Sphere Media wrapped up the Canadian Screen Awards week in impressive fashion, winning 22 trophies at the Comedic & Dramatic Arts Awards on Friday night. Honoured productions are The Porter, Sort Of and Transplant.
CBC’s historical series The Porter was a particular standout, taking home 12 awards including Best Drama Series, Best Direction, Drama Series and Best Writing, Drama Series. The Porter tells the story of the black train porters in Montreal in the 1920s and their quest for the first black union in North America.
CBC’s Sort Of shone, winning in several major categories including Best Comedy Series, Best Direction, Comedy, Best Writing, Comedy, as well as two acting awards: Best Lead Performer, Comedy for Bilal Baig and Best Guest Appearance, Comedy for Amanda Brugel. The comedy series has received accolades at several events over the past year including: MICOM Diversify Awards, Peabody Awards, Rockie Awards, C21 Media International Drama Awards, DGC Awards, as well as winning Best Comedy Series and Best Writing, Comedy at last year’s Canadian Screen Awards.
Finally, the third season of CTV’s medical series Transplant won 3 awards: Best Lead Performer, Drama Series for Hamza Haq, his third consecutive win, as well as Best Sound, Fiction and Best Achievement in Casting, Fiction.
In total, Sphere Media had 45 nominations in 25 categories this year.
“I can only applaud our teams for the 22 awards received at the Canadian Screen Awards. We can be proud of our brilliant ability to tell great stories about people that are able to touch people’s hearts and minds,” said Bruno Dubé, President and CEO of Sphere. “Congratulations to all our creators, producers, actors and craftspeople behind the honored productions who constitute Sphere’s creative strength.”
Distributed by Sphere Films in Canada, David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future won two awards for Achievement in Makeup and Visual Effects. Charlotte Lebon won the John Dunning Award for Best First Feature Film for Falcon Lake. Two films distributed by Sphere Films International were also honoured: Viking by Stéphane Lafleur for Achievement in Photography and Riceboy Sleeps by Anthony Shim for Original Screenplay.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s Canadian Screen Awards are an annual celebration of the country’s top film, television and digital talent.
Information on the awards received
The Porter
- Best Drama Series (Jennifer Kawaja, Ian Dimerman, Bruno Dubé, Marsha Greene, Annmarie Morais, Charles Officer, R.T. Thorne, Arnold Pinnock, Aml Ameen, Alfre Woodard)
- Best Direction, Drama Series (Charles Officer)
- Best Writing, Drama Series (Marsha Greene)
- Best Photography, Drama (Jordan Oram)
- Best Picture Editing, Drama (Sandy Pereira)
- Best Production Design or Art Direction, Fiction (Réjean Labrie, Jon Van Winkle, Sara McCudden)
- Best Costume Design (Heather Neale)
- Best Achievement in Make-Up (Tracy George, Krista Hann, Alicia Talbot)
- Best Achievement in Hair (Heather Streilein, Tremaine Thomas)
- Best Original Music, Drama (Jonathan Goldsmith)
- Best Original Music – Original Song – “Songbird” (Jonathan Goldsmith, Kaïa Kater,)
- Best Guest Performance, Drama Series (Alfre Woodard)
Sort Of
- Best Comedy Series (Jennifer Kawaja, Bruno Dubé, Bilal Baig, Fab Filippo)
- Best Direction, Comedy (Fab Filippo)
- Best Writing, Comedy (Bilal Baig, Fab Filippo)
- Best Picture Editing, Comedy (Marianna Khoury)
- Best Original Music, Comedy (Ceréna, Emily Persich – Earth to Emily), Moël, Terrell Morris, SVDP, Vivek Shraya)
- Best Lead Performer, Comedy (Bilal Baig)
- Best Guest Performance, Comedy (Amanda Brugel)
Transplant
- Best Sound, Fiction (Guy Pelletier, Christian Rivest, Mario Auclair, Gaël Poisson-Lemay, Sylvain Brassard, Guy Francoeur, Claude Champagne)
- Best Lead Performer, Drama Series (Hamza Haq)
- Best Achievement In Casting, Fiction (Andrea Kenyon, Randi Wells, Jason Knight, John Buchan)
