As fresh fires raced through the Los Angeles region on Thursday, an embattled movie industry rallied for the announcement of the Oscar nominations, with Canadian stories and artists scoring nods across numerous categories, including best documentary for a film investigating a B.C. residential school.
The big winner of the day, leading with 13 nominations, was the Spanish-language, French-made film, Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, the Netflix narco-musical about transgender identity. Among its other nods, the film racked up best picture and best actress for Karla Sofía Gascón, making her the first openly trans actor ever nominated for an Oscar.
Another musical — Wicked, the smash Broadway adaptation — came away with nearly as many nominations. Jon M. Chu’s lavish riff on Wizard of Oz scored 10 nominations, including best picture and acting nods for its stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
Tied for second place in nominations was The Brutalist, a haunting postwar period drama about an architect. Its 10 nominations include one for director Brady Corbet, a best picture nod and acting nominations for Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones.
Secwépemc filmmaker Julian Brave NoiseCat and journalist Emily Kassie, who was born in Toronto, are up for an Oscar for their landmark documentary Sugarcane, which follows an investigation into abuse and missing children at a B.C. residential school near Sugar Cane reserve in Williams Lake, B.C.
NoiseCat’s family was sent to that residential school, and the film has been lauded for its groundbreaking look at not only the horrors of the past but the ongoing trauma cycling through generations.
The two filmmakers said they were “overjoyed and filled with gratitude” in the wake of the nomination, thanking their creative team and National Geographic Documentary Films in a written statement.
“Above all, we want to acknowledge the courage and fortitude of our participants and the thousands of survivors of Indian residential and boarding schools across North America who have been ignored for too long, as well as the generations of families who continue to suffer their harms,” Noisecat and Kassie wrote.
“In a moment where justice seems out of reach, we are grateful that Sugarcane has helped illuminate the truth, bring about healing and called institutions of power to account.”
Quebec-born filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two is in the running for best picture. The sequel to 2021’s Dune, which was also nominated for best picture, picks up where the first space epic left off, following Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides as he joins forces with the Fremen to seek revenge against those who destroyed his family.
Villeneuve is nominated alongside his wife, producer Tanya Lapointe, along with producers Mary Parent and Cole Boyter. The four said in a statement Thursday that they were “extremely proud of the Academy’s recognition of Dune: Part II.”
Toronto’s Linda Muir has also been nominated for best costume design for her work on the gothic horror film Nosferatu, Robert Eggers’s remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film about a vampire. Muir, who has been working in film and television since the 1970s, has worked with Eggers on previous films, including 2015’s The Witch and 2019’s The Lighthouse, as well as his 2022 historical action film The Northman.
The full list of nominations
Best picture:
- Anora
- The Brutalist
- A Complete Unknown
- Conclave
- Dune: Part Two
- Emilia Pérez
- I’m Still Here
- Nickel Boys
- The Substance
- Wicked
Best actor:
- Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
- Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
- Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
- Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
- Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
Best actress:
- Demi Moore, The Substance
- Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
- Mikey Madison, Anora
- Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
- Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Wicked is half of a story, somehow expanding just the first part into a runtime longer than the entire stage musical. That said, the performances, the lush world of Oz and, above all, the music make it a perfect place to escape, says the CBC’s Eli Glasner.
Original song:
- El Mal from Emilia Perez
- The Journey from The Six Triple Eight
- Like a Bird from Sing Sing
- Mi Camino from Emilia Pérez
- Never Too Late from Elton John: Never Too Late
Best animated film:
- Flow
- Inside Out 2
- Memoir of a Snail
- Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
- The Wild Robot
Best supporting actor:
- Yura Borisov, Anora
- Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
- Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
- Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
- Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Best supporting actress:
- Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
- Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
- Ariana Grande, Wicked
- Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
- Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Best original screenplay:
- Anora
- The Brutalist
- A Real Pain
- September 5
- The Substance
Best adapted screenplay:
- A Complete Unknown
- Conclave
- Emilia Pérez
- Nickel Boys
- Sing Sing
Best directing:
- Sean Baker, Anora
- Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
- James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
- Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
- Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Best documentary feature film:
- Black Box Diaries
- No Other Land
- Porcelain War
- Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat
- Sugarcane
Best original score:
- The Brutalist
- Conclave
- Emilia Pérez
- Wicked
- The Wild Robot
Best international feature film:
- I’m Still Here – Brazil
- The Girl with the Needle – Denmark
- Emilia Pérez – France
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Germany
- Flow – Latvia
Best costume design:
- A Complete Unknown
- Conclave
- Gladiator II
- Nosferatu
- Wicked
Makeup and hair styling:
- A Different Man
- Emilia Pérez
- Nosferatu
- The Substance
- Wicked
Production design:
- The Brutalist
- Conclave
- Dune: Part Two
- Nosferatu
- Wicked
Best film editing:
- Anora
- The Brutalist
- Conclave
- Emilia Pérez
- Wicked
Best sound:
- A Complete Unknown
- Dune: Part Two
- Emilia Pérez
- Wicked
- The Wild Robot
Visual effects:
- Alien: Romulus
- Better Man
- Dune: Part Two
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
- Wicked
Best cinematography:
- The Brutalist
- Dune: Part Two
- Emilia Pérez
- Maria
- Nosferatu
Live action short film:
- A Lien
- Anuja
- I’m Not a Robot
- The Last Ranger
- The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
Animated short film:
- Beautiful Men
- In the Shadow of the Cypress
- Magic Candies
- Wander to Wonder
- Yuck!
Documentary short film:
- Death by Numbers
- I Am Ready, Warden
- Incident
- Instruments of a Beating Heart
- The Only Girl in the Orchestra
