“I prefer the Canadian awards to the American. It’s so refreshing to see faces frozen by something other than Botox.” Martin Short, host of Canadian Screen Awards.
Unlike our American neighbours, we Canadians are not particularly great at tooting our own horn. When it comes to awards, we tend to have a “Who…me?” attitude punctuated with some self-deprecating humour. Yet with all the great screen talent in this country, I feel we are definitely overdue for some public celebration!
It is therefore very exciting to attend and write about the first-ever Canadian Screen Awards. Remember the Genies and the Geminis? They have now been combined into one mega-awards show called Canadian Screen Awards. This is the inaugural year with awards given out the best work in Canadian digital, television and film.
The Awards were spread over several days last week – with the industry awards given out last
Wednesday and Thursday night. On Saturday, fans could get close to the stars by visiting the FANZONE to get autographs and photos with their favourite famous Canadians.
The week was capped off by Sunday night’s broadcast of 37 awards which aired on CBC. Stars poured into the SONY Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto for a night of glitz and glamour – Canadian-style!
There was a red carpet There were celebrities and all major Canadian media outlets.There were gowns and tuxes. No, it wasn’t the Oscars, but it did have a unique Canadian flavour. In true Canadian style, there was lots of fun and relaxed humour. What else can you expect when you have host Martin Short interviewing Alan Thicke on the red carpet dressed as his alter-ego Jimminy Glick? Who needs Ryan Seacrest – we know how to have fun in this country!
Celebs in attendance included George Stroumbouloupoulos, Catherina O’Hara, James Cromwell (Best Actor Winner last night for Still Mine), Rick Mercer, Brad “The Canadian Bachelor” Smith and his fiancee Bianca, Adam Beach (star of Arctic Air) Alan Thicke, Sandra Oh, and many more.
And let’s not forget about the actual awards themselves! War Witch was one of the big winners of the night. The powerful film about a 14 year-old African girl who becomes a soldier, nabbed some of the biggest wins: Best Film, Best Direction (Kim Nguyen) and Best Supporting Actor (Serge Kanyinda). The film’s star – Rachel Mwanza – who is not a professional actress, won for Best Actress.
Other winners from Sunday night included:
Best Reality TV – Dragon’s Den, Kevin O’Leary and cast were on hand to accept their award
Best TV Drama – Flashpoint
Beast Actor in a Comedy Series – Gerry Dee for Mr. D
Best Supporting Actress in a Film – Seema Biswas for Midnight’s Children
Best Documentary – Stories We Tell – Director Sarah Polley accepted her award
Best Actress in a Series – Meg Tilley for Bomb Girls
Best Actor in a Television Drama – Enrico Colantone for Flashpoint
Congratulations to all the winners. For full list of winners, please visit the official site.