Even after 35 years in the business,
Her Crave/APTN series about an Indigenous woman's search for her birth family received 19 nods from the
"I've gone to a couple decades of awards shows where there really was no Indigenous representation, if not a few decades," said Podemski, whose acting credits include FX's "Reservation Dogs" and who produced the 2013 film "Empire of Dirt," which she also starred in.
"It feels like the impact of this is already going to be felt because it will create space for others, and it will probably inspire others to stay the course."
Podemski said she's overwhelmed to see an Indigenous-led show dominate the nominations.
"After all the things I've heard in my career about how hard it is to tell these stories and get them on screen, it just makes it worthwhile."
Centred on a '60s Scoop survivor fostered into a Jewish family in
"Little Bird" received nods for best drama series, best drama performance for stars
It's up against CBC's "Essex County" and "Plan B," Hollywood Suite's "Slasher: Ripper" and CTV's "Transplant" for best drama series.
Podemski, who is of mixed Anishinaabe and Jewish descent, said "Little Bird" feels like "a very personal story," especially because her mother
"Seeing their names on that category is really emotional to me because my community helped me make this," she said.
Podemski said creating "
"It feels like we got to the other side of a very difficult journey, and not just the journey of making this, but the journey of what so many people have gone through in their life, reckoning with the impacts of being stolen from your community and from your identity," she said.
"
Johnson said he's happy for that distinction only because it increases his "political power" to make changes within Canadian showbusiness, including removing barriers for filmmakers making their first features.
"I've been openly anxious about being brought to the centre of the Canadian film industry, mostly because I'm much more comfortable being an outsider," he said.
"But as long as it allows me to put further influence on the system to make it more accessible to young people, I think it's nothing but good. I'm old enough now where I feel like any kind of accolades that I get publicly are just more fuel for these big changes that I think are deeply necessary."
Johnson said that in the past, he and "BlackBerry" producer
Johnson said they convinced both Telefilm and the CBC to fund "BlackBerry" because it "was about something so big and Canadian that they got behind it."
"We've been on this nearly 20-year journey from the fringes of this industry to somehow getting all this acclaim. It's quite surreal for us," Miller added.
Set in 1990s
"BlackBerry" is competing with "Solo," "Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person," "
"It's definitely strange, but then again, the history of Canadian film is very weird. If you look at how much of our industry was built on the tax-shelter films of the '80s, Canadian film comes from, a very strange, outsider place," he said.
He's happy to see several out-of-the-box films get nominated this year.
"If there's something that we do well in
In the film categories,
Louis-Seize's French-language dramedy — about a sensitive teenage vampire who forms a bond with a depressed boy — is up for achievement in direction and best original screenplay. The best film director race pits Johnson, Louis-Seize and Cronenberg against
In the TV category, other leading nominees include the final seasons of CBC comedies "Sort Of" and "Workin' Moms," boasting 18 and 12 nods, respectively.
"Sort Of," a dramedy about a gender-fluid Pakistani Canadian millennial balancing various identities, is up for best direction and best writing in a comedy. The show is up against Crave's "Bria Mack Gets A Life" and "Letterkenny," CBC's "Son of a Critch" and "Workin' Moms," and CTV's "Shelved" for best comedy series.
"The Drop," Narcity's first fully scripted YouTube show, and the CBC Gem series "How to Fail as a Popstar," based on Vivek Shraya's hit play and subsequent book, lead digital media nominations with five each.
The 156 trophies celebrating the best in Canadian film, television and digital media will be handed out in a series of award shows leading up to a gala hosted by comedian
It's the second consecutive year the celebration won't be broadcast live.
Traditionally, the Screen Awards have been a star-studded live event in front of an audience.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published
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