The 9th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 17–20 May 2021 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020. The presentations were held as a series of virtual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most nominations were announced on 3 March 2021;Victoria Ahearn, "'Blood Quantum,' 'Schitt's Creek' top Canadian Screen Award nominations". Toronto Star, March 30, 2021. however, the nominations and winners in sports broadcasting categories were announced at a later date."Canadian Screen Awards: Rules and Regulations Change Highlights". Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. In the film categories, the film Blood Quantum received the most award nominations (10), and ultimately the most wins (6), while in the television categories, Schitt's Creek also received both the most award nominations (21) and wins (8). No new winners were named for the Academy's annual special awards; instead, the honorees previously named in 2020, most notably Alex Trebek, were celebrated and highlighted.
Ceremony information Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremonies were once again held as a virtual event. Academy CEO Beth Janson stated that "it's not going to be just a Zoom call of an awards show. We have a lot of exciting and creative things in store."Jonathan Szekeres, "Canadian Screen Awards go virtual — again". CKWX, March 27, 2021.
Due to the impact of the pandemic on theatrical film distribution in 2020, the Academy revised its eligibility rules for films. Where the rules for feature films usually require a film to receive at least one full week of theatrical screenings in at least two of Canada's major metropolitan markets, the rules for 2020 permitted films that received at least four commercial screenings in just one major market, as well as films that were commercially screened on an Academy-approved list of video on demand platforms after having been planned for conventional theatrical distribution or screened in any qualifying Canadian film festival in 2020. Short films were eligible if they received one commercial screening in Canada, were accepted into two qualifying film festivals or were distributed on an approved VOD platform; documentary films were eligible if they received three commercial screenings, were accepted into two qualifying film festivals, or were screened on one of the approved VOD platforms.
Janson stated that she was confident these eligibility changes would help the awards proceed normally; she also stated, however, that with the pandemic having impacted film production in 2020, the Academy was more concerned about the possibility of a downturn in qualifying content for the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022.Barry Hertz, "How one Canadian arts institution is rebuilding amid the pandemic". The Globe and Mail, November 5, 2020. The Academy also introduced a number of new projects in 2020 to foster increased representation of diversity in the Canadian film industry, including an equity and inclusion fund to help defray the award submission fees for work by emerging content creators of colour, and new rules requiring indigenous-themed content to demonstrate direct indigenous engagement in the production, in accordance with the Indigenous Screen Office's principles of narrative sovereignty."Canadian Screen Awards group introduces new equity-driven initiatives, eligibility rules". CBC News, September 25, 2020.
Other new changes at the 9th ceremony included the renaming of the Overall Sound category to Sound Mixing, and the introduction of new categories for Best Casting in films and Best Stunt Coordination.
Eligible streaming platforms The eligible streaming platforms for the 9th Canadian Screen Awards included Amazon Prime, CBC Gem, the Cineplex Store, Club Illico, Crave, The Criterion Channel, CuriosityStream, Documentary Online Cinema, the Digital TIFF Bell Lightbox, Disney+, Dove Channel, Fandor, FlixFling, Google Play, Greetings from Isolation, GuideDoc, Highball TV, Hollywood Suite, Hoopla, Ignite TV On Demand, iTunes, Kanopy, Microsoft Films & TV, MUBI, Netflix, Pantaflix, Popcornflix, Shudder, Spuul, SundanceNow, Super Channel on Demand, Tubi, Vimeo on Demand and YouTube Premium."Canadian Screen Awards: Eligible Festivals and Online Platforms". Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
Film Motion Picture Direction Beans — Anne-Marie GélinasFunny Boy — David Hamilton, Hussain Amarshi Nadia, Butterfly — Dominique Dussault The Nest — Ed Guiney, Derrin Schlesinger, Rose Garnett, Sean Durkin Underground () — Étienne Hansez | valign="top" | Deepa Mehta, Funny Boy Brandon Cronenberg, Possessor Sophie Dupuis, Underground (Souterrain) Sean Durkin, The Nest Pascal Plante, Nadia, Butterfly Actor Actress Michael Greyeyes, Blood Quantum Lance Henriksen, Falling Joakim Robillard, Underground () Saul Williams, Akilla's Escape Alex Wolff, Castle in the Ground Michelle Pfeiffer, French Exit Carrie Coon, The Nest Carmen Moore, Rustic Oracle Rosalie Pépin, Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Violation Supporting Actor Supporting Actress Colm Feore, Sugar Daddy Jesse LaVercombe, Violation Stephen McHattie, Come to Daddy Ronnie Rowe Jr., Akilla's Escape Thamela Mpumlwana, Akilla's Escape Mary Walsh, Happy Place Agam Darshi, Funny Boy Felicity Huffman, Tammy's Always Dying Micheline Lanctôt, Laughter () Amy Groening, Bone Cage Original Screenplay Adapted Screenplay Charles Officer and Wendy Motion Brathwaite, Akilla's Escape Jeff Barnaby, Blood Quantum Sean Durkin, The Nest Sophie Dupuis, Underground () Evan Morgan, The Kid Detective Shyam Selvadurai and Deepa Mehta, Funny Boy Johnny Darrell, Andrew Duncan and Loretta Todd, Monkey Beach Patrick deWitt, French Exit Catherine Léger, Goddess of the Fireflies () Taylor Olson, Bone Cage Feature Length Documentary Short Documentary Wandering: A Rohingya Story () — Mélanie Carrier, Olivier HigginsThe Forbidden Reel — Ariel Nasr, Sergeo Kirby, Kat Baulu, Annette Clarke Stateless — Michèle Stephenson, Jennifer Holness, Lea Marin, Anita Lee, Joe Brewster, Sudz Sutherland A Woman, My Mother () — Claude Demers The World Is Bright — Ying Wang, Jian Ping Su, Jordan Paterson | valign="top" | Sing Me a Lullaby — Tiffany HsiungCHSLD — François Delisle : Many Bloodlines — Alex Bailey, Theola Ross Jesse Jams — Trevor Anderson, Alyson Richards, Alexandra Lazarowich, Penny Frazier, Kim Hsu Guise, Lizzy Karp, Christina Willings Mutts () — Halima Ouardiri |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%" | Live Action Short Drama ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%" | Animated Short |- | valign="top" | Black Bodies — Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, Tamar Bird, Sasha Leigh HenryBad Omen — Salar Pashtoonyar Benjamin, Benny, Ben — Paul Shkordoff, Jason Aita Cayenne — Simon Gionet Goodbye Golovin — Mathieu Grimard, Simon Corriveau | valign="top" | Hot Flash — Thea Hollatz, Kristy Neville, Matt Code, Morghan Fortier, Brett Jubinville4 North A — Jordan Canning, Howie Shia, Annette Clarke The Fourfold — Alisi Telengut The Great Malaise () — Catherine Lepage, Marc Bertrand I, Barnabé () — Jean-François Lévesque, Julie Roy |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%" | Art Direction/Production Design ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%" | Best Casting |- | valign="top" | Louisa Schabas and Sylvain Lemaitre, Blood Quantum Phillip Barker, Guest of Honour André-Line Beauparlant, Goddess of the Fireflies () Jennifer Morden and Matthew Bianchi, The Kid Detective Carol Spier, Falling Nicole Hilliard-Forde, Akilla's Escape Deirdre Bowen, Falling Pam Dixon and Deirdre Bowen, Possessor Maxime Giroux, Beans Rene Haynes, Blood Quantum Cinematography Best Cinematography in a Documentary Maya Bankovic, Akilla's Escape Marie Davignon, Beans James Klopko, A Fire in the Cold Season Michel St-Martin, Blood Quantum Stéphanie Weber Biron, Nadia, Butterfly Ryan Randall, Workhorse Jean-Philippe Archibald, The Free Ones () Glauco Bermudez and Mark Ó Fearghaíl, Influence Renaud Philippe and Olivier Higgins, Wandering: A Rohingya Story () Kiarash Sadigh, Nahanni: River of Forgiveness Editing Best Editing in a Documentary Jeff Barnaby, Blood Quantum Christine Armstrong, Sugar Daddy Jane MacRae, The Cuban Ronald Sanders, Falling Arthur Tarnowski, The Decline () Natalie Lamoureux, A Woman, My Mother () Natacha Dufaux, The Free Ones () Lawrence Le Lam, The World Is Bright Jonah Malak, Dave Not Coming Back Peter Roeck, The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel Costume Design Hair Noémi Poulin, Blood Quantum Bernadette Croft, Happy Place Anne Dixon, Falling Marie Grogan Hales, The Marijuana Conspiracy Patricia McNeil and Ann Roth, My Salinger Year Michelle Côté, My Salinger Year Renée Chan, Tammy's Always Dying Patricia Cuthbert, Random Acts of Violence France Latreille, French Exit Ashley Nay, Happy Place Makeup Visual Effects Erik Gosselin, Joan-Patricia Parris, Jean-Michel Rossignol and Nancy Ferlatte, Blood Quantum Sidney Armour, The Marijuana Conspiracy Elizabeth Gruszka, Funny Boy Dan Martin, Traci Loader and Dorota Mitoraj, Possessor Emily O'Quinn, Paul Jones and Emma Lee Hilton, Random Acts of Violence Joshua Sherrett, Barbara Rosenstein, Ibi Atemie, David Atexide, Juan Carlos Ferrá, Alex Flynn, Andrei Gheorghiu, Felix Sherrett-Brown, Ali Hamidikia and Tony Wu, Blood Quantum Brian Huynh, William Chang, Steven Huynh, Sophia Jooyeon Lee and Justin Perreault, Code 8 Peter McAuley, Michael Bishop, Derek Gebhart, Armen Bunag, Luke White, James Marin, Marco Polsinelli, Andrew Rolfe and Davor Celar, Funny Boy Liam Neville, Kenneth Coyne, Piers Larchet, Rob Murray, Shane Browne, Dave Thomas, Mihail Dumbravestu, Allen Sillery, Christoph Gaudi and Michael McCarthy, French Exit François Trudel and Cynthia Mourou, Laughter () Sound Editing Sound Mixing David McCallum, David Rose, Krystin Hunter and William Kellerman, Akilla's Escape Matthew Chan and Ida Marci, Violation Paul Germann, Brennan Mercer and Martin Gwynn Jones, The Nest James Sizemore, Jane Tattersall, David McCallum, Steve Medeiros, Krystin Hunter, Stefan Fraticelli and Jason Charbonneau, Funny Boy Clive Turner, Mark Shniruwsky and Marvyn Dennis, Random Acts of Violence Graham Rogers, James Bastable, Daniel Moctezuma and Brad Dawe, Akilla's Escape Stephane Bergeron and Yann Cleary, Beans Matthew Chan, Violation Colin McLellan, Mark Zsifkovits, Devin Doucette, Daniel Moctezuma, Rachelle Audet, Bertrand Duranleau, Thomas Holroyd and Jeffrey Roy, Random Acts of Violence Lou Solakofski, Joe Morrow, Randy Wilson and Ron Melgers, Funny Boy Original Score Original Song Howard Shore, Funny Boy Janal Bechthold, Marlene Mychael Danna, Guest of Honour Jay McCarrol, The Kid Detective Michelle Osis and Lowell Boland, Bloodthirsty Marie-Hélène L. Delorme, "Timid Joyous Atrocious" — Sugar Daddy Lowell Boland, Evan Bogart and Justin Gray, "Grey Singing in Auditorium" — Bloodthirsty Hilario Durán, "" — The Cuban Hilario Durán, "Mambo in Dominante" — The Cuban Ariane Moffatt, "" — Thanks for Everything () John Dunning Best First Feature Beans — Tracey Deer The Kid Detective — Evan Morgan Tito — Grace Glowicki — Neegan Trudel Violation — Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli
Television
Programs Drama Series Comedy Series Transplant Burden of Truth Cardinal: Until the Night Departure Vikings Schitt's Creek Baroness von Sketch Show Kim's Convenience Letterkenny Workin' Moms Animated program or series Documentary program Corner Gas Animated Hotel Transylvania: The Series The Magic School Bus Rides Again: "The Frizz Connection" Snoopy in Space Wild Kratts CBC Docs POV: "Hockey Mom"CBC Docs POV: "Company Town" Hot Docs at Home: "Finding Sally" CBC Docs POV: "The Internet of Everything" Hot Docs at Home: "They Call Me Dr. Miami" |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%" | Children's or youth fiction ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%" | Children's or youth non-fiction |- | valign="top" | Odd Squad Mobile Unit Detention Adventure