Sarah Polley arrives on the red carpet for "Women Talking," at the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, on Tuesday, September 13, 2022. Toronto filmmakers Polley and Domee Shi are among the Canadians competing in the top categories at this year's Academy Awards. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Hours after learning she had snagged an Oscar nomination for best animated feature, stunned Toronto filmmaker Domee Shi said the nod offered welcome “validation” that stories led by diverse characters can succeed.
The Pixar writer-director spotlights the coming-of-age anxiety of a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl in “Turning Red,” and is among a select group of Canadians up for Oscar glory including fellow Torontonian Sarah Polley who vies for best picture and best adapted screenplay with her drama “Women Talking.”
Shi credited a bit of superstition to snagging the second Oscar nomination of her career with her Toronto-set, music-driven feature, noting she purposefully ignored Tuesday’s announcement because she did the same when her animated short “Bao” earned a nomination and win in 2019.
“I didn’t want to jinx it so I decided to sleep through the nominations being read again and just rely on friends and family texting and calling me to know if we got the nomination or not,” Shi said in a video call from Oakland, Calif.
Shi said the honour was especially meaningful because “Turning Red” represented so many firsts in her career, including Pixar’s first film to be led by a predominantly female team and the first film to have an Asian Canadian female lead.
“There was a lot of pressure that I put on myself for this movie to not just succeed financially, but just to be recognized critically,” she said, going on to describe what Oscar attention means to her.
“It’s that validation, but it’s also this evidence just to show big studios that look: You can make universal stories that star a diverse protagonist and feature a diverse creative leadership and these stories are universal stories.”
Polley’s ensemble drama “Women Talking” scored two nominations for its book-to-screen reimagining of Manitoba author Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel of the same name.
It’s about a group of women in a remote Mennonite community who gather in a hayloft to discuss what they should do when they discover that several of the colony’s men have committed a series of sexual assaults.
The film brings Polley her second adapted screenplay Oscar nomination, following the 2007 feature “Away From Her” about a long-married couple impacted by Alzheimer’s disease.
“Women Talking” is competing for the coveted top prize against nine other films including “Avatar: The Way of Water,” from Ontario-raised filmmaker James Cameron.
Shi’s film, about a girl who discovers she has the ability to turn into a giant red panda, is up against fellow Sheridan College alum Chris Williams of Kitchener, Ont., who directed “Sea Beast,” an animated feature about a crew of sea monster hunters.
Among the other Canadian projects that received mentions Tuesday are the animated short “The Flying Sailor,” made by Calgary-based Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis.
Competing in the best animated short category, the film is inspired by a maritime tale about a seaman who was blasted into the air after two ships collided in the Halifax harbour during the First World War.
Meanwhile, the Canadian-U.S. documentary “Fire of Love” from National Geographic – about French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died in an explosion – is among the nominees for documentary feature.
“Fire of Love” is up against “Navalny,” an investigation into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, directed by Toronto’s Daniel Roher.
In the performance categories, actor Brendan Fraser continues to collect praise for his role in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale.”
Fraser, who went to high school in Toronto but was born in the United States to Canadian parents, is nominated for best actor for his turn as a reclusive English teacher living with obesity who attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Montreal makeup artist Adrien Morot scored a nomination for best makeup and hairstyling for his work on “The Whale,” along with Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley. He was previously nominated for best makeup in 2011 for “Barney’s Version.”
Winners will be announced March 12 at a ceremony hosted by late night comic Jimmy Kimmel and airing on CTV.
““ With files from Noel Ransome in Toronto.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2023.
