Behind the Scenes Moments at the Canadian Screen Awards

MP Olivia Chow (L) poses with her stepson Mike Layton and actress Sook-Yin Lee. Lee was honoured with Best Actress in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series for playing Chow in "Jack," a biopic about late NDP leader Jack Layton, Chow’s husband. In the press room, Lee spoke of the challenges and rewards of playing a real-life person who was there to guide her on set. She admitted this was intimidating, but noted that Chow was also very generous. "She's an artist herself, and gave me a lot of room to interpret." The actress said she set out to exteriorize Chow's inner world, but ended up putting so much into the role that she had to stop and question who she was."It becomes very clear that personality is a construct." Lee also noted it was both a challenge and a gift to portray the loss of a beloved person, an inevitable yet difficult part of life. "It was very visceral to be able to walk through that and do it in a safe place—not just in crazy chaotic life, but in a fictional scenario. It was really good therapy," she said. (Evan Ning/Epoch Times)

TORONTO—The Canadian Screen Awards may not be as glamorous as the Oscars (although they do have a red carpet, a comedian host, and a fancy theatre) and the films they honour are not usually blockbusters. Yet the two awards, at their core, are not that different. They both honour the art of filmmaking and everything associated with it. 

The stars the Screen Awards honour, although not always household names, are artists focused on their craft, producers looking for the big idea, and directors seeking to create a world that is their own.

In other words, anyone who loves film and television can find much in the Canadian Screen Awards. The awards offer a chance to discover films we might otherwise have never heard of and, like the Emmys, give us a chance to see TV stars all decked up in party mode. And if we get lucky, we might get a peak behind the scenes, or a special insight into a story or character meaningful to us.

And while the Canadian Screen Awards are only in their infancy—last year marked the first that the Genies and Geminis, which honoured film and television respectively, merged into a single award show—their hosting organization, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, has been celebrating Canadian film for 65 years and Canadian television for 45.

Take a look at the photo gallery for some behind-the-scenes moments from the Canadian Screen Awards that took place in the press room or on the red carpet, providing an insight into the realm of Canadian film and television, and the people who inhabit it.