A few years ago, nobody would have thought that a series about gay hockey players would become the toast of the Canadian entertainment industry. But this past weekend, the Crave romance show, Heated Rivalry, set a record by winning 16 Canadian Screen Awards, including best drama series.
The star, Hudson Williams, won the Canadian Screen Award for best lead performer in a drama series. And the show’s creator, Jacob Tierney, received Canadian Screen Awards for best direction and best writing in a drama series.
Another big winner was the hit comedy series North of North, which is a co-production of APTN, CBC, and Netflix. Set in Nunavut, North of North won nine Canadian Screen Awards, including for best comedy series.
The show’s star, Anna Lambe won Canadian Screen Awards for best lead performer and as part of the best ensemble performance in a comedy. North of North creators Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril took home the prize for best writing, comedy.
Meanwhile in the film division, Matthew Miller and Matt Greyson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie won six Canadian Screen Awards, including for best motion picture. The film’s star, Jay McCarrol, won for performance in a leading role, comedy. And Grace Glowicki received the Canadian Screen Award for performance in a leading role, drama, for Honey Bunch.
Another big winner was R.T. Thorne. He was honoured for achievement in direction of a motion picture and for original screenplay, which he shared with Glenn Taylor, for 40 Acres. In addition, Thorne won the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award for this thriller about descendants of Black farmers who settled in rural Canada
Moreover, 40 Acres won Canadian Screen Awards for cinematography (Jeremy Benning), art direction (Peter Cisco), sound editing (Ed Douglas, Dermain Finlayson), original score (Todor Kobakov), stunt coordination (Angelica Lisk-Hann), and casting (Stephanie Gorin).
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