Danis Goulet’s dystopian thriller Night Raiders and the Toronto suburb tale Scarborough directed by Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson top the film pack going into this year’s 10th annual Canadian Screen Awards.

Both features scored 11 nominations apiece as the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (the Canadian Academy) announced the nominees in 145 film, television, and digital media categories on Tuesday (Feb. 15). Other big film contenders include Michael McGowan’s family drama All My Puny Sorrows (Carousel Pictures/Mulmur Feed Co./Sugar Shack Productions) with eight nominations, and both Bretten Hannam’s two-spirit odyssey Wildhood (Rebel Road Films) and Ivan Grbovic’s migrant worker tale Drunken Birds (Les oiseaux ivres) with six.

Night Raiders (pictured, left) was written and directed by Saskatchewan-raised Cree-Metis filmmaker Goulet. It’s produced by Tara Woodbury for Uno Bravo; Paul Barkin for Alcina Pictures; Ainsley Gardiner and Georgina Condor for Miss Conception Films/Whenua Films; and co-produced with Chelsea Winstanley for Defender Films.

Both Night Raiders and the Nakhai-produced Scarborough (Compy Films) (pictured, right) are in the running for trophies including Best Motion Picture. That category also includes Wildhood, produced by two-spirit L’nu writer-director Hannam as well as Gharrett Paon and Julie Baldassi; Canada’s 2022 Oscar pick Drunken Birds, produced by Luc Déry and Kim McCraw, and directed and co-written by Montreal’s Ivan Grbovic (micro_scope); and Philippe Lacôte’s Ivory Coast/France/Canada/Senegal copro Night of the Kings, produced by Yanick Létourneau.

Night Raiders premiered at last year’s Berlin Film Festival and broke the record for the widest theatrical opening weekend for an Indigenous filmmaker in Canada in October. Its other Canadian Screen Award nominations include the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award as well as best direction, original screenplay, casting and visual effects.

Scarborough is an adaptation of Toronto author Catherine Hernandez’s award-winning 2017 novel and is scheduled to hit select Canadian theatres on Feb. 25. Hernandez also wrote the screenplay for the feature, which premiered at last September’s Toronto International Film Festival, where it was the first runner-up for the People’s Choice prize and took the Shawn Mendes Foundation’s Changemaker Award. Its other Canadian Screen Award nominations include best first feature film, direction, adapted screenplay, casting and cinematography.

Both Night Raiders and Scarborough, along with Beans, are also up for next month’s Rogers Best Canadian Film Award at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards.

While All My Puny Sorrows — based on Manitoba-raised author Miriam Toews’ 2014 novel — had the second-highest amount of film nominations, it didn’t land in the marquee categories of best picture, direction or adapted screenplay. Instead, it’s in the running for trophies including best art direction, casting and cinematography.

Wildhood‘s other nominations include best casting, direction and original screenplay.

The other contenders for achievement in direction are Anthony Scott Burns for Come True (Copperheart Entertainment) and Philippe Grégoire for The Noise of Engines (Le bruit des moteurs) (g11c).

The adapted screenplay category also includes David Bezmozgis and Erik Rutherford for Charlotte; Sylvain Guy for Confessions of a Hitman (Confessions); Fred Pellerin for The Time Thief (L’arracheuse de temps); and Eric Tessier for You Will Remember Me (Tu te souviendras de moi).

Other original screenplay contenders include Mark O’Brien for The Righteous, Kaveh Nabatian for Sin La Habana and Igor Drljaca for The White Fortress (Tabija).

Grégoire’s The Noise of Engines and Nabatian’s Sin La Habana (Voyelles Films), which won a Vancouver International Film Festival last October, are also among the first feature film nominees. That category is rounded out by Martin Edralin (Circus Zero Films) for Islands.

In the category of Achievement in Casting, the other nominee is Jenny Lewis and Sara Kay for The Retreat.

Several of the top nominees also scored nominations in performance categories.

Contenders for actor in a leading role include Liam Diaz for Scarborough, Phillip Lewitski for Wildhood, Rogelio Balagtas for Islands, Thomas Antony Olajide for Learn to Swim and Pavle Čemerikić for The White Fortress.

Supporting actor nominees include David La Haye for Confessions of a Hitman, Claude Legault for Drunken Birds, Esteban Comilang for Islands, Mark O’Brien for The Righteous and Joshua Odjick for Wildhood.

The category of Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role has: Julia Sarah Stone for Come True, Aviva Armour Ostroff for Lune, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers for Night Raiders, Alana Hawley Purvis for Range Roads and Aliya Kanani for Scarborough.

The supporting actress nominees are Marine Johnson for Drunken Birds, Gail Maurice for Night Raiders, Tanja Björk for The Noise of Engines, Kate Corbett for The Righteous and Cherish Violet Blood for Scarborough.

Tailfeathers is also in the running for the Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary with Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy, for which she’s nominated alongside David Christensen and Lori Lozinski. Their competition includes Mellissa Fung and Stuart Coxe for Captive; Jason Sherman, Sonya Di Rienzo, Aeschylus Poulos and Matt Code for My Tree; Yasmine Mathurin, Laura Perlmutter, Jennifer Kawaja and Andrew Smith for One of Ours; and Jean-François Lesage for Prayer for a Lost Mitten (Prière pour une mitaine perdue).

Up for Best Short Documentary is Kristina Wagenbauer for Babushka; Jérémie Battaglia and Amélie Lambert Bouchard for The Brother (Le frère); Jennie Williams, Latonia Hartery, Kat Baulu, Rohan Fernando and Annette Clarke for Nalujuk Night; Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden for Nuisance Bear; and Sophy Romvari for Still Processing.

TIFF IMDbPro Short Cuts Award winner Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman’s Apprentice — from Zacharias Kunuk, Neil Christopher, Nadia Mike, Jonathan Frantz — is up for Best Animated Short. That category also includes Boobs (Lolos) from Marie Valade; Flowing Home (Nhu môt dòng sông) from Sandra Desmazières, Dora Benousilio and Julie Roy; The Hangman at Home from Michelle Kranot, Uri Kranot, Lana Tankosa Nikolic, Avi Amar, Katayoun Dibamehr, Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron, Marc Bertrand and Julie Roy; and Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics from Terril Calder and Jelena Popović.

In the running for Best Live Action Short Drama is Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers, François Bonneau and Carmine Pierre-Dufour for Fanmi; Katerine Martineau and Guillaume Collin for Girls Shouldn’t Walk Alone at Night (Les filles ne marchent pas seules la nuit); Étienne Hansez and Colin Nixon for In the Jam Jar; Annie St-Pierre, Sarah Mannering and Fanny Drew for Like the Ones I Used to Know (Les Grandes Claques); and Jorge Camarotti for Ousmane.

The film categories received a total of 194 submissions (72 feature films, 33 feature documentaries, 89 shorts) for this year’s awards, which recently pivoted to virtual presentations throughout Canadian Screen Week from April 4 to 10, when a pre-recorded final awards broadcast on CBC and CBC Gem will hand out the major trophies.

The full list of nominations is on the Canadian Academy site.