound Editing – Elma Bello
Streaming Links
Deaner ’89
A hilarious headbanger finally makes it after struggling for decades, revealing it was all because of a childhood incident when the dark forces of heavy metal reached out from the grave.
nominations
- Best Lead Performance in a Comedy Film – Paul Spence
- Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Film – Will Sasso
- Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Film – Mary Walsh
- John Dunning Best First Feature – Sam McGlynn
- Best Original Song – “The Power of the Tribe”, Paul Spence, Michael Phillip Heppner, Ian Kerr Wilson, Guillaume Marc Antoine Tremblay and Stan Pietrusik
- Best Makeup – Doug Morrow
Streaming Links
Die Alone
Tells the story of a young man who has amnesia. He bands together with a rugged survivalist in a zombie-like outbreak to find his girlfriend.
nominations
- Best Lead Performance in a Drama Film – Carrie-Anne Moss
Streaming Links
Gamma Rays (Les rayons gammma)
Abdel’s summer is upended by the arrival of his cousin. Fatima craves a stable life while she begins a new job as a supermarket cashier. Toussaint finds a bottle washed up on the shore while fishing, and there’s a message inside.
nominations
- Best Motion Picture
- Best Direction – Henry Bernadet
- Best Lead Performance in a Drama Film – Chaïmaa Zineddine Elidrissi
- Best Original Screenplay – Henry Bernadet, Isabelle Brouillette, Nicolas Krief
Streaming Links
Humane
In the wake of an environmental collapse that is forcing humanity to shed 20% of its population, a family dinner erupts into chaos when a father’s plan to enlist in the government’s new euthanasia program goes horribly awry.
nominations
- Best Art Direction/Production Design – Brian Garvey, Andrea Perez Leon and David Edgar
- Best Costume Design – Hanna Puley
- Best Makeup – Rachel Affolter, Alexandra Anger and Monica Pavez
- Best Hair – Leanne Morrison-Freed and Stracey Millar
Streaming Links
Hunting Daze (Jour de chasse)
Nina, a tempestuous young woman joins a group of hunters in a remote cabin. A mysterious stranger’s arrival disrupts her newfound place in their male micro-society.
nominations
- John Dunning Best First Feature – Annick Blanc
- Best Visual Effects – Ricardo Santillana, Evren Boisjoli and Julia Aubry
Streaming Links
Hurricane F.Y.T.!
Eleven year old Delphis grew up in a poor neighborhood and an unstable family environment. One night he decides to take control of his life and becomes L’Ouragan (Hurricane). Armed with a lightning bolt on his bandanna and his middle finger held high, he leads his life as he sees fit, in a world that has no place for him. His adventure is like a road trip, from the slums to downtown, from one family to another. In the course of his time on the streets and in his attempts to conquer himself, he finds what’s most important: his purity.
nominations
- Best Direction – Ara Ball
Streaming Links
I Don’t Know Who You Are
Benjamin, a working class gay man living in Toronto, struggles to obtain expensive health care after being assaulted by a stranger.
nominations
- Best Original Score – Spencer Creaghan
- Best Original Song – “I Don’t Know Who You Are”, Mark Clennon
Streaming Links
I Used To Be Funny
Sam, a stand-up comedian struggling with PTSD, weighs whether or not to join the search for a missing teenage girl she used to nanny.
nominations
- Best Editing – Curt Lobb
Streaming Links
In A Violent Nature
When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 70-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it.
nominations
- Best Sound Editing – Tim Atkins and Michelle Hwu
- Best Sound Mixing – Tyler Bogaert and Oliver Wickham
Streaming Links
The Invisibles
A couple facing the end of marriage, when the husband starts to disappear. As he fades from existence he discovers a new world of people who have disappeared just like him.
nominations
- Best Cinematography – Maya Bankovic
- Best Original Score – Todor Kobakov
Streaming Links
Levels
After witnessing his girlfriend’s murder, a man risks everything – including reality itself – to discover the truth.
nominations
- Best Visual Effects – Rob Geddes, Kim Walker, Sean Gilhooly, Gavin Jung, Tom Mangat and Gordon Oscar
Streaming Links
Look At Me
A fictional autobiography about an insecure, awkward and lonely actor who goes on an unwitting journey of self-love in the midst of an eating disorder relapse.
nominations
- Best Lead Performance in a Comedy Film – Taylor Olson
Streaming Links
Matt and Mara
A young professor struggles in her marriage, only to meet Matt, a man from her past who wanders onto her university campus.
nominations
- Best Costume Design – Mara Zigler
- Best Sound Editing – Gabe Knox, Lucas Prokaziuk, Stefan Fraticelli and Justin Helle
- Best Sound Mixing – Gabe Knox, Ian Reynolds, Paul Lynch and Ron Mellegers
Streaming Links
Mongrels
In 1991, a grieving Korean family immigrate to the Canadian prairies to help cull the troubling population of feral dogs, but must confront their own personal trials and tribulations.
nominations
- Best Original Screenplay – Jerome Woo
- John Dunning Best First Feature – Jerome Woo
Streaming Links
Out Come the Wolves
At a cabin deep in the wilderness, a weekend of hunting turns to mayhem and a fight for survival when a pack of wolves attack a man, his female best friend and her fiance.
nominations
- Best Hair – Chiara Naccarata
Streaming Links
Paying For It
When an introverted cartoonist’s girlfriend wants to redefine their relationship, he begins sleeping with sex workers and discovers a new kind of intimacy in the process. An adaptation of the Graphic Novel by Chester Brown.
nominations
- Best Lead Performance in a Comedy Film – Emily Lê
- Best Adapted Screenplay – Sook-Yin Lee, Joanne Sarazen
- Best Cinematography – Gayle Ye
- Best Editing – Anna Catley
- Best Casting in a Film – Jenny Lewis, Sara Kay and Kalene Osborne
Streaming Links
Rumours
The leaders of seven wealthy democracies get lost in the woods while drafting a statement on a global crisis, facing danger as they attempt to find their way out.
nominations
- Best Lead Performance in a Comedy Film – Cate Blanchett
- Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Film – Roy Dupuis
- Best Art Direction/Production Design – Zosia Mackenzie, John O’Regan, Márton Vörösand Rita Hetényi
- Best Casting in a Film – Avy Kaufman
Streaming Links
Seeds
Ziggy, a Mohawk woman, gets hired as an influencer for Nature’s Oath company. Her cousin calls her back to their reservation, embroiling her in a fight to preserve their people’s heritage amid corporate interests.
nominations
- Best Lead Performance in a Comedy Film – Kaniehtiio Horn
- Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Film – Graham Greene
- Best Original Screenplay – Kaniehtiio Horn
- John Dunning Best First Feature – Kaniehtiio Horn
Streaming Links
Seven Veils
An earnest theater director has the task of remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, the opera Salome. Some disturbing memories from her past will allow her repressed trauma to color the present.
nominations
- Best Direction – Atom Egoyan
- Best Adapted Screenplay – Atom Egoyan
- Best Art Direction/Production Design – Phillip Barker, Adriana Bogaard and Mark McGann
- Best Costume Design – Debra Hanson
- Best Original Score – Mychael Danna
- Best Hair – Nathan Rival and Tori Binns
Streaming Links
Sharp Corner
A dedicated family man becomes obsessed with saving the lives of the car accident victims on the sharp corner in front of his house – an obsession that could cost him everything.
nominations
- Best Adapted Screenplay – Jason Buxton
- Best Editing – Jorge Weisz
- Best Visual Effects – Robert Munroe, Tim M. Townsend, Marcin Kolendo and Leo Bovell
Streaming Links
Shepherds (Bergers)
A young Montreal advertising executive, converted to a Provençal shepherd, has various misadventures with a civil servant who has cavalierly quit her job.
nominations
- Best Adapted Screenplay – Sophie Deraspe, Mathyas Lefebure
- Best Cinematography – Vincent Gonneville
Streaming Links
The Shrouds
Karsh, an innovative businessman and grieving widower, builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud.
nominations
- Best Art Direction/Production Design – Carol Spier
- Best Costume Design – Anne Dixon
- Best Editing – Christopher Donaldson
- Best Sound Editing – Robert Bertola
- Best Sound Mixing – Christian Cooke
- Best Makeup – Diane Mazur, Alexandra Anger and Monica Pavez
- Best Hair – Paula Fleet
- Best Visual Effects – Peter McAuley, Guillaume Le Gouez, Pierre Procoudine Gorsky and Aurore Rousset
- Best Casting in a Film – Deirdre Bowen
Streaming Links
The Silent Planet
Follows two inmates in the near future who are sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor on a distant planet. As things unravel, they become increasingly paranoid and start to lose a sense of who they are and their past lives.
nominations
- Best Original Score – Darren Fung
Streaming Links
Skeet
After being released from prison, Billy Skinner returns to his low-income neighbourhood feeling like the area has changed dramatically, and what was once a predominantly white neighbourhood is now mostly occupied by refugee families.
nominations
- Best Lead Performance in a Drama Film – Sean Dalton
Streaming Links
The Thawing of Ice (La fonte des glaces)
Louise Denoncourt, a parole officer unlike any other, deftly operates an experimental rehabilitation wing for murderers. A new inmate in her care is suspected of killing her mother. Riddled with doubt, Louise embarks on a mission that quickly goes beyond her. How far will she go to prevent him from killing again?
nominations
- Best Lead Performance in a Drama Film – Christine Beaulieu
- Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film – Lothaire Bluteau
- Best Original Screenplay – Sarah Lévesque, François Péloquin
Streaming Links
Universal Language (Une langue universelle)
An absurdist triptych of seemingly unconnected stories finds a mysterious point of intersection in this tale set somewhere between Winnipeg and Tehran.
nominations
- Best Motion Picture
- Best Direction – Matthew Rankin
- Best Lead Performance in a Comedy Film – Rojina Esmaeili
- Best Lead Performance in a Comedy Film – Pirouz Nemati
- Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Film – Danielle Fichaud
- Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Film – Mani Soleymanlou
- Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Film – Saba Vahedyousefi
- Best Original Screenplay – Matthew Rankin, Pirouz Nemati, Ila Firouzabadi
- Best Art Direction/Production Design – Louisa Schabas
- Best Costume Design – Negar Nemati
- Best Editing – Xi Feng
- Best Makeup – Marie Salvado
- Best Casting in a Film – Marilou Richer
Streaming Links
Village Keeper
A grieving widow, paralyzed by anxiety struggles to protect her kids in a city gripped by violence. Finding solace in cleaning, she inadvertently uncovers her own long-buried trauma while tidying a bloody crime scene.
nominations
- Best Motion Picture
- Best Lead Performance in a Drama Film – Oluniké Adeliyi
- Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film – Zahra Bentham
- Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film – Micah Mensah-Jatoe
- Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film – Maxine Simpson
- Best Original Screenplay – Karen Chapman
- John Dunning Best First Feature – Karen Chapman
Streaming Links
The Wall Street Boy (Kipkemboi)
With his life in jeopardy and jail almost a certainty, one question remains, how could a farm boy bring down the global financial system and how far is the international world order willing to go to silence his story?
nominations
- Best Original Score – Amin Bhatia
Streaming Links
We Forgot To Break Up
A band of misfits ditches their small town to chase their dreams as indie rock gods in the big city.
nominations
- Best Editing – Anna Catley
- Best Original Song – “Revolutionary Heart”, Torquil Campbell
Streaming Links
Who Do I Belong To?
A Tunisian woman is caught between her maternal love and her search for the truth when her son returns home from war and unleashes a darkness throughout their village.
nominations
- Best Motion Picture
- Best Direction – Meryam Joobeur
- John Dunning Best First Feature – Maryam Goober
Streaming Links
Young Werther
Werther, a carefree and charming young writer, stumbles across the love of his life only to find out she’s engaged. Against his best friend’s urgings, Werther turns his world upside down in a misguided and hilarious quest to win her heart.
nominations
- Best Cinematography – Nick Haight
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