On Sunday, April 10, the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards will air. The pre-taped ceremony will honour the country’s greatest achievements in film and television from the past year. And while 2021 was, like the year before it, an unusual year for film and TV pros in the country, there is still much to celebrate.
Below, our complete guide to the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards, including how to watch, who’s hosting, and what films and TV shows are up for trophies this year.
2022 Canadian Screen Awards go virtual again, but with CBC back onboard
What time are the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards?
This year, the Canadian Screen Awards will air at 8 p.m. ET. Unlike last year, when the national broadcaster streamed the awards on its various social media platforms, this year’s show will air on CBC as well as CBC Gem.
The awards gala was preceded by a weeklong celebration, Canadian Screen Week, which featured nine separate shows that were live-streamed via the Canadian Academy’s social media channels.
While the 2022 awards were initially scheduled to be an in-person event, December’s arrival of the Omicron variant scuttled those plans. This year’s digital-first ceremony, plus the CSAs’ renewed partnership with the CBC, may help the Canadian Academy give the year’s top Canadian films and TV series some much-deserved exposure. “We learned a lot about doing this show in a very DIY fashion last year,” Canadian Academy chief executive Beth Janson said in an interview with The Globe earlier this week. “So our goal with this show is to go beyond. To reach Canadians who don’t know the ins and outs of everything that happens in the Cancon sector. "
2022 Canadian Screen Awards promise slap-free celebration of a uniquely frustrating film, TV season
Who’s hosting this year’s Canadian Screen Awards?
While the CSAs don’t have a conventional host, this year’s “featured presenters” are TallBoyz, a sketch comedy troupe whose eponymous show airs on CBC.
Who’s nominated for Canadian Screen Awards this year?
This year’s major Canadian Screen Awards nominees include the films Scarborough and Night Raiders, which are up for 11 nominations each; All My Puny Sorrows, which is up for eight nominations; Wildhood, which is up for six; and Drunken Birds, also up for six. In television, leading nominees include Pretty Hard Cases (11), Wynonna Earp (11), Coroner (10), and Kim’s Convenience (10). Click here to see the full list of Canadian Screen Awards nominees, and to read why The Globe’s Barry Hertz called the list “a perfect nomination slate.”
What did The Globe think of this year’s nominees?
Over the past year, arts writers at The Globe have reported on a number of 2022 CSA nominees, including Scarborough, Letterkenny, Drunken Birds and others. To help you familiarize (or refamiliarize) yourself with some of this year’s nominees ahead of the ceremony, we’ve compiled our coverage below.
Film nominees:
Scarborough
What The Globe thought of it: “The new film is, without risk of hyperbole, one of the most affecting dramas that I watched all last year, from any country. Heartbreaking without being manipulative, compassionate without being overbearing and authentic without being sentimental, Scarborough stands as a shining example of how, when everything lines up just so, our country’s film industry can produce truly powerful works of art that can transform the way that you see the world.” Read the full review here.
Night Raiders
What The Globe thought of it: “At the end of Cameron Bailey’s op-ed five years ago – which might have well been 50 years given the shifts that the Canadian industry has since run up against – Bailey asked, “who will step forward to share the stories we don’t tell?” [Director Danis] Goulet is certainly not the only storyteller accepting the challenge. But right now, the chilling and provocative Night Raiders puts her in the best position to break this country’s image to the rest of the world.” Read the full review here.
Drunken Birds
What The Globe thought of it: “Built with confidence of tone and clarity of vision, [director Ivan] Grbovic’s film keeps all three storylines floating with ease, even though it’s clear he has more affinity, and attachment, to Willy’s plight and those of his fellow workers. As the film captures the men mechanically culling, chopping and bagging heads of lettuce day in and day out – their only break being Sunday afternoon trips into town to attend a Spanish-language mass or cram the local internet café – Grbovic delivers a stark but not oppressive portrait of exploitation, camaraderie and survival.” Read the full review here.
Drunken Birds chosen as Canada’s contender for international film Oscar
Wildhood
What The Globe thought of it: Filmed in Nova Scotia and featuring both English and Mi’kmaw, Wildhood beautifully captures the landscape and its community as well as moments of humour, even as it treads some bleak spaces. Written, directed and produced by Bretten Hannam, and starring a mixed cast of established and amateur actors, including Mi’kmaw elder Becky Julian, Wildhood is a worthy addition to the growing canon of Indigenous film and TV works. Read the full review here.
Television nominees:
Letterkenny
K. Trevor Wilson, left to right, Nathan Dales and Jared Keeso of "Letterkenny".AMANDA MATLOVICH/Bell Media via The Canadian Press
What The Globe thought of it: “Despite its flights of raunchiness, Letterkenny is grounded by a strong moral code. “It’s a simple rule,” [co-creator Jacob] Tierney says: “Jared and I both hate bullies. You can have a problem with someone, but you don’t bully them. You fight, but you shake hands afterwards. There are no cops in Letterkenny. It’s self-policing, and this no-bullying rule is the heart of it.” Read Johanna Schneller’s full interview with Tierney here.
Mark Montefiore has taken Letterkenny from small-town Ontario to the world
Sort Of
Bilal Baig in Sort Of.CBC Gem via The Canadian Press
What The Globe thought of it: “So far, while the series has been on CBC Gem, there’s been glowing attention to the fact that CBC has a series with a queer, brown, gender-fluid star at its core. But that’s not the sum and total of it. What makes it truly special is the energy, vitality and the fact that the tone is beautifully judged. The series is a very urban contemporary comedy, a wry portrait of the power plays in romantic relationships – of all types – and amounts to a humane, messy tale of sexual and artistic self-discovery.” Read the full review here.
Trans actor Bilal Baig breaks boundaries in CBC series Sort Of
Kim’s Convenience
What The Globe thought of it: “Oh yes, it’s funny, warm and has some fine scenes, but there’s a lot left dangling. Watching it even with familiar pleasure you still sense – you know – there was more to come. And you understand why some cast were caught off guard by the abrupt ending and remain resentful. Star Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who plays store owner Appa, told The Canadian Press recently, “It really is like grieving a death: With time it gets better, and sometimes it forms like a scab.”” Read John Doyle’s full piece on the show’s untimely end here.
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