For the second year in a row, Quebec cinema leads the race for the Canadian Screen Awards with 37 films, including the feature film by Ariane Louis-Seize, written with Christine Doyon, Humanist vampire seeking consenting suicide, who collects 12 selections. It is however Blackberrydirected by Matt Johnson and co-written by Matthew Miller, who takes the lead with 17 selections.
In addition to the films by Ariane Louis-Seize and Matt Johhson, the three other feature films selected in the Best Film category are Infinity Pool (11 selections), by Brandon Cronenberg; The red rooms (5 selections), by Pascal Plante; Richelieu (6 selections), by Pier-Philippe Chevigny; And Solo (4 selections), by Sophie Dupuis.
Among the Quebec feature films that stand out, let us mention Ruadaptation of Kim Thuy’s novel by director Charles-Olivier Michaud and screenwriter Jacques Davidts, with nine selections, including the prizes for best photographic direction and best adaptation.
Kanavalby Henri Pardo, Simple like Sylvain, by Monia Chokri, and For a summer, by director Louise Archambault and screenwriter Marie Vien, were selected four times each.
For its part, The plungerby Francis Leclerc, written with Eric K. Boulianne, is nominated three times.
Quebec feature-length documentaries are not left out sinceBeyond paper, by Oana Suteu Khintirian and Nathalie Cloutier, and The Longest Goodbye, of Ido Mizrahy, Nir Sa’ar and Paul Cadieux, each obtained three selections, like Twice Colonizedby Lin Alluna, Stacey Aglok Macdonald, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Emile Hertling Péronard and Bob Moore. Kite Zo A: Leave the bones, by Kaveh Nabatian, and I placed my mother, by Denys Desjardins, are finalists twice each.
Short side
Furthermore, Quebec cinema dominates on the short side. Five Quebec films compete in the Best Documentary Short Film category: Cherry, by Laurence Gagné-Frégeau; Madeleine, by Raquel Sancinetti; Oasisby Justine Martin; Violet Gave Willinglyby Claire Sanford, and Zug Islandby Nicolas Lachapelle.
The five finalists in the Best Animated Short Film category are also Quebec films: Aphasia, by Marielle Dalpé; Miserable Miracleby Ryo Orikasa; Back to Hairy Hill, by Daniel Gies; The temple, by Alain Fournier; And Where do rabbits come from by Colin Ludvic Racicot.
Four of the films competing for the Best Short Fiction Film prize are from Quebec: Kill the bikini!by Justine Gauthier; The hot summer, by Marie-Pier Dupuis; Invincible, by Vincent René-Lortie; And Mothers & Monsters, by Edith Jorisch.
This year, the Canadian Awards will award for the first time the prize for Best Performance in a Short Fiction Film. Seven of the eight named actors are from Quebec: Agathe Ledoux, Léokim Beaumier-Lépine, Eric K. Boulianne, Florence Blain Mbaye, Ilyes Tarmasti, Marine Johnson and Anthony Therrien.
Hosted by Mae Martin, the Canadian Screen Awards ceremony will be broadcast on Friday, May 31, at 8 p.m., on CBC and CBC Gem.