The BET+/CBC drama The Porter and the HBO Max/CBC comedy Sort Of were the big winners at the Canadian Screen Awards on Friday night.
The Porter, a civil rights drama about 1920s Black train employees in Montreal and Chicago, won for best TV drama, best drama direction for Charles Officer, best drama writing for Marsha Greene and Alfre Woodard picked up the trophy for best guest drama performance.
The first Canadian drama to boast an all-Black creative team also picked up a host of other trophies for best photography, original music, picture editing, make-up and hair and costume and production design. The Porter led the film and TV field for the Canadian Screen Awards with 19 nominations in all, including for best small-screen drama.
Also dominating the TV categories at the non-telecast Canadian Screen Awards was the Peabody Award-winning comedy Sort Of. The series about a gender fluid young Muslim in Toronto played by Bilal Baig earned the best TV comedy prize, a best comedy lead performer trophy for Baig, a best comedy director prize for co-creator Fab Filippo and a best guest comedy performance award for Amanda Brugel, in addition to craft category prizes.
And the CBC series TallBoyz picked up trophies for best sketch comedy and best writing and direction in a variety or sketch comedy show.
On the TV acting front, Ennis Esmer won best supporting comedy performance for his role in the CTV series Children Ruin Everything, Hamza Haq won for best drama lead performance in the NBC/CTV Transplant series and the best supporting drama performer award went to the late Christopher Plummer for his role in the Global TV series Departure.
In the top film categories, Clement Virgo’s mystery drama Brother took home 12 trophies, including best movie. The indie also earned Virgo the best director and best adapted screenplay prizes, as Brother was adapted for the big screen from David Chariandy’s novel of the same name, and tells the story of Francis and Michael, sons of Caribbean immigrants maturing into young men amid Toronto’s 1990s hip-hop scene.
Brother earned The Last of Us actor Lamar Johnson the best leading role prize, while Aaron Pierre nabbed the best supporting role trophy for his performances alongside Kiana Madeira and Marsha Stephanie Blake.
The film is produced by Virgo and longtime business partner Damon D’Oliveira of Conquering Lion Pictures, along with Aeschylus Poulos and Sonya Di Rienzo of Hawkeye Pictures, who together accepted the best movie trophy during a non-telecast awards show in Toronto.
The Canadian Screen Awards this year emerging as a major showcase for people of color has followed industry efforts in recent years to ensure diversity and inclusivity in the country’s indie production sector and prize-giving process.
In other film categories, David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future picked up trophies for best visual effects and best make-up, and Anthony Shim won for best screenplay for Riceboy Sleeps, which he also directed.
The national film and TV awards, produced by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, handed out trophies off camera this year, ahead of Samantha Bee hosting a pre-taped Canadian Screen Awards one-hour special on the CBC network and CBC Gem on April 16.
A complete list of winners is available on the Canadian Academy’s website.
