Canadian Screen Awards (Canada’s Oscars) Target Villeneuve’s “Enemy”

Just a day following the conclusion of TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten festival, many of the same films were heralded in this morning’s Canadian Screen Awards nominations. Leading the noms was Enemy, Denis Villenueve’s adaptation of Jose Saramago’s celebrated novel The Double. Its astounding 10 nominations include best picture, actor (Jake Gyllenhaal), supporting actress (former TIFF rising star and current Cronenberg muse Sarah Gadon), and director (Villeneuve).

Other Canada’s Top Ten overlapping nominees include multiple nominations for wunderkind Xavier Dolan’s nod to Hitchcock, Tom at the Farm (with eight nominations including best picture), doc Watermark, Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Gabrielle (which surprisingly was snubbed for best director), and the recently locked The F Word (which garnered a best actor nod for Daniel Radcliffe but astoundingly not a nomination for its charming lead actress Zoe Kazan).

Films that were expected to be part of Canada’s Top Ten but were ignored were given multiple nominations and thunderous applause during this morning’s Canadian Screen Awards press conference. These include local favorite Jennifer Podemski’s Empire of Dirt (which garnered five nominations) and the incredibly talented Don McKellar’s The Grand Seduction (with four nominations). Unexpectedly shocking snubs for the leading awards include doc Our Man in Tehran, and features Stay, Asphalt Watches, Vic and Flo Saw a Bear, The Right Kind of Wrong and, most surprisingly, critical and commercial darling The Dirties.

The Academy’s Canadian Screen Awards is the annual awards show to celebrate the best in film, television and digital media; they are part of Canadian Screen Week (March 3-9, 2014) and the 2-Hour Live Broadcast Gala will air in Canada on Sunday March 9, 2014 @ 8pm on CBC.