As the CSAs barrel on, filmmakers ask: Can Canadian film save itself?

The Canadian Screen Awards doled out some of its top trophies last night. BlackBerry was Thursday's top winner, with 11 awards in a week-long ceremony honouring film, television and almost everything else we watch on our screens. 

But perhaps more than anyone else, Canadian filmmakers are learning that not everything that glitters is gold. Because despite success at Cannes — and a few unforgettable notes at the Oscars — Canadian films and filmmakers still make up a small sliver of the box office, and a dismal ripple in a sea of streaming platforms.

In 2023, Canadian films made up just three per cent of the Canadian box office, largely supported by the outsized successes of BlackBerry and the country's new cultural behemoth, Paw Patrol.

It all paints a dismal picture for the health of the Canadian film industry. To take the temperature, and ask for answers, CBC News asked three members of the industry to see what they think about whether Canadian film can be saved.

For Albert Shin, the job has never been easy. But it's getting even tougher.

"You're really … hustling to have some kind of sustainable career, to support yourself and to be able to do what you do," he said. 

"There's really no way to sugarcoat it. It's really, really tough."

Because even after directing two acclaimed films — 2014's In Her Place and 2019's Disappearance at Clifton Hill — last year's Hollywood strikes and the subsequently contracting marketplace have put his future in jeopardy. ("I would say 'austerity' and 'contraction' are two very apt words," Shin said about the current landscape.)

"Sometimes you're thinking several years out, you know, and then sometimes — nowadays — I'm thinking, 'Is there an audience left by the time this movie hopefully gets made?'" he said. "Will movie theatres exist? Will people care?'"

That has come due to shrinking or disappearing film festivals, fewer films being made per year, less demand for those films from streamers and fewer people going to the theatres.

Though those issues are seen internationally, Shin says the last two in particular have been felt in Canada. Even as Canadian filmmakers create films, get awards for them and endeavour to get them seen, their box office results aren't reflecting their efforts.  

"Is it partly on us as filmmakers to make better movies?" he asked.

"It's like, what can we all do collectively? And I think there's a lot of things that can be done, but, you know, I don't think there's a magic button."

Noah Segal has his own opinion on why things have been getting harder, as the co-president of Elevation Pictures, one of Canada's largest film distributors. But what's not up for debate is whether there's an appetite for content from this country.