BlackBerry, Sort Of, Little Bird dominate Canadian Screen Award nominations

Succession-style tech drama BlackBerry tops the nomination list for the Canadian Screen Awards' film category — not just for this year, but for any year in the awards' history.

BlackBerry pulled in 17 nods in categories including best motion picture, best direction, and best performance in a leading role (Jay Baruchel) and supporting role (Glenn Howerton). Those nominations pushed the Matt Johnson-directed movie — based on the rise and fall of the BlackBerry cellphone and its Canadian makers — past the previous record-holder, Brother, which went into last year's ceremony with 14 nominations, eventually winning 12. 

In total, 216 feature, documentary and short films received nominations for this year's Canadian Screen Awards, which were created through the merger of the Genie and Gemini awards in 2012. The nominees were unveiled Wednesday.

Best motion picture

Achievement in direction, film

But as usual, it was TV that truly led the pack this year. Limited series Little Bird and dramedy Sort Of received 19 and 18 nominations, respectively, dominating their fields of drama and comedy. 

For Sort Of, which aired its final season late last year, the nominations capped an impressive record at the awards. Co-created by Fab Filippo and star Bilal Baig, it won best comedy series in 2022 and 2023.

It is now up for awards in directing, writing, editing and supporting comedy performer (Amanda Cordner, Ellora Patnaik and Supinder Wraich). Perhaps surprisingly, Sort Of is not nominated for best comedy series this year.

Best comedy series

Best drama series

Little Bird is based on the Sixties Scoop, a historical practice that saw the Canadian government remove Indigenous children from their families to be adopted or put into foster care. The series, co-created by Jennifer Podemski, is up for best drama series, best direction, best supporting performer (Braeden Clarke) and best lead performer (Darla Contois and Ellyn Jade), among others.

Workin' Moms was the third most-nominated series, picking up 12 for its final season. The Catherine Reitman-fronted series has been nominated every year since 2018. This year it competes for best ensemble performance in a comedy, best lead performer in a comedy (for both Reitman and Dani Kind), best comedy series and others.

Following BlackBerry in nominations for the film category is Quebec's Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, which scored 12 nominations, including best picture and best performance in a leading role (Sara Montpetit). Director Ariane Louis-Seize also earned a nomination, making her one of two women up for the best director award, along with Sophie Dupuis for Solo. 

Earlier this week, Louis-Seize received the Toronto Film Critics Association's Stella Artois Jay Scott Prize for emerging artists. The association's top prize — the $100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award — was split between BlackBerry and Swan Song, a documentary profiling ballerina Karen Kain; however, while the Canadian Screen Awards recognized BlackBerry, Swan Song was not nominated for best feature-length documentary.