2021 Canadian Screen Awards nominations announced
By Jerrison Oracion, Senior Columnist
Can we still get Kim’s Convenience Andrew Phung to host it? He will be very fun and he is a cool guy.
Last year, the major award shows in Canada had to be held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the case of the Canadian Screen Awards, they were shown on YouTube and pre-taped which made the ceremony look automated—and the narrators of the awards show knew who won already. With the success of recent awards shows presenting them virtually including last year’s Emmy Awards where Schitt’s Creek swept the comedy categories and became the most successful Canadian show internationally, this year’s edition of the Canadian Screen Awards should be a major improvement from last year’s edition.
The nominations for this year’s awards were announced two weeks ago and while it is unknown if there will be a host this year, can we still get Kim’s Convenience Andrew Phung to host it? He will be very fun and he is a cool guy. In film, the films that were nominated for Best Film are Nadia, Butterfly, Beans, Funny Boy, The Nest, and Underground. Funny Boy which involves a boy in India coming of age and embracing his sexuality got the most nominations with nine nominations and recently aired on CBC. Another childhood film except this time a young Indigenous girl during the Oka Crisis called Beans got five nominations including Best First Feature Film and tied with The Nest.
The athlete study on a Canadian swimmer reflecting on her career during an Olympics that may not actually happen Nadia, Butterfly got three nominations. A local documentary about a Vancouver man solving a cold case The World is Bright got two nominations. In TV, some of the shows that won the big awards last year were nominated again for their last seasons.
In drama, the shows that were nominated for Best Drama are Cardinal, Transplant, Vikings, Departure, and Burden of Truth. Cardinal and Trickster got the most nominations with 15 nominations. In the case of Trickster which mainly has an Indigenous cast, most of the people in the show were nominated but the show is not nominated for Best Drama. If Departure was not nominated, then Trickster would have been nominated. (It looked interesting and I could watch it.) But Departure has the late Christopher Plummer who is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama so that may have helped (but even then, Departure still may be cancelled).
Also, Transplant got six nominations including Best Actor in a Drama for Hamza Haq. For the comedy categories, they merged them with the variety categories since that there were not a lot of variety shows airing last and it is very likely that The Baroness von Sketch Show will sweep the awards. The shows that were nominated for Best Comedy are Schitt’s Creek, Kim’s Convenience, The Baroness von Sketch Show, Workin Moms, and Letterkenny. For the second year in a row, Schitt’s Creek got the most nominations of any show with 22 nominations including almost everyone in the show.
If you’d like to see my thoughts on it, see this week’s “Lots of Catching Up.” Kim’s Convenience which will surprisingly end this season (though Shannon will get her own show next season with Strays) got 11 nominations including nominations again for Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Jean Yoon, Phung, and Amanda Brugel. In news, The National got 10 nominations, CTV News at 11 got three nominations, and News Hour and CBC News: Vancouver at 6 got nominations as well.
Canada will be kind of finally celebrating Canadian content with this year’s Canadian Screen Awards and it could be as exciting as the Emmy Awards last year. The Canadian Screen Awards will air between May 17 to May 20.
