Clement Virgo's Brother, sci-fi comedy Viking among leading nominees for Canadian Screen Awards

Clement Virgo's Brother, a coming of age drama set in Scarborough, Ont., in the 1990s, leads all films with 14 nominations at the Canadian Screen Awards, followed by Stephane Lafleur's science-fiction comedy Viking, which picked up 13 nods on Wednesday when the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television announced its contenders for this year's awards.

On the broadcast side, the CBC and BET+ series The Porter picked up 19 nominations, while last year's most nominated show, Sort Of, had another strong showing with 15, the same as the CBC Gem series Detention Adventure.

Brother, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, is an adaptation of David Chariandy's novel of the same name, while Viking is about a B-team of volunteers tasked with simulating a manned mission to Mars, in order to work out the social issues that the real astronauts will face.

David Cronenberg's science-fiction body horror Crimes Of The Future received 11 nominations.

This is the first year that the awards will feature gender neutral performance categories, with eight nominees in each category, including Lamar Johnson (Brother), Steve Laplante (Viking) and Seung-Yoon Choi (Riceboy Sleeps).

The CTV series Transplant, last year's winner for best drama series, is again nominated in that category, alongside CBC's The Porter, Moonshine and SkyMed. Global's Departure rounds out the nominees.

The best comedy series category also sees a returning champion among its nominees in CBC's Sort Of. Also nominated are Crave's Letterkenny, CTV-Sci-Fi's Astrid & Lilly Save the World, CBC Gem's Fakes and CTV's Children Ruin Everything.

This will be the 11th edition of the awards, which celebrate achievement in Canadian broadcasting and film. They will be broadcast on Sunday, April 16 on CBC and CBC Gem, in a pre-taped format that some actors have expressed concerns about. This year's nominees include:

Best Motion Picture

• Babysitter.

• Brother.

• Falcon Lake.

• Riceboy Sleeps.

• Summer with Hope.

• Viking.

Achievement in Direction

• Clement Virgo - Brother.

• David Cronenberg - Crimes of the Future.

• Charlotte Le Bon - Falcon Lake.

• Anthony Shim - Riceboy Sleeps.

• Stphane Lafleur - Viking.

Performance in a Leading Role

• Monia Chokri - Babysitter.

• Lamar Johnson - Brother.

• Joseph Engel - Falcon Lake.

• Kelly Depeault - Nomie dit oui.

• Seung-Yoon Choi - Riceboy Sleeps.

• Maxime Le Flaguais - Rodo.

• Larissa Corriveau - That Kind of Summer | Un t comme a.

• Steve Laplante - Viking.

Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary

• Batata.

• Dear Audrey.

• Handle with Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew.

• To Kill a Tiger.

• zo reken.

Best Drama Series

• Departure.

• Moonshine.

• The Porter.

• SkyMed.

• Transplant.

Best Comedy Series

• Astrid & Lilly Save the World.

• Children Ruin Everything.

• Fakes.

• Letterkenny.

• Sort Of.

WATCH | CSAs switch to gender-neutral performance categories:

Gender-neutral categories coming to Canadian Screen Awards

2 years ago

Duration 2:55

The Canadian Screen Awards will be switching to gender-neutral performance categories in 2023 rather than having separate prizes for best actor and actress. Organizers say it's an effort toward making the industry more equitable.

Best Lead Performer, Drama Series

• Mayko Nguyen - Hudson & Rex.

• John Reardon - Hudson & Rex.

• Jennifer Finnigan - Moonshine.

• Aml Ameen - The Porter.

• Ronnie Rowe Jr. - The Porter.

• Mouna Traor - The Porter.

• Hamza Haq -Transplant.

• Laurence Leboeuf -Transplant.

Best Lead Performer, Comedy

• Meaghan Rath - Children Ruin Everything.

• Meredith MacNeill - Pretty Hard Cases.

• Adrienne C. Moore - Pretty Hard Cases.

• Rakhee Morzaria - Run the Burbs.

• Andrew Phung - Run the Burbs.

• Bilal Baig - Sort Of.

• Dani Kind - Workin' Moms.

• Catherine Reitman - Workin' Moms.