The divisive, little-seen yet still-controversial Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice managed to grab the brass ring on Sunday, taking home the top award of best motion picture at the final night of the Canadian Screen Awards.
It beat out stiff competition in that top category from filmmaker Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language, which made the Academy Awards shortlist for best international feature late last year.
And while The Apprentice was still the big winner of the night with two, Rankin’s surreal comedy was no slouch either. Its five prior wins over the weekend and one Sunday, for directing, meant it still had the most wins of all films nominated.
“I’m from Winnipeg, I’m not accustomed to winning anything,” Rankin joked, before referencing his film’s commentary on alienation, xenophobia and culture shock.
“We all know what political moment we’re living in; every day there are new Berlin walls shooting up all around us and pitting us against each other into very cruel binaries,” he said.
“If our film stands for anything, it stands for the fact that kindness can be a radical gesture.”
It wasn’t the only surprise of the night: CTV’s Children Ruin Everything increased its trophy count to three, as it stepped in to snatch best comedy series from Crave’s Late Bloomer, which had snapped up four trophies this weekend.
And while it was up for a total of 20 awards — the most of any nominated title — Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent only managed to increase its trophy count by one, to pull in a paltry total of three this year. The win was a big one, though, as the Canadian version of the expansive Law & Order franchise won best drama series.
Triumphant as they were, some of the awards’ biggest winners were honoured outside the big night: TV movie Wynonna Earp: Vengeance and documentary series The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal both earned seven honours earlier over the weekend.
Pointed messages
But Sunday’s winners did at least occasionally broach big topics. Upon receiving the best feature length documentary trophy, Molly Wickham alluded to the subject of their film Yintah, which follows Witsuwit’en Nation fighting for its sovereignty in the face of planned pipeline projects.
“We still face colonial occupation, and we are still fighting to live in peace as on our land,” Wickham said. “The fight continues and we will never give up. Our sovereignty is tied to our collective freedom.”
Canada’s Drag Race won best reality competition — having now done so for every year but one of its five-year broadcast — and increased its total count to eight, the most of any awarded productions this year.
Drag queen and Drag Race host Brooke Lynn Hytes spoke about what she’d most like to ask U.S. President Donald Trump backstage in the press room.
“What foundation do you use? Because it is the wrong shade,” she said, before addressing his policies targeting transgender people.
“Why are you targeting the most marginalized, smallest group of people in the country and making an example out of them when they are not doing anything to hurt anybody; they’re just trying to exist?”
And as The Apprentice‘s producer Daniel Bekerman took to the stage, he also spoke of Trump — the subject of their film, who threatened a lawsuit to remove it from circulation.
“Our movie shows how the young Donald Trump amassed wealth and power by finding a dilapidated building and slapping his name on it,” he said. “Now he wants to slap his name on this country.”
“The most powerful person in the world tried to squish us, and they failed. They failed.”
But all in all, the twelve awards and jokes on offer were more or less safe, smooth sailing for a show that hasn’t found itself far from disapproval or drama over the past few years.
After a pre-packaged, pre-recorded change of format in 2023 that led to complaints from none other than Eugene Levy, the CSAs returned to a live format in 2024, though one that largely focused on the dire and potentially dismal future of Canadian film and television.
There was a new round of complaints this year, centred around the awards show’s plan to air exclusively online, eschewing the traditional TV broadcast. But after a last-minute reversal of that decision, things went ahead much the same as any prior, nondescript year.
That engineered smoothness resulted in an almost pointed exclusion of reference to the many dark clouds hanging over the Canadian film industry.
From proposed Hollywood tariffs, to ongoing feuds between the CRTC and streaming platforms fighting against Canadian content obligations, or the bleak performance of Canadian English-language films in comparison to their American counterparts at the box office, few of the industry’s existential issues made their way into a broadcast more concerned with gentle preening.
Dimmed starlight
Instead, there were cautiously celebratory allusions to Canada’s artistic importance, such as Manny Jacinto’s Radius award for international impact, and an in-memoriam segment for Donald Sutherland presented by his son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, along with hit-and-miss jokes so typical of such ceremonies.
The general tone was set by host Lisa Gilroy in her opening skit. In it, she jokingly compared herself to “comedy legend” Martin Short, versus her own status as “Instagram account-holder, Lisay Gilroy,” who was like “a Canadian Nikki Glaser, only less successful.”
But the intermittent bits were just enough to keep the night moving along, if not write home about.
And unsurprisingly, the star power for Canada’s biggest night was dimmed. The two A-list winners — Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice and Cate Blanchett, who won best performance in a drama for Rumours — did not even offer video or written acceptance speeches, let alone attend.
When presenting the night’s last award, Hytes even managed to sneak in a self-aware joke that worked for finally breathing a bit of honesty into the proceedings.
“The eyes of the world are focused on this stage,” she said to doubting laughs. “And by the world, I do mean Canada.”
The stars who did attend did seem genuinely affected by the honour. As Allegiance‘s Supinder Wratch accepted her trophy for best lead performer in a drama series, her voice quivered while remarking on her father’s recent passing.
And when Run the Burbs‘ Andrew Phung won best lead performer in a comedy series, he could barely keep from crying during his acceptance speech. Despite it being his sixth career acting CSA, he struggled through the emotion the award brought out as he barrelled through thank-yous.
“Today is our twentieth anniversary,” he said as his voice broke and the camera pointed to his wife, Tamara Sharpe.
“When I felt like I couldn’t do anything, you made me believe that I could do everything. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.”
