These 20 Concordians are up for 2019 Canadian Screen Awards

David Barlow-Krelina, BFA 11, is nominated for Best Animated Short for Caterpillarplasty, a prescient, grotesque sci-fi satire that lifts plastic surgery to another level. Described as a fusion of Kafka and Kubrick, the National Film Board of Canada production is set in a state-of-the-art clinic, in a world where advanced technologies have given rise to new standards of beauty and prestige.

Annick Blanc, BFA 04, is nominated for Best Live Action Short Drama for The Color of Your Lips.

In an atmosphere grown suddenly impossible to breathe, a diver and a woman appear to be the only survivors. As their reserves of air run out, will they make love or war?

Evren Boisjoli, BFA 13, is nominated for Best Live Action Short Drama for  Fauve, a film about two young boys playing a dangerous game of one-upmanship in an abandoned quarry in Thetford Mines, Que.

The film was also nominated for an Academy Award and won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Lea Carlson, BFA 92, a multiple Gemini Award nominee, is nominated for Achievement in Costume Design for Stockholm, a film based on an absurd but true 1973 hostage crisis in Stockholm from which the psychological phenomenon, the “Stockholm Syndrome,” arose.

A black comedy, Stockholm focuses on a female bank employee who falls for her captor, an unhinged American outlaw as she turns against the police and aids in his escape attempt.

Richard Comeau, BFA 87, a veteran editor with 10 Canadian Screen Awards and another eight nominations to his credit, is nominated for Achievement in Editing for Stockholm.

Jérémy Comte, BFA 13, is nominated for Best Live Action Short Drama for Fauve, a film about two young boys playing a dangerous game of one-upmanship in an abandoned quarry in Thetford Mines, Que. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award and won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Paul Doucet, BFA 86, is nominated for Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for With Love/L’Amour. Based on a true story, it tells of a young man who goes to his father’s home in Maine where he locates and tracks down sex offenders. In parallel, his mother follows his trail to try to understand what could have pushed him into murderous madness. 

Doucet, who has been nominated for a Jutra Award, is also known for his work in Wicker Park and René Lévesque – Le destin d’un chef.

Sophie Dupuis, BFA 10, is doubly nominated for 1) Achievement in Direction and 2) John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award for her critically acclaimed crime drama Chien de garde (Family First). The film screened competitively at some 20 film festivals around the world, before being chosen as the Canadian entry for best foreign language film at this year’s Academy Awards.

Galilé Marion-Gauvin, BFA 00, a producer with more than 30 films to his credit, is nominated for Best Motion Picture for Genesis/Genèse, the story of three teenagers who are shaken up by their first loves in the turmoil of their youth. As others are conforming, they stand their ground and assert their right to love and be free.

Sara Mishara, BFA 99, is nominated twice for Achievement in Cinematography for The Great Darkened Days/La Grande Noirceur and for Allure. The first film recounts the story of Philippe, a draft-dodger from Quebec in the time of war, who survives by competing in Charlie Chaplin impersonation contests and wanders in a violent, hostile and chaotic America.

The second film tells the tale of a 30-year-old woman, troubled by her past and struggling with a dysfunctional relationship with her father, who seeks sexual and emotional fulfillment through a series of failed relationships. Her life changes when she befriends and convinces an unhappy 16-year-old girl to run away to her house, under the guise of a confidante who wants to help.

Carmine Pierre-Dufour, BA 08, is nominated for Best Live Action Short Drama for Mahalia Melts in the Rain. She wrote and directed the film that tells the story of Mahalia, a timid 9-year-old black girl, who feels different from the other girls in her ballet class. Hoping to boost her confidence, her mother brings her to the hair salon to get her hair straightened for the first time. It’s Pierre-Dufour’s first turn as a director.

Paul Risacher, BA 72, is one of three people nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Racetime/La Course des Tuques, which recounts a spectacular sled race through a village. Frankie and his team take on newcomers: Zac and his cousin Charlie. After a bitter loss, Frankie proves Zac cheated and demands a rematch. Zac has no scruples about cheating again, but Frankie has a few surprises in store.

Daniel Roby, Concordia attendee and multiple award winner as a writer and director, is nominated for Achievement in Direction for Just a Breath Away/Dans la Brume, in which a deadly mist envelops Paris and survivors find refuge on the roofs of the city.

With no information or electricity, a couple attempts to survive this disaster and save their daughter, but as the hours go by, if they want to make it through this alive, they will have to try their luck in the mist. This movie has already won Best Film at the Fantasia Film Festival.

Arthur Tarnowski, BA 94, is one of two people nominated for Achievement in Editing for The Hummingbird Project, which tells the story of Vincent and Anton, cousins from New York who are players in the high-stakes game of High Frequency Trading, where winning is measured in milliseconds. Their dream? To build a straight fibre-optic cable line between Kansas and New Jersey, making them millions. But they must contend with their old boss, Eva Torres, a powerful, intoxicating and manipulative trader.

Jean-Sébastien Williams, BFA 05, is nominated for Achievement in Music – Original Song for Help is on the Way from Sashinka. The film tells the story of a musician named Sasha, whose mother arrives on her doorstep like a hurricane without warning. As Sasha prepares for the most important concert of her career, she must find a way to survive the remaining 24 hours, confronting both the volatile woman and the past Sasha had worked hard to leave behind.

Félix Lajeunesse BFA 03 Film Production, has been nominated for Best Immersive Experience BIE) three times this year – for Fiction (Digital Media) for Isle of Dogs: Behind the Scenes (in Virtual Reality), which features a series of on-set interviews with some of the actors from the cast of Wes Anderson’s animated hit Isle of Dogs. All the actors play dogs in the film, and in the interviews, the animated dog puppets do the talking, discussing their roles and experiences on the film in-between takes.

Lajeunesse is also nominated for BEI Fiction (Digital Media) for Jurassic World: Blue,  in which Blue, a highly intelligent velociraptor, scrounges for food and water, searches for signs of life, and fights against some of the island’s most threatening predators and the foreseeable destruction of Isla Nublar.

He was also nominated for Non-Fiction (Digital Media) for Space Explorers, a cinematic VR series about the new age of space exploration.

Katie Bird Nolan, BFA 10 Theatre, was nominated (along with Vanessa Matsui) for Best Web Program or Series – Fiction (Digital Media) for Ghost BFF, a dark comedy web series which follows two women – one alive, one dead – across space and time, as they struggle to right past wrongs and find themselves following a suicide.

*Heather Phenix, BA 02, Communication Studies, was one of 14 people nominated for Best Original Interactive Production (Digital Media) for Nuclear Dissent, in which the user experiences the battle to end nuclear-weapons testing through an interactive journey consisting of VR/360º panoramas, X-ray visions of radioactivity, real footage from anti-nuclear  protests and a simulation of a nuclear attack in their own neighbourhood. 

Deepa Mehta, LLD 13, is to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Many of her films have focused on the duality of her national and cultural identity (Indian and Canadian), which has informed much of her filmmaking. She is described as the "quintessential transnational filmmaker".

With her childhood and heritage informing her of key Indian and Hindu traditions, she has been seen to compare these practices with a more "Westernized" philosophy that has sometimes resulted in controversy. The production of her film Water was delayed by protests from Hindu fundamentalists while several of her other films releases have seen boycotts across India, including the film Fire, another in her Elements trilogy (the third film is Earth).

Kevin Tierney, BA 71 and GrDipl 78, will receive a posthumous tribute from the Academy Board of Directors.

The late Montreal writer and producer died of cancer in May 2018. Twice nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as a Daytime Emmy, Tierney co-wrote and produced the most popular Canadian movie of all time at the domestic box office – Good Cop, Bon Cop. He won two Genie Awards for that film, as well as two Jutra Award nominations. He produced 25 films over the course of his distinguished career.