TORONTO 鈥� This year鈥檚 Canadian Screen Awards will boast a 鈥渟olid slate鈥� of work from women, organizers said Tuesday as they unveiled the nominees and addressed how the MeToo and Time鈥檚 Up female-empowerment movements might factor into the upcoming show.
CBC/Netflix鈥檚 female-led Anne, featuring the plucky young heroine from Lucy Maud Montgomery鈥檚 classic novel, nabbed a leading 13 nominations. They include best drama series for creators Moira Walley-Beckett and Miranda de Pencier, and best actress for star Amybeth McNulty.
Two of the leading film nominees are female-led: Ava by Sadaf Foroughi, and Never Steady, Never Still by Kathleen Hepburn. They each have eight nominations, tied with Hochelaga, Land of Souls by Francois Girard, which was sa国际传媒鈥檚 pick for the best foreign-language film category at this year鈥檚 Oscars, but didn鈥檛 make the short list.
鈥淚 think the best way to recognize the future that we鈥檙e trying to create for women in our industry is to recognize their work, and we have a solid slate of work from women directors, writers, actors up for nominations this year, which I鈥檓 really excited about,鈥� said Beth Janson, chief executive of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
鈥淚n our best-writing category for TV drama, there鈥檚 a woman in every nomination 鈥� four of them are women-only and one of them is a female-male team.鈥�
As the industry grapples with sexual-misconduct allegations, Janson said the academy is working on creating its own code of conduct heading into the awards gala, which will be broadcast on CBC-TV on March 11 from the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.
鈥淲e are first going to our members to get their input on what they think should be in the code of conduct,鈥� Janson said.
鈥淚 think that it鈥檚 really important, in solving this issue, to solve it from the people on the frontlines who are dealing with this on a daily basis, rather than only from the legal experts who are seeing it with a bird鈥檚-eye view.
鈥淲e鈥檙e developing a survey that鈥檚 going to go to our members on Monday, actually, and then we hope to have a code of conduct in place to reveal to our membership during Canadian Screen Week.鈥�
Asked whether the show might have a female host, academy chairman Martin Katz would only say: 鈥淲e鈥檝e had female hosts in the past and I think we鈥檙e going to be very excited when we announce the host in the next few weeks.鈥�
Other leading television nominees include CTV鈥檚 crime drama Cardinal and CBC鈥檚 family comedy Kim鈥檚 Convenience, which have 12 nominations apiece.
CBC鈥檚 adaptation of Margaret Atwood鈥檚 novel Alias Grace and its riches-to-rags comedy Schitt鈥檚 Creek have 11 nods each, while the CraveTV hoser comedy Letterkenny and CTV鈥檚 assisted-death drama Mary Kills People both have nine.
The nominees for best picture are: Ava, The Breadwinner, It鈥檚 the Heart That Dies Last, The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches, Maudie, Never Steady, Never Still and The Ravenous.
Maudie by Aisling Walsh and The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches by Simon Lavoie and Mathieu Denis are among the other leading film nominees, with seven nods apiece.
Actor Emma Hunter, who is nominated for her work on the TV series Mr. D and The Beaverton, said she鈥檚 鈥渉oping for a lot more female wins鈥� this year.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of women nominated and I know we鈥檙e trying to do better as a nation. I just hope there鈥檚 a lot of attention around it,鈥� she said.
鈥淚 think we can talk about it. I think everybody鈥檚 talking about it and I think as a country we have a responsibility to talk about it. So I hope it鈥檚 highlighted, at the very least, and I think it will be.鈥�
