Canadian Screen Awards Night 1, 2021
by Staff Editors
(May 17, 2021 – Toronto, ON) Night One of the Canadian Screen Awards is one busy affair. It starts with awards in the News and Documentary categories at 7PM Eastern, followed by Lifestyle & Realty categories at 8PM Eastern as the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television kicks off Screen Week 2021. There are 33 categories in News and Documentary alone, ranging from Best Local Newscast to the Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary Program.
Those five documentaries are:
9/11 Kids
On the morning of September 11, 2001 as a plane hit the second tower of the World Trade Center, US president George W. Bush was reading a story to a classroom of second-graders at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. For the 16 kids and their teacher, this iconic moment in American history is forever etched in their minds. Now, almost 20 years later, what has become of this classroom of gifted, predominantly African American children? Read more here.
Above the Law
This doc, which aired on CBC in July of last year is set in the age of Black Lives Matter and came after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer who has since been convicted. Set in Calgary, this documentary investigates three cases of excessive force involving the Calgary Police Service, two of which were perpetrated by the same officer less than 18 months apart. Cases involve Godfred Addai-Nyamekye, an immigrant from Ghana, who, in 2013, was detained unlawfully and abandoned in -28°C weather by two officers, before being assaulted by Constable Trevor Lindsay after calling 911 for help. Despite Addai-Nyamekye’s formal complaint with the Calgary Police Service, Constable Lindsay remained on duty and, in 2015, assaulted a handcuffed man in his custody, Daniel Haworth, causing him a traumatic brain injury. Read more here.
Assholes: A Theory
We live in a time of venomous social media, resurgent authoritarianism and rampant narcissism threatening to trash civilization as we know it. Producer-Director John Walker holds a cinematic mirror up to all that nonsense and with some terrific on-screen help he explains why A-holes thrive in certain environments and how they keep getting elected. Inspired by Aaron James’ New York Times bestseller of the same name, Assholes: A Theory investigates the breeding grounds of contemporary “asshole culture” and locates signs of civility in an otherwise rude-‘n-nasty universe. Watch the trailer and see more here.
Meat the Future
Documentary director Liz Marshall turned her attention on a story of human ingenuity and planetary hope inspired by one of this century’s biggest ideas: cell-based meat. Meat the Future is a close-up and personal look at the visionaries who are risking everything to innovate and produce real meat without slaughtering animals and without environmental destruction. It could also prevent zoonotic foodborne disease, like COVID-19, and the next health pandemic. Read more here.
The Walrus and the Whistleblower
The top Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award winner in 2020, the film by director Nathalie Bibeau is a a stranger-than-fiction tale of a MarineLand trainer turned whistleblower who sparks an online movement to end marine mammal captivity. Read more here.
The Awards will be streamed live on Academy.ca, as well as on the Canadian Academy Twitter and YouTube channels.
