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Awards, Industry News

Screen Nova Scotia announce award winners

From a media release:

Screen Nova Scotia hosted its second annual awards show on Saturday, May 7,  in front of a sold-out crowd at Casio Nova Scotia. Featuring the ACTRA Awards for Outstanding Performances, the Screen Nova Scotia Awards, the Digital Animators of Nova Scotia Award, and the Film Crew Excellence Award, the event was a celebration of the talent, determination, and passion that are trademarks of the screen-based community in Nova Scotia.

After opening the evening with a live performance, Studio Black! won the award for Best Television Series. The CBC miniseries from Lunenburg-based production company Picture Plant Limited tells African-Nova Scotian folk tales in a style the mixes theatre and studio television.

Local actor/director Cory Bowles hosted the night, and also joined the Studio Black! team on stage to accept their Screen Nova Scotia award, as one of the directors of the series.

North Mountain, a First Nations LGBT thriller, won the Screen Nova Scotia Award for Best Feature Film. It’s the first feature film from writer/director Bretten Hannam.

The theme of the evening was ‘family’ – a gathering of those who built the industry over the past 20 years – with multigenerational presenters taking to the stage to present awards throughout the evening.

Three-time nominee Jackie Torrens took home the ACTRA trophy for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work on the feature film Across the Line. Mike Mcleod won his second ACTRA award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the role of the priest in the television series Forgive Me. Director Thom Fitzgerald accepted the award on McLeod’s behalf, as the actor moved to B.C. for work following the elimination of the tax credit last year.

Costumer Deanna Anthony, won the Film Crew Excellence Award, posthumously. An industry veteran, Deanna most recently worked on This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, before passing away from cancer at the age of 52.

The full list of award winners:

Best Television Series: Studio Black! (Picture Plant Ltd.)
Best Documentary Film: Fanarchy (Ruby Tree Films)
Best Short Film: Bound (Daniel Boos)
Best Feature Film: North Mountain (Mazeking Pictures & Kingsberg Studios)
Best Scene in an Animated Production: Bit By Bit / Animated by Jeff Roach (Huminah Animation)

Outstanding Female Actor in a Leading Role: Jennie Raymond, Sex & Violence
Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role: Mike Mcleod, Forgive Me
Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Jackie Torrens, Across The Line
Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Simon Paul  Mutuyimana, Across The Line

Film Crew Excellence Award: Deanna Anthony, Costumer

(image courtesy of Michael Tompkins)

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Featured, Masterchef Canada

Seeing red on MasterChef Canada

After taking over Claudio’s Origin in Season 1 and Michael’s Canoe in Season 2, it was Alvin’s turn to hand the keys to his restaurant to the Top 6 during Sunday’s instalment. The episode title, “Demon at the Pass,” certainly lived up to its name as Chef Leung barked orders to the Red and Blue teams as they cooked at Toronto’s R&D restaurant, launched by Season 1 winner Eric Chong (Rebel) and Leung (Demon).

And by the end of the episode, it was Dr. Shawn who surrendered his apron (and signature ball cap) and exited the competition. But back to the Restaurant Takeover for a second, where the Demon Chef lived up to his name by barking orders and refusing to mince words when plates delivered by the Red and Blue teams weren’t up to par. I felt badly for the Top 6, who not only had to learn and execute complex Asian dishes but served them to former MasterChef Canada competitors. Mary’s Red team of Veronica and April Lee gutted it out against Jeremy’s Blue squad of Matthew and Shawn and everything appeared to be evenly matched … until a second plate of wonky chow mein was sent back to the Blue kitchen. That spelled their defeat and sent the men to the Pressure Test.

Kudos to MasterChef Canada‘s producers for coming up with increasingly difficult challenges for the home cooks; making a Charlotte cake in just one hour seemed impossible and created some especially tense moments as Matthew’s glaze bled down the sides of his cake and Shawn’s lady fingers were chunky and child-like. The former edged out the latter when it came to taste, however, eliminating the good doctor from the competition.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Awards

Link: Calgary-based TV shows nab top prizes at Rosie Awards

From Eric Volmers of Postmedia:

Calgary-based TV shows nab top prizes at Rosie Awards
Two of Alberta’s highest-profile, Calgary-based television series took home major hardware at the 42nd annual Alberta Film and Television Awards in Calgary Saturday night, although the night was not without a few surprises.

The show, hosted by comedian Jebb Fink, took over the Hyatt’s Imperial Ballroom, as hundreds of Alberta’s film and TV workers dressed to the nines and competed in 55 categories for the awards, nicknamed the Rosies. Continue reading. 

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Children's Programming

Links: Raising Expectations

From Victoria Ahearn of The Canadian Press:

As a young star she fled fame for France, but Ringwald at 48 is comfortable now
The first episode of actress Molly Ringwald’s new Canadian family series “Raising Expectations” touches on an issue she’s deftly handled throughout her career: the perils of fame.

Airing Sunday on Family Channel, the comedy series première sees her character — a high-profile child psychologist and author and mother of five — recounting one of her husband’s tall tales at a conference. When the talk is posted online, it draws a flurry of accusations that the father (played by Jason Priestley) is lying and that the family isn’t as perfect as it seems. Continue reading.

From Tim Kelly of the Vaughan Citizen:

Vaughan’s Luke Bilyk sets sights on Raising Expectations
You may well know Vaughan’s Luke Bilyk as Drew Torres from Degrassi: The Next Generation where he starred for five years, but now the 21-year-old is hitting the small screen in a brand new show.
Debuting Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on Family Channel, Raising Expectations tells the story of a pair of “multi-exceptional parents” raising four “multi-exceptional children” and one not-so-exceptional child. Laughs and some life lessons ensue. Continue reading.

From Wendy Goldman Getzler of Kidscreen.com:

In Raising Expectations, DHX broadens reach
“We wanted to–within the regular Family Channel block–also think about [reaching] more people who frankly may not turn on Family Channel, who may not know about the channel or watch the channel. So we were thinking about a single-camera comedy that is age-appropriate for the core audience.” Continue reading.

From Jeremy Dixon of Kidscreen.com

Family quirks: A Q&A with Raising Expectations’ creator
“I wanted to tell a story that was very loosely based on a portion of my family, which is a family of nine. In other pilots that I’ve written, I like to dabble and draw from my family because we’re such a diverse bunch of characters. With Raising Expectations, I wasn’t thinking that I wanted to make a kids show. I wanted to make a show for a family, or a show that my family would want to watch.” Continue reading.

From Cynthia Reason of the Etobicoke Guardian:

Etobicoke School of the Arts’ Matthew Tissi stars in Raising Expectations
Matthew Tissi wasn’t even born when the Brat Pack had teens flocking to theatres in the ’80s and Beverly Hills 90210 had them glued to their TVs in the early ’90s, but he’s making up for lost time now by acting alongside two of that generation’s biggest stars. Continue reading. 

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Featured, Motive, X Company

Comments and queries for the week of May 6

1 Comment

X Company‘s creators discuss the heartbreaking finale and look towards Season 3

I like this show, but now Tom’s dead. I’m not watching it any longer. Killing the kid would have been better, I can’t stand him. But Tom was a much better character … and his death meant the death of the show for me. I’m done. —D

I suspect “the kid” will grow up if he survives the coming season. Very young people involved in causes often become fanatical about them—and not just those in the Nazi youth. With a little more life experience he’d have understood that his young German counterpart was a conscript who had no other choice, especially under a totalitarian régime (conscientious objectors were forced to clean minefields, where they were eventually blown up, among other things). Odd, I didn’t like Tom at first; I found him smarmy and a bit of a prequel to Mad Men. But he certainly became a fully-fleshed character and had to undergo quite the ordeal even pretending to be seriously wounded and then finally falling over the proverbial cliff. I miss René, who looks like a friend of mine (who is considerably younger than I am), but that wouldn’t have allowed me to watch much of the series. I do appreciate the development of the female characters. Some commenters are saying that it wasn’t realistic in light of female roles 70 years ago, but the very fact that so many men were off fighting meant that women had to take on new responsibilities (as we see at Camp X). And that was certainly the case in the Resistance, in many countries. —Lagatta

Motive‘s showrunner sounds off on the series’ final cases

We are disappointed that Motive is not continuing for another season. It is a terrific show with excellent actors and believable plots. —June and Brian

Person of Interest is now on Tuesday night in Motive’s time slot. Where is Motive? It was only on for four weeks!! —Stacey

The remaining episodes of Motive will air this summer on CTV.

 

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email greg@tv-eh.com or via email @tv_eh.

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