David Cronenberg name-checks Dilbert at the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards

David Cronenberg name-checks Dilbert at the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards

David Cronenberg. (Image: Courtesy of the Canadian Screen Awards)

The Canadian Screen Awards are a mystifying thing. Formed in 2012 out of a merger of the Gemini Awards and the Genie Awards, the new ceremony is still relatively unknown, even among Canadians. Last night’s glitzy CBC broadcast from the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts seemed designed to help change that, and perhaps it did.

Among the winners were some well-known Cancon treasures like Sook-Yin Lee, for her portrayal of Olivia Chow in Jack, and Tatiana Maslany, who took home a well-deserved statuette for playing half a dozen identical clones on BBC America’s Orphan Black. There was an award for Jason Priestley, for his work on Call Me Fitz, and there was even a little recognition for Toronto-shot The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, a fantasy movie appreciated by its tweenaged target audience but not nominated for any major awards in the U.S. Also, Michael Bublé won an award for hosting an awards show (the 2013 Junos), presumably because no Canadian award ceremony would be complete without him.

Host Martin Short kept the ceremony moving, and his self-deprecating humour was a nice antidote to the typical award-show self-importance. The highlight of the night, though, was when David Cronenberg took the stage to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award and, as a way of illustrating his ambivalence over accepting a prize for a career that isn’t finished, spent a chunk of his speech summarizing this Dilbert comic from 2001. (Even “The Dark Knight” likes to kick back with some cartoons from time to time, we guess.)

Read on for a list of the night’s winners, plus a gallery of photos of them holding their freshly minted statuettes.

Television:

  • Bell Media Award for Best Comedy Program or Series: Call Me Fitz
  • Bell Media Award for Best Performance by an ACtor in a Continuing Leading Comedic Role: Jason Priestly, Call me Fitz
  • Best Host in a Variety, Lifestyle, Reality/Competition, Performing Arts or Talk Program or Series: Michael Bublé, The Juno Awards 2013
  • Best News Anchor, National: Lisa LaFlamme, CTV National News
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series: Rick Roberts, Jack
  • Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series: Sook-Yin Lee, Jack
  • Best Reality / Competition Program or Series: Dragons’ Den
  • Shaw Media Award for Best Dramatic Series: Orphan Black
  • Shaw Media Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role: Hugh Dillon, Flashpoint
  • Shaw Media Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role: Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black

Film:

  • Achievement in Art Direction / Production Design: Michel Proulx, Louis Cyr: The Strongest Man in the World
  • Achievement in Cinematography: Nicolas Bolduc, Enemy
  • Achievement in Costume Design: Carmen Alie, Louis Cyr: The Strongest Man in the World
  • Achievement in Direction: Denis Villeneuve, Enemy
  • Achievement in Editing: Matthew Hannam, Enemy
  • Achievement in Make-Up: Jo-Ann Macneil, Karola Dirnberger, Paul Jones, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
  • Achievement in Music – Original Score: Enemy
  • Achievement in Music – Original Song: “It’s No Mistake,” The Right Kind of Wrong
  • Achievement in Overall Sound: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
  • Achievement in Sound Editing: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
  • Achievement in Visual Effects: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
  • Adapted Screenplay: Elan Mastai, The F-Word
  • Best Animated Short: Subconscious Password
  • Best Live Action Short Drama: Noah
  • Best Motion Picture: Gabrielle
  • Best Short Documentary: Chi
  • Original Screenplay: Empire of Dirt
  • Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Gabriel Arcand, The Auction
  • Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Gordon Pinset, The Grand Seduction
  • Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Gabrielle Marion-Rivard, Gabrielle
  • Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Sarah Gadon, Enemy
  • Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary: Watermark