CBC drama ‘The Porter,’ Clement Virgo film ‘Brother’ top Canadian Screen Awards nominations

TORONTO – This yr’s leading Canadian Screen Awards nominees include a series about North America’s Black train porters within the Twenties and a coming-of-age film set in Scarborough.

The Black-led CBC and BET Plus series “The Porter” is the leading nominee with 19 nods heading into this yr’s awards, including best drama series, best writing in a drama and best costume design.

Set in Montreal, Detroit and Chicago, the hour-long series that spotlights the railway employees’ pursuit of liberation boasts a largely Black Canadian creative team, including co-creatorArnold Pinnock and showrunners Marsha Greene and Annmarie Morais.

“The Porter” actors Aml Ameen, Ronnie Rowe Jr., and Mouna Traoré are all nominated for best performance in a drama.

Meanwhile, Toronto filmmaker Clement Virgo’s feature “Brother,” which is predicated on the novel by David Chariandy, is the leading film nominee with 14 nods, including best movie and achievement in direction for Virgo.

The difference, which dives into societal challenges facing Jamaican-Canadian brothers in Nineties Scarborough, debuted on the Toronto International Film Festival and madeTIFF’s Top Ten list for 2022.

The film’s star Lamar Johnson can also be up for performance in a number one role for his turn as a younger brother living within the shadow of a dynamic older sibling while caring for his mother. The feature is about for a theatrical release on March 17.

Other major contenders for best movie include Stéphane Lafleur’s sci-fi dystopian drama “Viking” with 13 nods, David Cronenberg’s body horror “Crimes of the Future” with 11, and Anthony Shim’s immigrant drama, “Riceboy Sleeps” with six.

Two other top challengers in television include the CBC comedy “Sort Of,” and the youngsters’ series “Detention Adventure,” that are tied for the second-highest variety of nominations at 15.

“Sort Of,” which follows a gender-fluid millennial navigating work and romantic relationships, is up for best comedy series and best lead performer for Bilal Baig for the show’s second season.

Performance nods for Baig and co-star Amanda Cordner, who’s up for best supporting performer in a comedy, come after the actors selected to not submit for the 2022 awards attributable to the gender-binary classification system on the time.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television has since implementedgender neutral categories for lead and supporting film and TVroles. On this inaugural yr, the change has shifted the variety of nominations per performancecategory from five to eight.

The annual bash will hand out trophies in 145 categories for film, television, and digital media, in genres starting from kids programming to reality series to news. Special honours and fan selection bring the awards tally to 157.

On the TV news front, CTV National News with Lisa LaFlammeis up for best national newscast, competing with CBC’s The National, APTN National News, and Global National News.

The nod comes following LaFlamme’s departure from CTV last August attributable to what Bell Media described as a “business decision” and which LaFlamme said left her “blindsided.” The ouster sparked a public outcry and a workplace review on the station.

LaFlamme can also be nominated for best news anchor, an award she has won several times before, and he or she’s set to receive the Gordon Sinclair Award for broadcast journalism.

Actors Ryan Reynolds, Simu Liu and Catherine O’Hara are also among the many special honourees.

Within the digital media categories, the satirical show “Revenge of the Black Best Friend” is on top with nine nominations.

Created, co-written and co-produced by Amanda Parris, the series stars Olunike Adeliyi as a self-help guru who desires to end Black stereotypes within the film and tv industry.

Probably the most-nominated reality or competition program is “Canada’s Drag Race” with nine nods.

While awards might be handed out in person for the primary time because the pandemic, the Academy announced earlier this month that the standard live broadcast, which honours the very best in film and tv, might be replaced with a pre-taped special hosted by Samantha Bee.

The awards might be handed out at seven filmed but un-televised galas between April 11 and 14 with opportunities for winners to simply accept hardware and provides speeches amongst their peers.

Winners might be made public throughout the week, leading as much as the pre-taped telecast that may incorporate celebrity interviews and highlights from the galas. It can air April 16 on CBC and CBC Gem.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2023.