The 11th Canadian Screen Awards, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, honoured achievements in Canadian film, television and digital media production in 2022."Ryan Reynolds, Catherine O'Hara to attend star-studded Canadian Screen Awards". CBC News, January 18, 2023. The ceremonies were held at Meridian Hall in Toronto from April 11–14, 2023, as part of Canadian Screen Week, returning to an in-person ceremony for the first time since being suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlights of the ceremonies aired in a CBC Television special on April 16, 2023, hosted by Samantha Bee.
Nominees for all awards were announced on February 22, 2023. Brother led the film nominations, with 14 nods, while the CBC/BET+ drama The Porter led in television with 19 nods. Brother and The Porter would each win 12 awards, including the awards for best motion picture and dramatic series respectively.
Ceremony information After being held as a virtual event every year since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 Canadian Screen Week festivities returned to being an in-person event. Genre-specific awards galas were hosted at Toronto's Meridian Hall from April 11–14.
Television coverage would consist of an hour-long special hosted by comedian Samantha Bee, which premiered April 16 on CBC Television. The special featured highlights of the non-televised galas, segments highlighting the special award recipients, and the results of the Audience Choice award vote. The previous year's ceremony used a similar format accompanying a series of streaming presentations throughout the week, but the results for top categories were reserved for the CBC special.
The new format was described as an attempt at making an entertainment-oriented special, given the ratings difficulties that traditional awards show telecasts have faced in recent years: producer Roma Ahi stated that there would be "more emphasis this time on storytelling than there would be during a live show where audiences are watching to see what people are wearing, what is said during acceptance speeches". Ahi's partner Katie Lafferty added that "we have to be entertainment-first, and the fun is in gathering what those moments could be from the various in-person ceremonies that happen earlier in the week."
The decision faced mixed reactions from several actors and filmmakers, most notably Eugene Levy, who felt that their achievements could potentially be overlooked (notwithstanding that even the live telecasts were unable to feature every single award due to time constraints)."Actors questioning Canadian Screen Awards move to pre-taped format". CBC News, February 21, 2023.
Category changes In August 2022, the academy announced that it would discontinue its past practice of presenting gendered awards for film and television actors and actresses; beginning in 2023, gender-neutral awards for Best Performance were presented, with eight nominees per category instead of five.Joseph Pugh, "Canadian Screen Awards switching to gender-neutral performance categories". CBC News, August 25, 2022. Some of the other acting categories, notably those for guest performance, youth performance in children's programming, television films and web series performance were already gender-neutral."Canadian Screen Awards to make next year’s acting categories gender neutral". The Globe and Mail, August 25, 2022.
Old category New category Best Actor Best Lead Performance in a Film Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Performance in a Film Best Supporting Actress Best Actor in a Comedy Series Best Leading Performance in a Comedy Series Best Actress in a Comedy Series Best Actor in a Drama Series Best Leading Performance in a Drama Series Best Actress in a Drama Series Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Series Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Program or Series Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Program or Series Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Program or Series
Other changes included the introduction of new categories for Best Original Music in a Documentary, Best Original Song in Television, Best Picture Editing - Children's or Youth and Best Writing - Pre-School, the splitting of television music and sound categories from a simple fiction/non-fiction distinction into several new categories for particular genres of fiction and non-fiction programming, and the introduction of a revised jury process for the John Dunning Best First Feature Award.
Special awards Recipients of the academy's special awards were announced on January 18, 2023.Etan Vlessing, "Ryan Reynolds, Simu Liu, Catherine O’Hara to Receive Honorary Canadian Screen Awards". The Hollywood Reporter, January 18, 2023. Board of Directors Tribute - Paul Pope, Jennifer Podemski Academy Icon - Catherine O'Hara Changemaker Award - Tracy Moore Earle Grey Award - Peter MacNeill Gordon Sinclair Award - Lisa LaFlamme Humanitarian Award - Ryan Reynolds Lifetime Achievement Award - Pierre Bruneau Radius Award - Simu Liu
Film Best Motion Picture Best Direction Brother — Damon D'Oliveira, Sonya Di Rienzo, Aeschylus Poulos, Clement Virgo Babysitter — Martin Paul-Hus, Fabrice Lambot, Catherine Léger, Pierre-Marcel Blanchot Falcon Lake — Sylvain Corbeil, Nancy Grant Riceboy Sleeps — Anthony Shim, Rebecca Steele, Bryan Demore Summer with Hope — Christina Piovesan, Kiarash Anvari, Sadaf Foroughi Viking — Luc Déry, Kim McCraw | valign="top" | Clement Virgo, Brother David Cronenberg, Crimes of the Future Stéphane Lafleur, Viking Charlotte Le Bon, Falcon Lake Anthony Shim, Riceboy Sleeps Best Lead Performance Best Supporting Performance Lamar Johnson, Brother Choi Seung-yoon, Riceboy Sleeps Monia Chokri, Babysitter Larissa Corriveau, That Kind of Summer (Un été comme ça) Kelly Depeault, Noemie Says Yes (Noémie dit oui) Joseph Engel, Falcon Lake Steve Laplante, Viking Maxime Le Flaguais, Rodeo (Rodéo) Aaron Pierre, Brother Marsha Stephanie Blake, Brother K. C. Collins, White Dog (Chien blanc) Jean-Luc Kanapé, Nouveau Québec Mohammed Marouazi, Breathe (Respire) Sara Montpetit, Falcon Lake Leili Rashidi, Summer with Hope Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Babysitter Best Original Screenplay Best Adapted Screenplay Anthony Shim, Riceboy Sleeps Marie Clements, Bones of Crows Sadaf Foroughi, Summer with Hope Sophie Jarvis, Until Branches Bend Stéphane Lafleur and Eric K. Boulianne, Viking Clement Virgo, Brother Charlotte Le Bon, Falcon Lake Catherine Léger, Babysitter Best Feature Length Documentary Best Short Documentary To Kill a Tiger — Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe, David Oppenheim, Anita Lee, Atul GawandeBatata — Paul Scherzer, Noura Kevorkian Dear Audrey — Jeremiah Hayes, André Barro, Annette Clarke Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew — Joey Haywood, Ryan Sidhoo, Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux, Kirk Thomas, Aron Phillips, Matt Aronson, Mark Starkey, Mario Soriano, Lizzy Karp Zo Reken — Emanuel Licha | valign="top" | Patty vs. Patty — Chris Strikes, Kate Fraser, Maya Annik BedwardThe Benevolents (Les Bienvaillants) — Sarah Baril Gaudet Bill Reid Remembers — Alanis Obomsawin, Annette Clarke The Goats of Monesiglio — Emily Graves, Anna Cooley, Raj Dhillon Perfecting the Art of Longing — Kitra Cahana, Kat Baulu, Ariel Nasr, Annette Clarke |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%" | Best Live Action Short Drama ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%" | Best Animated Short |- | valign="top" | Simo — Rosalie Chicoine Perreault, Aziz ZorombaIII — Salomé Villeneuve, Catherine Boily, Rosalie Chicoine Perreault À la vie à l'amor — Lex Garcia, Léonie Hurtubise, Émilie Mannering Mimine — Simon Laganière, Fanny Drew, Sarah Mannering No Ghost in the Morgue — Marilyn Cooke, Kélyna N. Lauzier | valign="top" | The Flying Sailor — Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis, David ChristensenArctic Song — Germaine Arnattaujuq, Neil Christopher, Louise Flaherty, Alicia Smith, David Christensen, Nadia Mike Impossible Figures and Other Stories I — Marta Pajek, Piotr Szczepanowicz, Grzegorz Wacławek, Maral Mohammadian The Shadow of My Life — Hajar Moradi Triangle of Darkness (Triangle noir) — Marie-Noëlle Moreau Robidas, Nicolas Dufour-Laperrière |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%" | Best Art Direction/Production Design ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%" | Best Cinematography |- | valign="top" | Jason Clarke, John Kim and Richard Racicot, Brother André-Line Beauparlant, Viking Jennifer Morden, Alice, Darling Dan Herrick and Zoë Woodrow, Cult Hero Carol Spier, Crimes of the Future Sara Mishara, Viking Vincent Gonneville, Nouveau Québec Douglas Koch, Crimes of the Future Christopher Lew, Riceboy Sleeps Keenan Lynch, Tehranto Best Costume Design Best Editing Hanna Puley, Brother Sig Burwash and Kathleen Darling, Queens of the Qing Dynasty Carrie Cathrae-Keeling, Cult Hero Sophie Lefebvre, Viking Mayou Trikerioti, Crimes of the Future Mara Zigler, Tenzin Simone Smith, I Like Movies Christopher Donaldson, Crimes of the Future Sophie Leblond, Viking Faran Moradi, Tehranto Anthony Shim, Riceboy Sleeps Best Sound Editing Best Sound Mixing Jane Tattersall, David McCallum, Paul Germann, Krystin Hunter and Kevin Banks, Brother Sylvain Bellemare, Simon Meilleur, Frédéric Lavigne, Francis Gauthier and Claire Pochon, Viking Elma Bello and Davi Aquino, Stay the Night Robert Bertola, Tom Bjelic and Jill Purdy, Crimes of the Future Martin Gwynn Jones, Dawn, Her Dad and the Tractor Richard Penn, Joe Morrow and James Bastable, Brother Pierre Bertrand and Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Viking Matthew Chan, Stay the Night Ron Mellegers, Justin Helle, Christian Cooke and Mark Zsifkovits, Crimes of the Future Martin M. Messier, The Inhuman (L'Inhumain) Best Original Score Best Original Song Todor Kobakov, Brother Adrian Ellis, Cult Hero Ian LeFeuvre, Ashgrove Ari Posner, The End of Sex Howard Shore, Crimes of the Future Kate Hewlett, "The Swearing Song" — The Swearing Jar Chuck Baker and Tony Burgess, "The Ascension Song" — Cult Hero Marie Clements, Wayne Lavallee and Jesse Zubot, "You Are My Bones" — Bones of Crows Rose Cousins and Breagh Isabel, "Get Home" — Dawn, Her Dad and the Tractor Ian LeFeuvre, "The Weight" — Ashgrove Best Makeup Best Hair Alexandra Anger and Monica Pavez, Crimes of the Future Katie Ballantyne and Jonathan Craig, Cult Hero Joan Chell, Brother Marie-Josée Galibert, Viking Darci Jackson and Elizabeth McLeod, Bones of Crows Tremaine Thomas, Brother Vincent Dufault, Viking Charlene Dunn, Bones of Crows Mykola Korolyov, The Swearing Jar Best Cinematography in a Documentary Best Editing in a Documentary Nicholas de Pencier, The Colour of Ink Noura Kevorkian, Batata Katerine Giguère, Scrap Jacquelyn Mills, Geographies of Solitude Étienne Roussy, Zo Reken Mike Munn and Dave Kazala, To Kill a Tiger Jeremiah Hayes, Dear Audrey Noura Kevorkian and Mike Munn, Batata René Roberge, Bloom (Jouvencelles) Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux, Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew Best Original Music in a Documentary Best Visual Effects Jonathan Goldsmith, To Kill a Tiger Ramachandra Borcar, Scrap Walker Grimshaw, Dear Audrey Delphine Measroch, Humus Edo Van Breemen and Johannes Winkler, Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew Peter MacAuley, Kayden Anderson, Tom Turnbull and Caitlin Foster, Crimes of the Future Landon Bootsma, Dexter Davey, Ashley Hampton, Milton Muller and Dmitry Vinnik, Until Branches Bend Jean-François Ferland, Marie-Claude Lafontaine and Charles Lamoureux, Lines of Escape (Lignes de fuite) Eric Gambini, Sarah Krusch Flanagan, Louis Mackall, Virginie Strub, Andrew Joe, Gabriel Chiang and Linus Burghardt, Bones of Crows Marc Hall, Babysitter James Anthony Young, Cult Hero John Dunning Best First Feature Best Casting Falcon Lake — Charlotte Le BonThe Maiden — Graham Foy Noemie Says Yes (Noémie dit oui) — Geneviève Albert