TORONTO: “Maudie,’’ starring recent Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins as real-life Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis and Ethan Hawke as her fish peddler husband, took a leading seven film trophies on Sunday as light-hearted Canuck jokes mixed with politically charged speeches at the Canadian Screen Awards.
The Canada-Ireland co-production won best picture as well as best supporting actor for Hawke and best actress for Hawkins, who was recently nominated for an Oscar for her starring turn in the Ontario-shot, Academy Award-winning film “The Shape of Water.’’
“Maudie’’’s other wins included best direction for Aisling Walsh and best original screenplay for Sherry White.
The Newfoundland and Labrador-shot drama details Lewis’s perseverance through juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, poverty and ill treatment from her community and loved ones to become an internationally acclaimed painter.
“Because ‘Maudie’ came out like a year earlier than ‘The Shape of Water,’ there was a lot of … really early Oscar buzz around her performance in (‘Maudie’) and then ‘The Shape of Water’ came in and kind of stole that buzz,’’ White said with a laugh backstage.
“Because you can’t be nominated for two (Oscars), so that kind of stole our thunder, but that’s OK.’’
Another east coast story took a top honour on the TV side.
CBC/Netflix’s “Anne,’’ featuring the plucky Prince Edward Island heroine from Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic novel, was named best drama series for creators Moira Walley-Beckett and Miranda de Pencier.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television puts on the Canadian Screen Awards, which handed out awards in 132 categories that also included television and digital media. The bulk of the trophies were handed out earlier in the week. Sunday’s show aired from Toronto’s Sony Centre of Performing Arts on CBC.
Pic: The cast and crew of Maudie, pose backstage at the Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto.The Canadian Press/Peter Power.