Several Canadian filmmakers and producers will be vying for Oscar glory in March, following the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ unveiling of the nominees for the 95th Academy Awards on Tuesday (Jan. 24).

Toronto filmmaker Sarah Polley’s U.S.-produced feature Women Talking (pictured) has been nominated for Best Picture. The film, written and directed by Polley, is based on the novel of the same name by Canadian author Miriam Toews, about a group of Mennonite women deciding whether to stay or leave their home after discovering the truth about years of sexual assaults. It was filmed in Toronto and Pickering, Ont.

Polley herself is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, which is the second of two overall nods for the film, produced by Plan B Entertainment, Hear/Say Productions and Orion Pictures. She was nominated in the same category in 2008 for the film Away From Her.

The filmmaker wrote that she is “so grateful to the incredible collective of cast and crew who made Women Talking,” in a tweet reacting the nomination, which comes just over a week after she won a Critics Choice Award for Best Adapted Screenplay — among several other nominations the film has landed recently.

Fellow Canadian James Cameron is also nominated for Best Picture for his film Avatar: The Way of Water alongside producer Jon Landau. Kapuskasing, Ont.-born Cameron directed, co-wrote and produced the Avatar sequel, which is also nominated in three additional categories: Best Sound, Best Production Design, and Best Visual Effects. Cameron has earned six previous Oscar nominations, and three wins, including Best Picture and Best Director for Titanic in 1998.

The National Film Board of Canada’s The Flying Sailor is up for Best Animated Short Film, which marks the third overall Oscar nomination for Calgary’s Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby as a pair, both of whom wrote, directed and animated the short. Tilby also got an individual Oscar nomination in 1992 for Strings.

Produced by the NFB’s David Christensen, The Flying Sailor is a fictional retelling of a real-life sailor who was blown two kilometres into the air in the 1917 Halifax explosion, imagining his perspective amid the near-death experience.

Montreal-based Intuitive Pictures’ Ina Fichman is among the producers nominated for Best Documentary Feature for Fire of Love, which examines the work of two French volcanologists. The doc is directed by Sarah Dosa, who is also nominated alongside producer Shane Boris.

Incidentally, Boris shares another nomination with a Canadian filmmaker. Toronto’s Daniel Roher received a nod for his work directing the doc Navalny, about Russian politician Alexei Navalny, who survived a poisoning attempt in 2020. He also shares the nomination with producers Odessa Rae, Diane Becker and Melanie Miller.

Canadians Domee Shi and Chris Williams are among the nominees for Best Animated Feature. Toronto-raised Shi directed and co-wrote the Disney and Pixar film Turning Red, which was also set in her hometown and features Canadian talents such as Nepean, Ont.-born Sandra Oh and Mississauga, Ont.’s Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. Producer Lindsey Collins is also nominated. Shi won an Oscar in 2019 for her animated short Bao.

Waterloo, Ont.-raised Chris Williams earned a nomination for Netflix animated series The Sea Beast, about a young girl who stows away on the ship of a sea monster hunter. He directed, co-wrote and produced the film, and shares a nomination alongside producer Jed Schlanger. Williams won an Oscar in 2015 for his work on Big Hero 6, and was also nominated in 2009 for Bolt.

The 95th Academy Awards will be presented on March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Photo by Michael Gibson, courtesy of Orion Releasing